2020 Telmo Rodriguez Mountain Blanco

Winemaker Telmo Rodriguez has been labeled as one of the young lions of the Spanish wine industry. He studied at the University of Bordeaux and later in the Rhône with the famous August Clape. He was the winemaker of La Granja Senora De Remelluri, his father's bodega in Rioja. He left there to become what some would call flying flying maker. However, Telmo prefers to call itself a 'driving winemaker'. he lives in Madrid and drives his car to the areas where he makes wine. In a short time, his wines have found a place on the international playing field. One example: in the Wine Report 2008 by Tom Stevenson, Telmo is listed among the top 10 producers from Spain.

Telmo Rodriguez, Spanish phenomenon

We again spoke extensively with Telmo Rodriguez. That is always a pleasure. When you sit around the table with him, you always learn something or he gives food for thought. What makes this 'conscience of the Spanish wine world' so special?
When Telmo finished his studies in Bordeaux and then did internships with people like Chave (Hermitage), Clape (Cornas) and Dürrbach (Trévallon), he returned to Spain. There he saw that other Spaniards who had studied in France brought French grape varieties and customs to Spain. For example, more and more wire guidance came while the Spanish system had always been free-standing poles. Telmo concluded that he wanted to focus on the old qualities of Spain such as free-standing sticks, native grape varieties and field blends. In addition, he was the first in Spain to introduce modern labels and defies the rigid Spanish wine laws.

Freestanding poles
Spain used to be a country of bush vines: the sticks were so far apart per area and per vineyard that they could get enough water. If you put your poles far apart when threaded, the pole will grow far and become too big. So with wire articulation you need much more sticks per hectare. The problem is that there is not enough water for this and you therefore have to irrigate, in areas that often already have a shortage of water. In addition, the grapes hang more in the shade with free-standing sticks, which gives less chance of 'burning' and leads to less stewed fruit and fresher acids. The only drawback to free-standing canes is that more manual work is involved in vineyard management and harvesting. Telmo works almost exclusively with bush vines.

Native grape varieties
It was clear to Telmo that there are so many good native varieties in Spain that import of the 'big five' (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah) from France is not necessary at all. He was one of the first to produce good Rueda from Verdejo and Viura, embracing Mencia and Godello in Valdeorras, Monastrell in Alicante, Moscatel in Malaga, Garnacha in Cebreros…. In the mid-nineties he was still considered crazy with this philosophy, but now everyone is following him.

Field blends
In the past, there were many vineyards with different grape varieties mixed together, also known as 'field blends'. It is often argued against field blends that the varieties (which are picked together) are not all ripe at the same time. It goes without saying that diversity and disease resistance increase and that it increases complexity. Telmo now has two vineyards with field blends in production. He makes it in Rioja Las Beatas (named after the vineyard, first year rewarded with 97 points by Parker) and in Valdeorras Las Caborcas. Beautiful, original wines!

Spanish wine laws
Telmo was the first to remove the word Reserva from a Rioja in 1995. In his words: 'I ask my wines how long they want to stay in the wood'. In one year, grapes can easily cope with 12-month maturing in wood, but in another year they cannot. About Las Beatas there was some consternation: the Consecho initially did not want to approve the wine made with a field blend as Rioja… while there was a time when all Rioja was made like this! This has not been brought to a head by the Consecho and in the end fortunately for them, given that extremely high international appreciation.