2023 Telmo Rodriguez Basa Verdejo

This is an ideal aperitif wine but also a nice accompaniment to many fish dishes. The slightly green-yellow wine is bursting with ripe pineapple, passion fruit and pear. It is a lively wine with beautiful acidity and full juice and has a long, slightly tingling aftertaste. From the 2013 vintage onwards, the Basa will be structured differently. Telmo thought it was time for more complexity. Or in other words a more serious style. Due to the unprecedented success of Rueda, the average quality has decreased and most wines have become similar. A primary and aromatic style. Including through the use of more and more sauvignon blanc in the blends and a vinification focused on primary fruit. The Basa now mainly consists of Verdejo supplemented with a little bit of Viura. A return to the focus on the grape that is at the origin of Rueda's success. The Sauvignon Blanc is no longer part of the wine. The wine has a broader taste and a calmer character, but as always it remains a fantastically refreshing and serious wine. The Basa has scents and flavors of citrus, tropical fruit and beautiful mineral notes. The wine is particularly aromatic and flows out of the glass. The bouquet shows white fruit, citrus, blossom, boxwood and minerals. In the nose we smell a lot of dry exotic fruit and the beautiful balance between freshness and complexity is unprecedented in this wine. The taste has loads of white fruit, the necessary filling and a remarkable freshness. A fantastic white wine that leaves you wanting more.

Telmo Rodriguez, Spanish phenomenon

We once again spoke extensively with Telmo Rodriguez. That's always a pleasure. When you sit down with him you always learn something or he gives you food for thought. What makes this 'conscience of the Spanish wine world' so special?
When Telmo completed his studies in Bordeaux and subsequently completed internships with people such as Chave (Hermitage), Clape (Cornas) and Dürrbach (Trévallon), he returned to Spain. There he saw that other Spaniards who had studied in France were bringing French grape varieties and customs to Spain. Wire guidance became more and more common, 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 vines, indigenous grape varieties and field blends. In addition, he was the first in Spain to introduce modern labels and he opposes the rigid Spanish wine laws.

Freestanding poles
Spain used to be a country of bush vines: the vines were so far apart per area and per vineyard that each could get enough water. If you place sticks far apart with wire articulation, the stick will grow far and become much too large. With wire articulation you need many more poles per hectare. The problem, however, is that there is not enough water for this, so you have to irrigate in areas that often already suffer from a water shortage. In addition, the grapes on free-standing vines hang more in the shade, which gives less chance of 'burning' and leads to less stewed fruit and fresher acids. The only disadvantage of free-standing vines is that more manual work is involved in vineyard management and harvesting. Telmo works almost exclusively with bush vines.

Indigenous grape varieties
It was clear to Telmo that there are so many good native varieties in Spain that importing '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, he embraced Mencia and Godello in Valdeorras, Monastrell in Alicante, Moscatel in Malaga, Garnacha in Cebreros…. In the mid-nineties he was considered crazy for this philosophy, but now everyone is following him.

Field blends
In the past, there were many vineyards in Spain with various grape varieties mixed together, also called '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 speaks for itself that diversity and disease resistance increase and that it promotes complexity. Telmo now has two vineyards with field blends in production. In Rioja he makes Las Beatas (named after the vineyard, the first vintage 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'. One year, grapes can easily withstand 12 months of ripening in wood, but in another year they cannot. There was consternation about Las Beatas: 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 this way! This was not brought to a head by Consecho and was ultimately fortunate for them, given the extremely high international appreciation.