Angel Rodríguez Rueda Verdejo Martínsancho 2018

Angel Rodríguez Martínsancho is the benchmark old-vine Verdejo of Rueda, from a seventeenth-century vineyard.

Rueda, on the high plateau of Castilla y León, was rebuilt on Verdejo largely because growers such as the Rodríguez family kept the variety alive when it was being pulled out for Sauvignon Blanc. The wine takes its name from El Pago de Martínsancho, a majuelo, or old walled parcel, dating to the seventeenth century. In the 1970s massale cuttings from those vines were used to extend the original plot, and the fruit now comes from those forty-year-old bush vines, rooted in ancient alluvial gravels running as deep as thirty metres. The grapes are slowly pressed into two large glass-lined tanks, where the juice ferments naturally before moving by gravity to century-old 5,000-litre oak cubas. The cellar is underground, unusual in Spain, and holds near 10°C year-round, allowing long, undisturbed lees ageing with minimal sulphur.

Ready now and will hold five years or more, which few Ruedas manage. Serve at 10-12°C with grilled fish, white asparagus or roast chicken.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.