Verdejo, Rueda, Spain

This dense, serious, mineral-laden white wine has more tension than most of us were capable of holding during peak pandemic plank challenges. Esmeralda Garcia makes tiny amounts of plot-specific wines from only ONE grape - Verdejo. This is the most widely planted grape variety in Rueda, the region in which her hometown of Santiuste is located. Verdejo usually makes relatively quaffable, aromatic #drywhitewine. In contrast to this practice, Esmeralda carefully tends to 4 hectares of 140 - 210 year old vines growing in sandy, arid soils producing powerful, haunting, age worthy gems. Each of her plots vary in altitude and soil composition, allowing her to bottle several cuvées with strikingly different profiles - collect them all! The ‘Vayuste’ is perhaps her most linear, precise, and mineral wine of the bunch. The hand-harvested grapes are gently macerated for a few hours then fermented in tinajas (clay jars) followed by a 6 month aging in the same jars. This wine is a literal gift from the sun - stare at it too long and you’ll find yourself transfixed. Savoury, saline, preserved lemon and clove-dotted Christmas orange with a spicy, smokey edge. From the heart of Spain and vines originating almost as far back as Ferdinand and Isabella (ok, maybe not THAT old), this is history in a bottle.