2024 Telmo Rodriguez Basa Verdejo Magnum

A FIRST - Telmo Rodriguez will bottle the Basa Verdejo from the 2024 vintage once in magnum (1.5L). This is an ideal aperitif wine but also a nice accompaniment to many fish dishes. The somewhat greenish yellow wine is bursting with ripe pineapple, passion fruit and pear. It is a lively wine with beautiful acids and full of juice and has a long, somewhat tingling aftertaste. From the 2013 vintage, the Basa has been approached 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 started to resemble each other. The Basa now consists mainly of Verdejo supplemented with a small amount of Viura. A return to the focus on the grape that is at the cradle of the success of Rueda. The Sauvignon Blanc is no longer part of the wine. The wine is broader in taste and quieter in character, but as always it remains a fantastic refreshing and serious wine. The Basa has scents and flavors of citrus, tropical fruit and beautiful mineral tones. The wine is particularly aromatic and bursts out of the glass. In the bouquet tones of 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 are unprecedented in this wine. The taste has loads of white fruit, the necessary filling and a remarkable freshness. A fantastic white wine that makes you want more. Telmo Rodriguez, Spanish Phenomenon We spoke extensively with Telmo Rodriguez again. It is 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 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 was introduced while the Spanish system had always been free-standing vines. 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 rebelled against 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 they each had sufficient water. If you place your vines far apart with wire vines, the vine will grow far and become much too big. With wire vines, you need many more vines per hectare. The problem is that there is not enough water for that and you therefore have to irrigate, in areas that often already suffer from a shortage of water. In addition, the grapes hang more in the shade with free-standing vines, 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 required in vineyard management and harvesting. Telmo works almost exclusively with bush vines. Native grape varieties For Telmo it was clear that there are so many good indigenous varieties in Spain that importing from France of 'the big five' (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah) 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 still called crazy with this philosophy, but now everyone is following him. Field blends In the past, there were many vineyards in Spain with different grape varieties mixed together, also called 'field blends'. Field blends are often criticized for the fact that the varieties (which are picked together) do not all ripen at the same time. I