Verdejo

Verdejo is a white grape native to Spain's northern plateau, especially in Castilla y León, and it forms the backbone of many white wines from the Rueda Denominación de Origen. It matters for its distinctive aromatic profile, with notes of bitter almond and scrubland herbs, and for the freshness and body it brings to both young wines and those aged in oak.

History

The origins of Verdejo are poorly documented, and much of what is repeated rests on hypothesis. After the Reconquest of Toledo, the Duero valley was resettled by Asturians, Vascones and Mozarabs. It is considered likely that the vine arrived from Algaida, in North Africa, along the Silver Route, although that attribution has not been confirmed.

According to the sources, the first vines of this variety in Spain were planted in Zamora, in the Toro and Tierra del Vino area, around Madrigal de las Altas Torres, which gave the grape its older name of blanca de Madrigal, and in Rueda, during the reign of Alfonso VI, between the 11th and 12th centuries. For centuries it was used mainly for oxidised, sherry-style fortified wines, often blended with Palomino.

In the mid-twentieth century the variety came close to disappearing. The grower Ángel Rodríguez Vidal, of Bodega Martinsancho, chose to keep planting it and helped restore its importance in Rueda, and he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Agricultural Merit by King Juan Carlos I.

In the 1970s the winery Marqués de Riscal began producing a fresher white style based on Verdejo, with the help of the French oenologist Émile Peynaud. In 1980 the Rueda region was recognised as a Denominación de Origen for its white wines. Its rules require Rueda wines to contain at least 50 percent Verdejo, usually completed with Sauvignon Blanc or Macabeo, while Rueda Verdejo wines must contain at least 85 percent, and many are made entirely from this grape. From the 2010s the variety was also planted in Australia, extending its presence beyond Spain.

Culture

Verdejo is grown mainly in Castilla y León, followed by Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, with smaller areas in Asturias, Catalonia and Murcia. In 2007 Spain had around 11,000 hectares of the variety. For many years consumer preference for red wine led much of this vineyard into bulk wine. The rise of demand for white wines in the 2000s encouraged growers to take better care of the grape and make higher-quality wines.

In the vineyard, Verdejo is a vine of modest vigour, with a horizontal growth habit and medium productivity, and its bunches are small. It copes well with drought and adapts to poor, clay-rich soils, although it is sensitive to powdery mildew and needs long pruning to yield acceptable crops. In Rueda it has settled on sandy soils with rolled stones, in the provinces of Valladolid, Segovia and Ávila, and there it has become a defining feature of Castilian white wines.

In the glass, the wine is yellowish green with steely highlights. It is very aromatic, with notes of bitter almond, dried fruit, soft creams with a touch of honey, and scrubland aromas. It has medium-high acidity, body and a certain softness, and a slightly bitter finish that is easy to recognise. A common practice is night-time harvesting: when the grapes reach the winery at cooler temperatures, the juice oxidises less, and the wine keeps its colour and freshness better.

Today several styles coexist. Young varietal Verdejos are the most widespread, and there are also wines fermented or aged in oak barrels, which gain complexity. The grape is also blended with Viura, Sauvignon Blanc and Macabeo in varying proportions. Beyond the winery, the name appears in a long list of local synonyms, such as boto de gall, gouvelo or verdeja, which makes it necessary to distinguish it from other varieties like the Portuguese Molar or the pink Verdejo Colorado.

Trivia