ChâteauBrys

Van wijn

The ‘mission’ for Wine Blogging Wednesday – number 35# already! – was to find a not too expensive wine from Spain. Where as WBW #34 with it’s Washington Cab’s was a bit tough for the Belgian winelover, it’s not hard to find a wide variety of Spanish wines in Belgium.

In my cellar, I had this nice white wine waiting for me: Basa, by Telmo Rodriguez. Telmo Rodriguez is a driving – not flying – winemaker who makes about 20 wines in regions as Rioja, Rueda, Ribera del Duero, Cigales, Toro, Alicante, Malaga, Navarra, La Mancha and Galicia. Experts consider him to be the next big mister Wine in Spain. He looks in his wines for an expression of the terroir. Winemaking begins in the vineyard, according to Rodriguez, where he uses old vines that produce very low yields.

This ‘Basa’ is his basic wine,from Rueda, a DO in the northwest of Spain, south of Valladolid. It’s a blend of Viura (10%), Verdejo en Sauvignon Blanc-grapes. (Verdejo is thé grape in Rueda) Rodriguez vinifies this wine in stainless steel. Since it’s his basic wine, the production is the largest: 15000 cases are made each year.

Tasting notes: pale straw with a green tint. Aromas: lemon, minerality, buxus, hay, grass, exotic fruit (like passion fruit). A concentrated, full bodied wine, with nice acidity. Lemon en grapefruit in the mouth. Very good wine, well worth it’s price.
I bought this wine in the shop I told you about in this post. It cost me about 8 euro’s. In the US it should be available for $10.

More on Telmo Rodriguez:
- Spain’s Brilliant $8 Winemaker

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