The vineyard surrounding Bodega Belondrade, producer of Belondrade y Lurton Verdejo

Didier Belondrade founded his eponymous winery with the idea that Verdejo from Rueda, fermented and aged in 100% new French oak barrels, could be among the finest white wines in the world. The first vintage of Belondrade y Lurton Verdejo was 1994 and, in 2000, he built a dedicated winery for the project. Today, Belondrade manages 19 vineyards throughout Rueda with just over 70 total acres.

The winery at Belondrade is at once starkly minimalistic and also in keeping with the stark, flat landscape.

The 19 sites naturally have different terroirs, but they are all within about 1.5 miles of each other. Therefore, they share a number of characteristics. They’re all flat and lie at about 2,500 feet above sea level. The Duero River, less than four miles away has, over many thousands of years, created the soils.

Jean Belondrade Lurton holds soil from the vineyard pictured above.

The climate is very continental with diurnal shifts of up to 50 degrees. Harvest always takes place sometime within the month of September. But, because of the variability of continental climates from one year to the next, there can be big differences within just a few years. The 2013 harvest was very late, September 28. But 2015 was the earliest ever, September 1.

There are three principal soils in the area: stony and well-drained, clay and sand. Some of Belondrade’s vineyards feature just one of those. The stones, called pebbles by Belondrade, are river-tumbled rocks. Some are like marbles, others the size of your fist.

The vineyards are all planted 100% to Verdejo are tended by hand. Most of the vines are around 16 years old, but the oldest are 40. Because Verdejo is prone to oxidation, the grapes are pressed under nitrogen.

Belondrade microvinifies. Every parcel’s juice is divided into small batches. Those are fermented separately in new French barrels, from a variety of forests and makers, using ambient yeasts. For the flagship Belondrade y Lurton Verdejo, winemaker Marta Baqarizo puts together a single, artfully blended wine from the available lots. Once bottled, the wine ages for at least another 6 months before release.

Late this Spring, I had the opportunity to taste some of the single barrel lots, both 2014 which was nearly ready to be blended and 2015 which had only been in oak about six months. I was struck by how different the wines, even from a single parcel, could taste based on its oak treatment.

Stacked just two high, the barrels at Belondrade are easily accessed for sampling, sulfuring and topping up.

Vineyard #5, Camino Ventosa, is mostly sandy with some pebbles. The 2015 vintage in a Seguin Moreau barrel with oak staves and an acacia top showed soft, powdery floral notes with nectarine. The same vineyard in a Vicard “blanco”—an all-oak barrel with a very slow, light toast—was full of melon, grapefruit, lemon and pineapple.

2014 wine from vineyard #15 in a Vicard barrel was lovely: linear with minimal structure and a nose of passionfruit and guava. 2014 from vineyard #18 in Dargaud+Jaegle was mouth-filling but firm and juicy with notes of almond and grapefruit. Vineyard #3, sandy with a slight slope, was round and soft with vanilla, stone fruit, pineapple and oak in a Sylvain barrel.

Belondrade makes two other wines, though their availability is lower in the U.S. One, the Belondrade Quinta Apolonia is 100% Verdejo but fermented and aged in mix of stainless steel and barrels. It’s a fresh, early drinker and sells for about $14.

The other wine, Belondrade Quinta Clarisa, is a very nice, coral red rosé. It’s made from Tempranillo, but that wine is allowed to mingle with Verdejo lees. The result tastes like red cherry skins with smoky minerality. It sells for about $12.

Note: Bodega Belondrade is not open to the public.

The colorful and delicious Bodega y Lurton Verdejo

2014 Belondrade y Lurton Verdejo Rueda, Castilla y Leon, Spain 92+ 14.0% 750ml $30

100% Verdejo, aged in a variety of French oak barrels. Verdejo can often resemble Sauvignon Blanc and this wine is particularly reminiscent of Pouilly Fumé. The aromas and flavors are of flinty-smoky stone fruit and citrus accented by restrained accents of oak. The gorgeously silky palate is medium-bodied with gently acidity. This is a wine that’s very drinkable upon release but which will age gracefully for a good five years, perhaps more.

Copyright Fred Swan 2014. All rights reserved.