Winemaker Notes
A striking wine, thanks to its well-balanced maturity and freshness. It is both ecological and elegant, with a bouquet of fragrant stone fruits, subtle herbaceous aromas and sophisticated notes of toasted bread and passion fruit. On the palate it has a precise, well-integrated acidity that brings freshness. This wine has a long finish, and is highly ageworthy.
Blend: 80% sauvignon Blanc, 20% Verdejo
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Blanco de Guarda L'Domaine is a Sauvignon Blanc blended with a bit of Verdejo for acidity, harvested together from the same parcel. Light to medium-bodied, it’s built to keep in bottle a handful of years before enjoying and should continue to age well another 10 to15 years, if not more. Classic in style, it offers beautiful texture, white flower aromas, and nuanced flavors of Anjou pear and apple, with just a hint of oak toast. It’s lengthy and complex, with a nod to Bordeaux. An impressive wine, the winery is situated just outside the official boundaries of Ribera del Duero.
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James Suckling
The current release in white is the 2023 Le Domaine, a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Verdejo, a wine they started selling with the 2011 vintage. The grapes were regrafted to vines that were originally planted with Merlot very close to the Duero River. The grapes were picked in mid-September; the Sauvignon Blanc was destemmed and macerated for a couple of hours, and the Verdejo was pressed with the whole clusters. Both musts were blended and fermented in 20% new barrels, where the wine matured until April. It's primary, clean and fruit-driven, with an herbal touch. The mouthfeel is fresh, and it's a milder vintage, with clean flavors. It has good ripeness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The current release in white is the 2023 Le Domaine, a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Verdejo, a wine they started selling with the 2011 vintage. The grapes were regrafted to vines that were originally planted with Merlot very close to the Duero River. The grapes were picked in mid-September; the Sauvignon Blanc was destemmed and macerated for a couple of hours, and the Verdejo was pressed with the whole clusters. Both musts were blended and fermented in 20% new barrels, where the wine matured until April. It's primary, clean and fruit-driven, with an herbal touch. The mouthfeel is fresh, and it's a milder vintage, with clean flavors.
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Vinous
The 2023 Blanco de Guarda Le Domaine blends 80% Sauvignon Blanc with 20% Verdejo from Abadía Retuerta. Fermented in barrel, it offers classic Sauvignon character with notes of lime, grapefruit and yellow chili, framed by a creamy texture. The palate is tense and flavorful, with barrel-driven depth and a touch of warmth on the finish. Slightly bitter, with good length.
The rebirth of a historic vineyard and of a whole winemaking tradition, the excellence of which remains intact, laid the foundations for today’s Abadía Retuerta winery. It now has over 30 years of history, as expert hands manage the vineyard by carefully looking after it and creating unique wines with their own Protected Designation of Origin.
Abadía Retuerta is a unique place where time stands still and feelings run high. Here, the past lives on in the present, and centuries of tradition and culture remain intact. It sits within an enclave bathed by the river Duero, which defines the traits of the surrounding terroir. Experts with great patience, know-how and anticipation really get the best out of the terrain: they respect the natural cycles and help the vines adapt to the austere climate of the region, in order to produce one of the estate’s most prized assets: its first-rate wine.
White grapes are used in two famous types of Spanish wine, Sherry and Cava, but we will limit this discussion to still whites. Let’s begin with perhaps the best known and most highly regarded internationally, Albariño . Produced in the region of Rías Baixas, just above Portugal in northwestern Spain, Albariño typically sees no or little oak and is medium to medium-plus in body. Aroma and flavor notes often include citrus and peach, often with subtle floral notes and a suggestion of sea spray, giving the wine a zesty feel. Often bottled as a single varietal, Albariño is sometimes blended with other indigenous grapes like Loureira and Treixadura. Try one of these Spanish whites from Forjas del Salnes.
Let’s look at a few other Spanish white wines. Godello also hails from northwestern Spain and presents a profile of grapefruit, minerality and a slight smoky quality. Enjoy a bottle from Bodegas Avancia. The region of Rueda, northwest of Madrid, is home to Verdejo , which makes refreshing, un-oaked white wines whose herbal vibrancy recalls Sauvignon Blanc . Protos makes a tasty version. Up north in the Basque region, we find the wine called Txakoli (sometimes called Txakolina). Pronounced “sha-ko-LEE,” it’s made from a local grape called Hondurrabi Zuri and is light, fresh, citrusy, dry … and with razor sharp acidity that makes it a fantastic partner with local seafood and tapas. Ameztoi Gertariako is a good Spanish white wine producer to check out.
The Penedѐs region, best known for the oceans of delicious Cava it sends to the world, also produces still Spanish whites, sometimes from international varieties like Chardonnay , and often from the same grapes used for Cava. These include Parellada, Xarel-lo and Macabeo. Avaline produces a fine example of Penedes white. Finally, we visit the Rioja region. While it is historically and internationally famous for its reds, Rioja also produces fine Spanish white wines. These are usually based on Viura (the local name for Macabeo) and make good everyday sippers, although some aged versions can be stunningly complex. A good place to start is the white Rioja from Bodegas Muga.
As you can see, Spanish white wines offer a vast opportunity for exploration!