Winemaker Notes
This is the winery's emblematic wine. A wine that comes exclusively from their ecological estate Quinta San Diego. Each of the plots is hand-harvested and then the lees are fermented and aged separately in French oak barrels.
100% Verdejo
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Belondrade y Lurton is showing superb, pure, crystalline, clean, pure and expressive, delicate, elegant and subtle. The oak feels perfectly integrated despite being a very young wine. It has notes of white flowers, orange peel, hints of peach and dry hay and is quite varietal, with a faint bitter twist on the finish that, to me, is a textbook descriptor of the Verdejos from yesteryear.
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Wine Spectator
Fragrant and leesy on the nose, this is fine and silky on the palate. A bold and expressive array of creamed melon and peach fruit, chopped macadamia nut, spun honey and lemon curd notes are enlivened by pinpricks of fleur de sel and tangerine zest. The lingering finish shows accents of pickled ginger, vanilla, chamomile and beeswax. Drink now through 2031. 8,500 cases made, 300 cases imported.
Captivating and full of character, Verdejo grows with great success in Rueda, Spain and virtually nowhere else in Europe. It has become so trendy in Spain since the turn of the century that plantings have also increased tremendously. Somm Secret—Contrary to what some may think, it is actually not related to the Portugese variety with a very similar name, Verdelho. In fact, DNA profiling suggests it may be a sibling of Godello, another native of NW Spain.
Rueda is located along the banks of the Duero River in Spain’s Castilla y León region, just a 2-hour drive north of Madrid. While winemaking in this area goes back to the 12th century, it was in the 1980s that the region was granted Denominación de Origen (D.O.) status. Today, more than 70 wineries call Rueda home. This national favorite is the top-selling white wine in Spain.
Notable facts Rueda’s main grape variety, Verdejo, gets it distinct complexity from stressful growing conditions and mineral-rich soil. Think of Verdejo as a fuller-bodied and more aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. A lush and smooth character with perfectly balanced acidity means Rueda wines pair well with seafood, fresh salads and spicy food, but are also great on their own.