ESMERALDA GARCÍA
Segovia
Castilla-Y-Leon
After a few stints with leading winemakers in the area, young Spanish winemaker Esmeralda García returned to her hometown of Santiuste de San Juan Bautista to tend her family’s old Verdejo vineyards. Here the dry, sandy soils have allowed for vines to thrive on their original rootstocks and she estimates many of them are over 200 years old (meaning they even predate the arrival of phylloxera in Spain in the late 19th century).
Esmeralda’s four sites all vary in altitude and soil composition, allowing her to bottle several cuvées with strikingly different profiles. The arid climate enables her to work without pesticides or chemical additives and in the cellar she initiates fermentation with native yeasts only.
The Rueda denomination has evolved a lot over recent decades, now allowing for the inclusion of many international varieties. As Rueda continues to modernise and adapt to international palates, the riveting wines from Esmeralda’s ancient Verdejo vineyards seem almost to be of great historical importance.
Santyuste
Vintage 2022
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV 13.5%
Soils Sand, Gravel, Slate
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Direct pressed fruit feeds into stainless steel tanks to ferment spontaneously with the exclusive use of indigenous yeasts. Aged on fine lees for 9 months and bottled without filtration nor fining.
Tasting Note This is Esmeralda’s village wine and flagship of the winery. This is a blend of all the parcels of the estate and a great introduction to her a single vineyards. The 2022 is a beautiful vintage with great mineral depth but also with a beautiful tension and notes dried citrus, toast, sesame seeds and sage.
El Carrascal
Vintage 2021
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Sand, Gravel
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking One step above the entry-level SantYuste are a range of four whites sourced from specific sites in the village. El Carrascal represents the most powerful and muscular expression of the ‘Vi de Paraje’ range. Grapes undergo a short skin maceration before passing through a vertical press. They are later fermented and aged for 6 months on fine lees in 500-litre clay vessels.
Tasting Note El Carrascal is one of Esmeralda’s single vineyards which lies at higher altitude in a sun-drenched, plateau-shaped area with distinctive gravelly soils. The result wine is more powerful and structured, combining beautifully balanced aromatics with lingering citrus flavours.
Vallejo
Vintage 2021
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Sand
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Vallejo is the second expression of Verdejo focusing on a more powerful, richer style of the variety. Fruit follows the exact same vinification and ageing as seen for the other parcellaire wines - brief maceration followed by gentle pressing and ageing in tinajas (Spanish amphorae).
Tasting Note Similarly to El Carrascal, it offers depth and concentration with generous fruit.
Vayuste
Vintage 2021
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Fine sand, sandstone
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Lightly crushed fruit spends a few hours on the skins before pressing into clay vessels where alcoholic fermentation takes place. Ageing is in the very same 500L amphorae and lasts for a minimum of 6 months before the wine is bottled without any additives nor filtration.
Tasting Note Grapes are sourced from a lower area located between the river and a pine trees forest with beach-like fine sands resulting from marine fossilisation. As such, Vayuste shows a very different expression of the variety. It is delicate and elegant, offering plenty of tension with a briny and creamy quality at once.
Fuentecilla
Vintage 2021
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Sand, alluvial soils
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Fully de-stemmed grapes are briefly macerated on the skins before being pressed into Spanish clay amphorae to ferment dry using indigenous yeasts. Ageing lasts a minimum of 6 months and bottling is without any filtration nor fining. No sulphites are added either throughout any steps of vinification.
Tasting Note Fuentecilla is an area rich in water that flows down towards the river. The thin sand on the topsoil creates an expressive yet very linear profile.
Michika
Vintage 2020
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Fine sand, sandstone
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Michika, alongside Michiko, is part of a limited production experiment with flor ageing. For Michika, a small portion of the wine produced from Vayuste is aged for an extra year in old Sherry casks where a thing layer of flor forms.
Tasting Note There is a lovely texture and sapidity characterising this wine. The fruit combines with elegant nutty notes ending on a savoury mineral finish.
Michiko
Vintage 2020
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Sand, Gravel
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Michiko, alongside Michika, is part of a limited production experiment with flor ageing. In the case of Michiko, the fruit comes entirely from El Carrascal site and after undergoing the exact same vinification as seen for the mono-parcel wines it is aged for a year in old Sherry casks.
Tasting Note Complex and robust, offering citrus flavours blended with attractive spices and a delicate oxidative notes. Finish is saline and long.
Miñañas
Vintage 2021
Style White
Region Rueda, Castilla-Y-Leon
Varieties Verdejo
ABV
Soils Sand, Gravel, Sandstone
Farming Organic, Biodynamic practices
Winemaking Miñañas is Esmeralda’s cru, from a minuscule single parcel of ancient pre-phylloxera own rooted vines of an average age of 220yo. Esmeralda only makes 500 bottles a year of this wine. The grapes are fully de-stemmed and briefly macerated in 600L chestnut barrels before being pressed into Spanish clay amphorae to spontaneously ferment and age for 8 months.
Tasting Note