WBW#35-Viña Mocen Verdejo Special Selection

Bodegas Antaño, Viña Mocen Verdejo Special Selection, DO Rueda, 2006 This is one juicy beast! A lot of citrus notes, lemon candies, a whiff of aniseed and, on second plan, some herbaceous touches in the nose. Ever rubbed a buxus and then smelled your hand, it is this kind of herbaceous smell I sniff. A fresh and funky nose, that’s for me a pole position start.

In the mouth I get a tingly acidity, very clean and neat and a fattiness that shows good balance combined with the acidity. Again zesty lemon and grapefruit notes and that jazzy buxus feel mixed with some aniseed. This is clearly a “WYSIWYG” wine, what you smell is what you get. Nicy, nicy.

Heavily recommended with some good weather. And after a refreshing glass of Cava…

Conclusion: good bang for the buck! Gimme another glass and quick!

I must confess, I dig verdejo [VER-DE-GÓ]. As of the first time I tasted this grape it put a smile on my face. Actually, this great white grape was on its own responsible for putting the DO (“Denominación de Origin”) Rueda on the wine map. Rueda is located in Castilla y Léon, the northwest of Spain. Just head for Valladolid and around this town you will find the most important appellations, such as Ribera del Duero, Toro and the one on which we focus here, Rueda.

The rise of verdejo all started in the seventies, when Bodegas Marqués de Riscal, a Rioja based winery, was looking to expand towards white wines. Paco Hurtado de Amazaga, owner of the winery, didn’t like much the white viura variety of the Rioja. Too dull in his opinion. Therefore, he was looking into other possibilities. And here he did a great move. He invited his professor and friend, Emile Peynaud, the great French oenologist, to give him a helping hand on his search. So together they discovered verdejo in the Rueda and the beginning of the raise of verdejo was marked.

Marqués de Riscal started soon to build a winery in Rueda and was the first to introduce over there steel vats. The result: a crispy aromatic white that soon was going to conquer the world.

Nowadays, you can find a lot of interesting to outstanding verdejo wines. The ones I have tasted and enjoyed are, of course, Marqués de Riscal, Mantel Blanco by Álvarez y Díez, José Pariente of Dos Victorias, Palacio de Bornos, and many others.

Worth noting is that region is also responsible for some great sauvignon blanc wines.

Wine: Bodegas Antaño, Viña Mocen Verdejo Special Selection, DO Rueda, 2006
Shop: Mondovino (Belgium – Wijnegem)
Price: 8.26 EUR (11.26 USD)

Have a nice verdejo today!
bart

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