Angel Rodriguez: One of Spain's most intriguing white wines from the ancient Martínsancho vineyard in Rueda

On a scale from 1 to 10 – with one being a modern winery set up and ten being medieval – Ángel Rodríguez’s joint rates about a 9.5. Tucked away in the backstreets of La Seca, this place isn’t so much a bastion of traditional winemaking—it’s an impenetrable fortress. There is only a single wine produced here; less than 2000 cases of a Verdejo that takes its name from a 17th century vineyard or majuelo called Martínsancho. The oldest vines in this ‘museum’ vineyard are pushing 200 years old and are the oldest Verdejo in the world. If you’re wondering, Verdejo is an ancient, indigenous variety to Rueda and has nothing to do with Verdello. The original, ancient Martínsancho plot was expanded in the 1970’s using massale cuttings from the ancient plot, yet those original vines still persist, producing tiny volumes of fruit, and looking like props from the Blair Witch Project.

The Martínsancho vineyard is something to behold; all old bush grown vines rooted in ancient alluvial gravels some 30 metres deep. It is managed organically, un-irrigated and cropped at very low levels.  Along with South Tyrol, Rueda is Europe’s highest vineyard. Up here in the Rueda tablelands, the harsh, continental climate and altitude ensure small crops of juicy, thick-skinned fruit… enviable raw materials by any measure.

Things get even more archaic when the fruit makes its way to the bodega. The cellars here, unusual for Spain, are underground, and the grapes are slow pressed into two huge glass-lined tanks where the juice ferments naturally before being transferred, via gravity, to the underground cellars for an undisturbed élevage in the huge, century old 5,000-litre oak botas. These cellars are extremely cold (they hold at 10 degree C) and this enables the Rodríguez clan to avoid sulphur during winemaking while the wine matures slowly on its lees. Each of the huge casks has a feather sticking out of it, which is... learn more