Esmeralda Garcia - Paraje Vallejo, Rueda, Spain (2019)

Aromas of quince, aromatic herbs and sumptuous mineral touches. On the palate the wine is intense, concentrated and robust. A dense and voluminous flavour with a long and exquisitely saline finish.

Hand selected berries with indigenous yeast fermentations and ageing 6 months in amphora. 

Esmeralda García is a young Spanish winemaker working exclusively with Verdejo in her hometown of Santiuste de San Juan Bautista after several stints learning her craft with some of Spain's leading natural winemakers.

The vineyards she tends have been in her family for centuries where the dry, sandy soils have allowed the pre-phylloxera vines to thrive on their original rootstocks for up to 210 years. 

Esmeralda has four sites that all vary in altitude and soil composition, allowing her to bottle several cuvées with strikingly different profiles and the arid climate enables her to work without pesticides or chemical additives in the vineyard and cellar. 

SantYuste is made of direct press Verdejo from 130+ year old vines planted on a mix of sand, slate and clay.