It was a lovely evening of wine and food marriage. Food was mainly “montaditos” (tiny slices of bread with a variety of food onto them) and wines were simply the stars of the evening. RUDELES is a tiny family winery located in the Ribera del Duero area in Spain. Two owners and three workers (plus the enologist) working on only 42 acres of bare soil, with vines that hardly get to their hips. This is an extremely dry area. Napa Valley looks like Borneo (the old one) in comparison!
The vinery makes 6 wines, one white wine and five reds. The white is anything but a perfume, no flower petals or mature fruit or cat urine here! The grape variety is the Albillo, it rests for some time in French oak barrels, it’s a strong wine for a white. The reds are an escalade of power and refinement, from a very entry-level one that, at the same price of my namesake disgusting Spanish wine, to the magnificent Cerro el Cuberillo, made from 110-year-old vines, 110% tempranillo…
I’m not a fan of similitudes between watches and cars or others of the same kind, but this vinery is rather like an independent watchmaker, they essentially don’t do it for money or just for money, but they put so much passion in the wines they create that, in my opinion, they may represent a valid and affordable alternative to the more celebrated Ribera del Duero.
Cheers guys!