One of the very few lees- and oak-aged Verdejos from Rueda, Edición Limitada Verdejo 2016 is the result of Ramón Bilbao’s decade-long search to find a white wine with all the elegance and freshness of its Rioja reds.
The search saw winemaker Sara Bañuelos experiment with different vinification methods, from lees-stirring to cold fermentation, and ageing in every size from 225l barriques to 4,100l concrete tanks!
This white is made from 19-year-old vines on the 60-hectare Finca las Amedias vineyard and was aged for eight months on its lees in French and Hungarian oak. Only a limited amount of numbered bottles have been released – just over 24,000.
Greenish-yellow in colour, this medium-intensity wine is clean, fresh, bright, and produces tears on the glass. It has an intense and rich aroma of citrus fruits with balsamic notes like sandalwood and mint, with more subtle aromas of chocolate and baked goods. In the mouth, it is oily, with fresh and creamy acidity. Citric fruits reappear in the finish, combined with spices like white pepper.
‘Whether we make our wines in Rioja or Rueda, we will always look to push boundaries and go beyond the “accepted” ways of doing things,’ said Bodegas Ramón Bilbao’s head winemaker Rodolfo Bastida.
