Basa Rueda Blanco 2014

Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodriquez

Compañía   de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez In 1994, Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodríguez, along with a third oenologist, created a Garnacha from old bush vineyards in Navarra. The wine was called Alma (soul). This is how the business started, originally under the name of Compañía de Vinos de La Granja. The name was a declaration of intent: it made it clear that the company would be producing more wines in the future and contained a homage to La Granja, the famous glassworks, a center of outstanding Spanish craftwork that has all but disappeared. Even though the wine was successful, the increase in grape prices during the 1990s and the lack of commitment from the local co-operatives, forced the company to leave the area and focus on other projects. Rueda is the second area Telmo and Pablo went to explore, and it was here that the Basaproject was born. Back then, they exported all of their wines. But with the creation of other wines such as Aran, Molino Real and Lanzaga, the need for a single umbrella brand arose. The company at this stage belonged entirely to Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodriguez, who decided to call it "Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez", (the Telmo Rodriguez Wine Company) to take advantage of Telmo's position in the wine world, as well as his pioneering work with Spanish viticulture.From the start, the aim of the company has been to use native Spanish varieties. This philosophy originally differed from the on-going interest in the planting of foreign varieties, pretty much in every Spanish vineyard region. Another noteworthy initiative, again from the earliest days of the business, is the recovery of abandoned or forgotten vineyards.

Basa Rueda Blanco 2014   The 2014 Basa was bottled in December 2014. It's mostly Verdejo with some 8% Viura, fermented in stainless steel and bottled unoaked. The wine is clean, focused, and fruit-driven with some balsamic notes of bay leaf and fennel. The palate is quite light with good acidity, and is clean and sharp. This is a reliable, nicely-priced Rueda, showing that volume, affordability and quality are possible to combine. 89 Points eRobortParker.com #221