This week, it was all about trying something new. Verdejo was a varietal I’d never heard of, much less tried. I had just settled into a new townhouse in Seattle. I had also bought my first cookbook ever and decided to cook my way through it. This week would make for a combination of all of these things.
While this marked the second wine I would try from the Alaia winemaker, it would be the first Verdejo for me. Verdejo is grown mostly in Spain and almost exclusively in the Rueda region. Outside of Spain, is not very well known, even with it being one of Spain’s most widely planted varietals.* Two main styles of Verdejo exist. One is crisp and more mineral with lime flavors and the other is a more heavy-bodied style achieved through oak barrel aging with creamy flavors.*
I was hoping this would prove to be one of the lighter style wines as it was already starting to get hot outside and I wanted to have something a little refreshing after working so hard to set up the new house. With everything around me being new, I was feeling much more inclined towards a “new” tasting wine.
This wine was from Castilla y León, Spain and sampled on June 13, 2018. The straw color was quite appealing next to the green glass bottle. It smelled like a very zesty lemon! After the shock of the lemony scent, I took another whiff and smelled something like what the air smells like before a thunderstorm. It was almost electric. I was listening to “Dancing In The Moonlight” by King Harvest. It had such a delightful first taste! It was a little high in acidity and made my mouth pucker. It tasted a bit like pineapple and was very well balanced. It was nearly perfectly so. Even with the hearty chicken and yams it paired well. I didn’t expect that at all!
I gave this wine a rating of 5.0. I loved it and will be singing the praises of the Verdejo vines for years to come. I absolutely couldn’t put it down. It was the perfect wine to start off my new life in Seattle and I’m so grateful to have picked this bottle to enjoy first. Don’t miss out on this one!
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