Cantayano Blanco - Verdejo

The 2021 Cantayano is their entry-level white from different vineyards in their village La Seca. The aim is to show the naked Verdejo grape with no makeup and showing the climate and soil. 2021 was one of the coldest years in recent times, but mildew decimated the crop, which resulted in an early harvest starting at the end of August. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured with the lees in tank for six to eight months. It was also a year of mildew and low yields, and the wine finished with 13.8% alcohol but has very good lemony freshness and acidity. All of the whites have full malolactic, which is a little unusual in the zone, but it's the result of working with low sulfur and doing a somewhat oxidative vinification. It's expressive, varietal (with textbook notes of freshly cut grass), faintly balsamic and clean, developing notes of aniseed with time in the glass. It has volume and ripe flavors—Verdejo can give powerful wines—with a gentle texture and a tasty finish. 28,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2022. 91+/100 Luis Gutiérrez

The Cantalapiedra family is in the heart of Rueda, in the village of La Seca, but like many small producers, they sell their wines with the wider Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León appellation despite the fact that they are textbook whites from Rueda. They started bottling their own wine in 2014, as before they sold all their grapes. They now produce wines from a great part of their 21 hectares of vineyards, worked organically for over 15 years already, and they still sell the rest of the grapes to other wineries in the region, something that they stopped in 2022. They have bought some more vineyards of ancient ungrafted vines in Alcazarén, Hornillos de Eresma and Toro, where they also purchase some grapes. They produce 95,000 bottles per year.