We’re delighted to have recently released the 2 styles that we produce from Sauvignon Blanc.
Menade Sauvignon was the very first of our 2017s to be released, simply brims with varietal character; and even as a must was notably exuberant. The finished wine is full of zest and vitality with expressive notes of passion fruit and papaya not to mention basil and coriander attributes.
Dulce Menade, on the other hand, also reflects the typicity of the variety but is altogether more exotic and characterized by white fruits. The key to its success and popularity is essentially the radical interplay between its marked sweetness (given no less than 80 grammes a litre of residual sugar) and its acidity (due to our region’s climatology and soils). This makes it the perfect aperitif and an ideal match for foie gras and blue cheeses.
Nobody in the family can remember a vintage as early as that of 2017, when we decided to start harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc on August the 16th. This lies primarily in one major parcel on the very fringes of Rueda village; but even here, within a small radius, there are major differences in soil, orientation and (geo)morphology with one stretch of relatively flat terrain and a further one on a gentle incline. Selection is therefore, as ever, key and many small plots are therefore picked and vinified separately.
Fermentation is effected, as with all our wines, on the basis of wild/natural yeasts and in stainless steel. Menade Sauvignon, following alcoholic fermentation, is usually left for a short time on its fine lees; whereas with Dulce Menade we arrest fermentation by a radical temperature reduction in order that its sweetness be entirely natural.
Menade Sauvignon is held in high regard above all in export markets given how much personality it has and how different it is to both the classical offerings of France and to the multitude of New World renderings.
Dulce Menade continues to be a great hit with younger audiences who are, by and large, only beginning to get into wine and enjoy something that’s fun and easy drinking.
