2015 Telmo Rodriguez “Basa”

2015 Telmo Rodriguez “Basa” $11

Where: Rueda D.O., Spain

Who: Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez

What: 90% Verdejo and 10% Viura

Tastes like: Round, floral, easy drinking wine

What to pair with: Chicken, seafood, either of the vegetable sides right now

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 centre of outstanding Spanish craftwork that has all but disappeared.

Rueda is the second area Telmo and Pablo went to explore, and it was here that the Basa project 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. This is how the projects in Malaga, with Molino Real, and in Cebreros , with Pegaso, emerged.