Our wine fridge was getting quite empty and being Rueda just 90 minutes away from Madrid and with the lovely days of September, we did a small road trip to fill the white wine gaps for the family
We decided to try different things, so we went to a vinyard, went to another vinyard that has expanded into a restaurant and shop and also to visit a large shop in Rueda that carries many wines
First we went to Bodegas Naia. Naia 2007 and 2008 have been some of my favourites whites in Spain in the past years. Although we are in the middle of the harvest so it was difficult to even buy the wine there today, I had an interesting chat with one of the staff members around the several wines that they produce, their distribution (Naia is actually fairly well known in the US and it is well distributed there) and other challenges. Also as usual I did chat about why we keep not investing in Spain on creating an experience around wine and the vinyards where you can go, taste wine, have food, visit the winery and more. The wasn´t an answer around this topic although Cristina (from Naia) have been in New Zealand and was talking about how interesting it was to see this concept in action.
This lead us to Prado Rey Winery which has recently open a restaurant (Colores de Rueda), a very nice shop and does tours of the cellars, so yes the full experience. The shop was beautiful, personnel was knowledgable and I did like the presentation of the products. However it wasn´t that easy to do a wine tasting and only after we ate at the restaurant we got to try on eof their wines.
Prado Rey Verdejo 2008 This wine, with appealing greenish tones, features varietal aromas from Verdejo on a complex background and exotic fruit with aniseed hints. It gives an sunctuous, fleshy, fat impression in the mouth with a very pleasant aftertaste. It dies too early into the mouth, which is in the other hand very common on young verdejos. A likable wine that goes easy with fish and seafood. A decent alternative for an Albariño
They are also making a combination Prado Rey Birlocho. A very good priced wine for 3,5 Eur that combines the Verdejo grapes (similar as the 2008 Verdejo) with Viura. Did not have the chance to try it but bought a couple of bottles to do so soon
The restaurant "Colores de rueda" was actually very nice, rich cuisine, good choices (including a very good fresh fish selection which being Rueda deep Castille is always remarkable). The service was efficient and we did enjoy the meal and we tried some of their wines. I will stop here more often but they should try to do some menus where they combine their wines (or at least make wine combination suggestions) with some specific plates
In terms of their wines, as most of the wineries Prado Rey Winery is developing a high end version of their classic verdejo wine. The same was the case at Naia (with the Naiades). This type of wine is staying for 9 months (instead of 4 months as the other Verdejo varieties) in the barrels, creating richer and more complex wine flavours. In the case of Prado Rey PR3. Using 3 types of different central european barrels. The yellow colour is stronger in a way greenish, very fresh and brilliant. I could smell some toffee and some fruits (peach maybe) que fermentan en tres tipos de barrica centroeuropea de 300 litros. Es de color amarillo pajizo tirando a verdoso, limpio y brillante.
Tiene una gran nariz, en primer termino salen tostados muy finos y minerales, algo de salinidad como a mar, luego salen frutas tropicales y frutas de hueso ( melocoton,albaricoque). En boca tiene buena acidez, te llena la boca, es glicerico, espeso, balsamico, con un final seco y algo amargo, pero muy agradable.
Me ha gustado.
