In La Seca (Valladolid), the legacy of Verdejo vines that the winegrower received, a few decades ago, as a family inheritance Javier Sanz I kept a jewel. A strain, solitary and dreamlike like the island of Barataria from ‘Don Quixote’, from which tight clumps of a red grape sprouted. The rarity aroused the curiosity of the winemaker and with it he started a genetic study at the University of Valladolid with which the ancestry of the wine was certified. this fruit they have called ‘Cinderella’.
It is estimated that it has been there at least since 1863, a date on which it is documented that Sanz’s great-grandfather – who today represents the fourth generation – registered his vineyards. A pre-phylloxera terrain that currently stands as a bastion of viticultural biodiversity with other almost extinct varieties such as Malcorta. This last one, white and clone of the Verdejo –and therefore within the DO–, it was forgotten in the area due to its low productivity and its complex harvesting – its woody stems prevented clean and simple cuts of its clusters.
The winemaker Javier Sanz.
The adventure began more than two decades ago and concluded with the inclusion, this same year, of the ‘Cinderella’ – named after Sanz himself – in the catalog of grapes accepted by the Wine Regulatory Council of the Rueda Denomination of Origin. . It has done so by adding it as the main variety along with Tempranillo in the production of red wines. That is, they can be used exclusively in the single varietal winemaking. A historical fact, since there were no previous genetic records of this new one. Until now she was completely unknown.
In this discovery that marks a new path for the DO, the Agrarian Technological Institute of Castilla y León and renowned professionals from the world of wine and the masters of wine Sarah Jane Evans, Pedro Ballesteros Almudena Alberca and the Catalan sommelier and disseminator Ramón Francas.
Grasshopper payment
The discovery of the ‘Cinderella’ occurred in the middle of the Pago de Grasshoppers that the Sanz family has been working on for more than a century and a half. Leticia Sanz, daughter of the winemaker who vinified it for the first time and in the fifth generation, remembers how it was named. «Since it was not found in any official record, they told us that we had to put it on ourselves. After turning it many times and seeing the underside of the vine leaves, with a grayish color, we think of ‘Cinderella’», he describes.
“When you see many plants of these strains, those muted tones are much more appreciated,” he adds. Since he “can remember” he remembers how that original strain – solitary in 2.27 hectares before it began to be grafted and reproduced – was a “recurring topic of conversation” in his family. “The clusters and grapes it produced were different from any other Javier had seen before,” they remember. The tenacity of the winemaker and the institutional support has resulted in fruit of the release of its second vintage to the marketfrom 2022 – 2021 was the first –, under the name ‘Colorado’.
“After years of work in the field and like ‘Cinderella’ in the story, she went from being unknown to occupying the place she deserves,” they say from the La Seca winery. «I dare to say that there is no winery in Spain that has as much diversity as us. We have eight minority varieties – such as the aforementioned Malcorta or Bruñal, also recognized this year by the DO as secondary ink– and some of them no one has, like Cinderella,” says Javier Sanz.
After this latest update of the Regulatory Council’s specifications – published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León on August 23 –, the Valladolid winegrower assures “that everyone is paying attention” to his wine. «It’s a spectacle. It is a great variety and we know it will work very well. And, it turns out, none of us have it but ourselves. With the support of the DO it will be valued much more,” he says.
Experts consider that the Rueda scenario will change significantly in the coming years with these changes. Especially in terms of its white wines, in which the change of some varieties already included in its catalog from secondary to main ones will be decisive. An end of the cycle in which Viura, Viognier and Chardonnay can be used to make white wines – as part of the minimum 75% that must be composed – along with Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc.
But monovarietals can also be made with them. A measure that, as explained by the regulatory body, responds to “an increasingly competitive global market.” Especially in white ones. In addition to these three mentioned as new main ones, they incorporated six new white grapes in the secondary category in that list: Grenache Blanca, Gewürztraminer, Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat of Gran Menudo, Riesling and Godello.
However, a recent resolution of the Vice-Ministry of PAC and Rural Development partially suspends the inclusion of the latter, – planted in Rueda since 1996 –, harshly criticized by the DO Bierzo – and a good part of Valdeorras, Monterrei and Ribeira Sacra in Galicia – for what they consider a aggression against their interests.
#Cinderella #forgotten #red #variety #joins #Rueda #wines
