Telmo Rodríguez

Rioja, Valdeorras, Toro, Spain

Telmo Rodriguez is one of Spain’s pioneer winemakers, advocating native grape varietals tied to the climates and conditions of their sites, and making world-class wines from undiscovered as well as known regions. Perhaps most impressive, while Telmo Rodriguez makes rare and limited wines of astonishing character and quality, his everyday wines have been equally praised, and widely recognized for the tremendous value they offer.

Telmo studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Bordeaux and was the winemaker at his family winery in Rioja, Remelluri, and then set off on his own in the early 1990s to discover new vineyards and regions all around Spain. He now makes a range of wines in diverse viticultural areas of Spain, with an emphasis on the following:

– Several of his vineyards are biodynamically farmed
– All vines are exclusively bush-trained, the traditional Spanish method
– Sites with exceptional terroir
– Grape varieties traditional to their regions
– Replanting only with massal selections

Telmo was among the first to make significant wines in Toro, Rueda, Valdeorras, Malaga, Alicante and Cigales. In these areas he uses native varietals, often grapes rediscovered such as Godello, Verdejo, Moscatel and Monastrell which do not have wide recognition. With other classically recognized varietals such Tempranillo, Garnacha and Carignan, he works with vines that are indigenous and reflect the character of their particular site. As a result, Telmo has been one of the leaders of the quality revolution with these varietals in up and coming areas such as Toro, as well as in the traditional areas of Rioja and Ribera del Duero.

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Wines

Dehesa Gago

Toro, Spain

Dehesa Gago is 100% Tinto de Toro (the local clone of Tempranillo). The intensity of this old vine fruit comes through even in this wine, vinified without oak, a pure expression. 

La Social Rioja

Rioja, Spain

La Social is a new and eminently approachable release from Telmo Rodriguez, made with grapes from trusted suppliers who follow Telmo's vine growing philosophy, as well as a small portion of estate grapes. Their aim with La Social is to produce a completely pure and authentic expression of Rioja - a delicious, unpretentious, perfect everyday wine to enjoy in a social setting. 

Basa

Rueda, Spain

Basa is one of the pioneering wines to show the expression of a grape variety, the "Verdejo" that adapted to a continental climate, giving rise to a direct, fresh and expressive wine.  This refreshing blend of the native varieties Verdejo and Viura from Rueda has year after year been named one of Spain's and the word's value white wines.

Almuvedre

Alicante, Spain

Almuvedre is a monovarietal wine from Monastrell. It represents the spirit of the Mediterranean with the southern and lumious expression that Monastrell manages to offer in a unique way. The vineyards are in Collado de Salinas, Madara, Falcones, Solaneta and Tumanes. Almuvedre is 100% Monastrell, a synonym for the Mourvedre of Provence.

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Reviews

    Telmo Rodriguez As Caborcas 2014 (95 WA)

    - "The reference for reds in Valdeorras is already on its fifth vintage with the 2014 As Caborcas. It was cropped from an average and healthy vintage for the region, from the same terraced vineyards planted with a mixture of old vines, mostly Mencía but also Merenzao (Trousseau), Sousón, Garnacha Tintorera, Godello and Brancellao. It fermented in a combination of stainless steel and 400-liter oak vats with wild yeasts and aged in large oak foudres for 15 months. It's fascinating to be able to compare three single vineyard reds from a relatively small region and see how different they are. To me As Caborcas is the one that feels most obviously young and closed and needs more time in the glass (and possibly more time in bottle, too). After 30 minutes in the glass, the nose starts to take off showing subtle floral aromas, elegant, nuanced and intriguing. The palate is terribly balanced, with refined tannins within the rusticity inherent to the region, with great purity and a very tasty finish with the stamp of the granite soils. 2,530 bottles were filled in May 2016." - Wine Advocate

People

Telmo Rodriguez

Owner / Winemaker

Telmo studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Bordeaux and was winemaker at his family winery in Rioja, Remelluri, before setting off on his own in the early 1990s to discover new vineyards and regions all around Spain. Telmo was among the first to make significant wines in Toro, Rueda, Valdeorras, Malaga, Alicante and Cigales. In these areas he uses native varieties, often rediscovered grapes such as Godello, Verdejo, Moscatel and Monastrell which do not have wide recognition. With other classic varieties such as Tempranillo, Garnacha and Carignan, he works with vines that are indigenous and reflect the character of their particular site. As a result, Telmo has been one of the leaders of the quality revolution with these varietals in up and coming areas such as Toro, as well as in the traditional areas of Rioja and Ribera del Duero.

Trade Materials

Telmo Rodríguez Basa 2017 Tech Sheet

Spec Sheet | PDF

Telmo Rodriguez is one of Spain’s pioneer winemakers, advocating native grape varietals tied to the climates and conditions of their sites, and making world-class wines from undiscovered as well as…

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