Why it matters
The producer
Pedro Escudero grew up farming grapes in Rueda, selling fruit rather than wine. In 2002, he and his wife Paula changed that. They founded a winery on 110 hectares of family vineyards in La Seca, a village at the centre of Rueda's growing area, and began bottling Verdejo under the Escudero name. That founding decision shaped the range: two distinct expressions of the same native grape, a Sauvignon Blanc, and a cellar approach built around what the vine brings naturally rather than what corrections can add.
Rueda is a DO appellation in Castilla y León on the high plateau south of the Duero river. Verdejo is the native white grape the appellation is built around, and La Seca is one of its most planted and consistently regarded subzones. Escudero sits at that address with vines old enough to express it directly.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
La Seca sits on the Castilian plateau at roughly 700 metres above sea level, in Rueda's core vineyard area near the Duero. The continental climate here is extreme by Spanish standards: long, cold winters and hot, dry summers with sharp temperature drops at night. That diurnal swing preserves acidity in the fruit and keeps aromatic freshness in white wines despite the summer heat.
The plateau position means low rainfall and bright sun, both of which concentrate flavour in old vines that can no longer carry heavy crops. Rueda built its reputation on Verdejo grown in these conditions, and La Seca represents that combination of altitude, warmth, and sparse soils at its most legible.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All 110 hectares are in La Seca, farmed from vines between 40 and 50 years old. The pebble and limestone-clay soils limit water retention and push root depth, producing small berries with concentrated juice.
In the cellar, the two Verdejo bottlings are made by very different methods. The Maker Verdejo is spontaneously fermented using only the yeasts that arrive on the grapes from the vineyard, in small stainless steel vats held at low temperatures. After fermentation, the wine rests on its lees for at least six months, with three months of active stirring (bâtonnage) to build texture and integrate the yeast-derived richness. One to two months of bottle ageing follows before release. No commercial yeasts, no additions beyond what the grape and the cellar naturally provide.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range has three bottles, all white, built around Verdejo with a Sauvignon Blanc alongside.
The Maker Verdejo is the entry into the estate's natural-yeast, lees-driven approach. Herbal and spicy on the nose, with fresh fruit and a juicy palate. The six months on lees give it a slightly creamy mid-palate weight without losing the freshness that La Seca altitude preserves. Verdejo's bitter almond finish closes cleanly.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with The Maker Verdejo. It is fermented with the vineyard's own yeasts, aged six months on lees in stainless steel, and released with no oak influence. What lands in the glass is the La Seca terroir without overlay: herbal and spicy on the nose, firm acidity, a lees-softened mid-palate, and Verdejo's bitter almond finish dry and clean at the end. It is the direct expression of the 2002 founding decision: old vines, natural process, the grape's own character in the bottle.