Why it matters
The producer
Ossian Vides y Vinos works with Verdejo in Nieva, a village in Segovia where vineyards average about 900 metres above sea level. Local grower Ismael Gozalo and Javier Zaccagnini, formerly director of the Ribera del Duero Regulatory Board, launched the project in 2005. The result is a three-bottle Verdejo range in which Quintaluna shows a fresher, lees-shaped style, Ossian draws on old vines and parcel work, and Capitel is the limited selection.
The Ruiz family acquired Ossian in January 2016. Since 2022, the estate has worked only with vineyards it owns, linking the fruit behind each label directly to its own holdings and long-term planting decisions.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Nieva lies within the Rueda appellation, yet Ossian labels its wines Vino de Tierra de Castilla y León rather than Rueda D.O. That distinction matters when reading the bottle: Verdejo is still the grape and Nieva the vineyard setting, but the classification gives Ossian room to present the wines under Castilla y León.
At roughly 900 metres, the vineyards occupy a high inland setting. That altitude is part of the route to the crisp acidity found in Quintaluna and the firm, persistent shape described in Ossian 2023, rather than a broad, soft white-wine profile.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Organic work and plant extracts are used in the vineyard, while natural yeasts carry fermentation in the cellar. For Verdejo, those choices leave room for the grape’s herbal and citrus side rather than covering it with overt winemaking flavour.
Quintaluna is aged in stainless steel and worked on its lees. Lees are spent yeast cells left with the wine after fermentation; their contact adds a creamy middle to the palate, while stainless steel keeps the acidity crisp and the fruit direct. Ossian 2023 is vinified by parcel and given extended ageing, a slower treatment that builds more weight, toast and persistence around old-vine Verdejo.
Wines to know
The range in view
Quintaluna is the opening wine in Ossian’s three-label range. Stainless steel and lees contact place creamy texture beside citrus, herbal and saline notes, with crisp acidity carrying the finish. It is the most immediate expression of the estate’s Verdejo without the longer élevage of Ossian.
Ossian is the principal old-vine wine, made from ungrafted, mature Verdejo and assembled from separately handled parcels. In the 2023 vintage, herbal and aniseed aromas sit with toasted notes and a saline edge; the palate has more structural weight and a longer finish than Quintaluna. Further bottle age was considered useful for the wine to settle.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Ossian 2023. It brings together the producer’s central materials in one bottle: ungrafted old-vine Verdejo from Nieva, parcel-based vinification and extended ageing. Herbal, aniseed, toasted and saline notes arrive over a weightier palate, with firm acidity and a long finish. It is a bottle for a little patience, since the available tasting note found that further time in bottle would help its elements come together.