Ossian Vides Y Vinos is an ambitious project by 4 highly committed winemakers in the Rueda region. And what might have happened to the initiator Javier Zaccagnini, long since a winemaker with a legendary reputation with his Bodega Aalto, when he met the winegrower Ismael Gozalo in search of the perfect vineyards near Nieva, who showed him an incredible and unique treasure. Plots of vines between 100 and 200 years old, many of them still with their original roots from the time before the great phylloxera catastrophe. Such vines are absolutely rare and precious, but only produce small grapes and very low yields. However, if treated correctly, they produce a brilliant wine. Another friend was consulted. And the project, which was launched in 2005, took off. In 2013, the Ruiz family, who had long enjoyed great success in the Ribera del Duero region with the Pago de Carraovejas winery, joined the project. Today, these vineyard jewels are cultivated consistently and certified organically to protect the vines and nature. And they are of course planted with the local, indigenous Verdejo variety. As big Burgundy fans, the quartet naturally wanted nothing more than to raise this variety to the high level of the best Chardonnays in terms of expression and complexity, without of course copying them. Only wines made from the Verdejo grape variety are produced here, but they really pack a punch. Grown in the extreme climate with warm summers and very cold winters, and also due to the location of the vineyards at these airy heights, they shine with a delicate but intense and complex character, underpinned by an animating acidity and a fine, tense minerality.
