The 2009 Tienen Duende (loosely translates to “has soul”) Verdejo is a Spanish import wine for the Supervalu store chain, which includes Albertsons, Biggs, Cub Foods, Sav-a-lot, IGA and up to a couple of days ago, Jewel Foods. This is a Verdejo sourced from vineyards in the Segovia region of Castilla y Leon in Northwest Spain. The Verdejo grape is indigenous to the Rueda region of Castilla y Leon, where it was made into an almost sherry type wine, but modern wine making and vineyard techniques have allowed the wines to become crisp, but full bodied, summer food wines. The alcohol content is 12%.
The color is a clear, bright, orange blossom honey yellow. The nose is pretty, dried apricots, melon, lemon chiffon, a little buttercream frosting and lime. This Verdejo is on the light side of things, crisp with delicate flavors. It starts with pear, peach, grapefruit and honeydew melon. The mid palate brings a soft touch of minerality and tangerine mixed with banana. The acidity is evident, but well balanced, it does not make itself known until the finish and helps propel a light, delicate finish along for a very respectable length of time.
Here is a wine tip : If you want a White wine for warm summer days and you want to pair the wine with seafood and/or cool, exotic cheese, look for wines from countries that 1) usually have warm weather and 2) eat a lot of seafood and cheese. This is the smoking gun method for finding wines and it works. You might not be familiar with the Verdejo grape, but they are excellent summer wines and pair very, very well with Spanish style cuisine. Italy is another location where grape varietals that may be unknown to you are extraordinarily good wines with the summer heat and Mediterranean food. The 2009 Tienen Duende Verdejo is a solid, tasty summer wine and just the ticket to sip while munching on some Tapas small plates.
