Telmo is an avid surfer and the first thing he mentioned was that he was escaping the wine world the following day in search of the famous wave Rodiles found in northern coastal city of Asturias. As someone originally from California, it was music to my ears to know this about a man so influential in the Spanish wine industry. In fact, the more I learned about Telmo, the more I realized that the art of surfing happens to be very in line with the art of Telmo’s winemaking. In order to be a good surfer, you must first be aware that you are not the one in control – the 15 foot wave coming at you is. A surfer must find a balance between respecting nature, knowing how to catch the wave and, once this is met, simply enjoying the ride. 

With wine, Telmo is adamant about respecting nature. So much so that all of his wineries are organic and a few are biodynamic. Respecting Spanish traditions, Telmo sticks to the old style bush vines instead of the world wide popular style of trellising which, according to him, aren’t interesting and destroy the landscape. The revival of indigenous Spanish grapes are also very important to Telmo, who has been very outspoken against the colonization of international grapes in Spain. All of this, in addition to small size wineries that emphasize the “human” element in winemaking, allows Telmo to not just make good organic wine, but real wines with real tastes; wines that are easy, honest and good quality for the money.

Telmo also happens to be a big lover of art and a key player within the art and cultural organization La Fabrica located in Madrid. While writing some wine stories for La Fabrica’s art house magazine Matador, Telmo also enjoys directing art and wine projects such as a recent “literary tasting;” consisting of pairing wines with selected literary works including a passage from Shakespeare. Participatingin the art crowd is essential for Telmo who believes that it’s important to seek inspiration from non-wine people, and to mix it up, because after all, “life is a lot of things. Not just wine.”

Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez, S.L.

El Monte s/n

01308 Lanciego (Álava)

Spain

Phone +34 945 628 315

Fax +34 945 628 314

info@telmorodriguez.com

I was only in Spain for a week and I wanted to take things easy for my last days in Europe. While I was planning on passing the time by checking out the Spanish queso scene and filling up on tapas, my host Amy suggested that I check out a nearby winery named Ossian. They are one of the leading organic wineries in Spain, only produce white wine made with the indigenous Verdejo grape and are doing some very cool stuff with compost. Sounds great! I’m there. After two buses, and one giant pastry for breakfast, I arrived at Ossian, located outside the tiny village of Nieva in the Rueda DO. 

Ossian is owned by Javier Zaccagnini and Ismael Gozalo, whose family has been making wine in the area for generations. In fact, winemaking in Nieva dates back to the 11th century when monks used to make wine in the monastery – Ossian still uses the church’s old bodega to house barrels. Even though winemaking is nothing new for small village, Ossian is definitely a unique and unconventional project all of its own. The small winery of 33 hectares is only five years old but its Ossian 2007 has already been awarded 97 points by Spanish Wine Guides Penin and Andres Proensa and the award of “Best Wine in Spain,” the first time this has gone to a white wine.

Here are some other unique qualities of Ossian: 

White Winemaking: Indigenous Spanish Verdejo grapes grow on pre-Phylloxera bush vines in sandy soil. Only yellow grapes, not green, are picked at peak ripeness with 2-3% dried raisins for concentrated sugar and complex flavors. Grapes are then pressed in whole bunches (similar to Champagne) and receive cold maturation for just a few hours to bring out fruit flavors. The pH is also very low usually ranging from 2.8 – 3.1, which results in a slow maturation rate that will help develop fruit flavors and conserve quality over the time.

Unfiltered White Wine: Yes, Ossian filters its wine, however filtering occurs only 10 tens days before bottling for as much complex flavor development as possible. Though in the perfect Ossian wine world, their wine wouldn’t be filtered at all. According to Ismael, when wine is filtered, the lees (proteins) that are removed also in effect, remove the “life” in the wine. So, the more time lees has contact with the wine, there is more opportunity for a slow evolution in flavor development and also the possibility of a longer shelf life. 

A Bottle For Each Crop: Spain makes it difficult for a bodega to have more than two or three wines (usually separated into categories of white and red or low and high price point). However, Ismael believes that each of his 38 parcels of vineyards are so unique that he would love to make a separate wine for each, creating the ultimate representation of Ossian’s terroir. 

Biostatics: The Ossian vineyards are certified organic, so when I asked Ismael about his thoughts on biodynamics, his answer was, “To be honest, I don’t understand biodynamics at all. So, I’m in the works of creating my own version of working with agriculture naturally. It’s called Biostatics. Say wha? Biostatics was originally created by Ismael’s partner Javier. Unfortunately I didn’t get the full scope on Biostatics but keep a look out for it as the next thing in natural agriculture.

Visit Ossian online at www.ossian.es.

Thierry Casse of Domaine de Barbazan

Everyone is familiar with the great wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. But when I had the chance to work with a producer in the small Madiran wine region in the south west of France, I jumped at the opportunity. It’s gorgeous, and the quiet countryside is overlooked by the huge and majestic Pyrenees mountains. The wine region historically supported the mountain workers with wine as extra calories to fill up on for the cold. On a clear day the view of vineyards with snow topped mountains in the distance is just heavenly.

Madiran is known for the Tannant grape which is, like its name suggests, extremely tannic. Because of this, traditional Madiran wines made with Tannant were aged for at least four years before consumption, but the use of modern micro-oxygenation has enabled winemakers to get their wines on the shelves after only one.

Madiran – Vieilles Vignes

Domaine de Barbazan, the only organic vineyard in Madiran and a petite operation of just five hectares, is a one man show run by Thierry Casse. Thierry likes to keep things simple by living in a non-renovated 18th century farm house, working with wooden farm tools from the turn of the century and driving a tractor from the 50s. As a result, seeing the whole overall simplicity of Thierry’s work style is to experience how wine in France has been made for hundreds of years.

The star of Barbazan is Madiran – Vieilles Vignes (Old Vineyards). The wine is produced from vines planted before 1900 and are thought to be some of the few lasting vineyards in the country that were not destroyed by Phylloxera, a plant parasite that wiped out more than half of the vineyards in France in 1865. Even without the impressive history, the wine itself is amazing. Rich, but balanced, complex but easily drinkable, the experience of Madiran – Vieilles Vignes brought to mind comparisons of a finely aged Barolo with just the right amount of French funk. In conclusion, a happy discovery that definitely made the trip to Madiran worth it.

How was the 2009 harvest? Do you learn something new every year?

Of course I do. Things are new and old at the same time. Nature is all connected, and anything that you do on one side, you will see the result on the other side. You have to have a lot common sense, but man does not live with common sense anymore. Most of the time we are so far away from it. So luckily for me, I learned more common sense.

This year I made a few trials with the biodynamic preparation 501. It enhances the effects of light and usually it is avoided in dry, hot countries. And this was a very hot and dry year for us. You would think the plants where I sprayed would suffer more than the ones I didn’t because they were absorbing more light. In fact, it was the other way around.

This tells me the energy of the sun is a regulator, like when you are full of energy you don’t feel cold, stress or tiredness. You just are plentiful. The sun is the energy of the plant. When you enhance the sun’s ability to increase this energy, you are enhancing everything demanded by the vintage. When you are weak, you are more susceptible to disease. When you are strong, you are more resistant.

We had good weather, so it was easy to pick and the grapes had rich flavors, acidity, and sugar. They had everything. There were also a lot of grapes. Everyone thinks that small yields are beautiful and wants to reduce. But in our situation there were a lot of grapes and they were good. So nature can teach us with a bit of irony. 

Tenuta di Valgiano was established in 1993 and is already the leading winery in Lucca. What has that journey been like?

Simply put, very tiring. Valgiano at first was nothing. A nice, but ruined property. It took a lot of energy to build the team, the structures and find out what the vines could produce. When you have a great terroir you want to create a great wine of the terroir. You’re not producing something simple and sweet for the market. We had to defend ourselves from the media at certain stages and point out and protect our beliefs. 

In the beginning it’s all big steps and afterwards you look at the details. This fine tuning is the most difficult part and can take centuries. However, in today’s world you are not given centuries. When biodynamics is as good as it has been for us, you become a part of its army. People say that biodynamics is all bullshit, but you have to fight. It’s not really a crusade, because you’re not attacking anyone that does conventional agriculture. Instead, I’m just defending my beliefs and showing what has happened at Valgiano with biodynamic agriculture. And no one can contest me because it’s a reality they can see. 

Who were some of your mentors?

Julian Castagna was my first mentor, though today we might not do the same thing. But biodynamics is really about freedom. My next mentor was Alex Podolinksky who is the finest man I have met on earth. In two hours he can change your life forever and give you such an amazing world view, so broad and complete, that your life before almost disappears. It’s like you’re in kindergarten again. 

How would you explain your concept of biodynamics?

The biggest problem with biodynamics in today’s world is that it’s not possible to state or describe. Its almost an illusion. Biodynamics is really about the preparation. The only thing you can describe is the way you prepare, store and distribute it in the soil. And then everything is up to the farmer; the sensibility and the way to adapt to a situation. So this makes it very difficult to catch and write in block letters.

But the preparations are revolutionary and no one understands how evolutionary it is. The idea that the farm can do well without buying anything. Even if you use organic agriculture, you will probably need to buy manure. So then you have to have a huge truck, which is polluting and creates traffic problems and so on. With biodynamics, you can mimic the function of manure with just 100 grams of humus, which is nothing. You can do it on your own farm with one cow on 40 hectares of land.

It’s so easy and makes you completely free from all the seductive, economical tricks the “new” research from the university wants you to believe. And in the end, we discover that all of the research is fake anyway. When someone states a “new” truth, I automatically know it’s not acceptable for my farm. I consult with myself first for everything with Valgiano. And through many mistakes, I’ve been able to discover the needs of this place. Like a human relationship, you learn how to share a life and to make another person happy.

What advice do you have for young winemakers? 

Believe, create, trust, and give. These are the main things. And then everything happens. Valgiano was in an area that was completely unknown before us, and now it’s something thanks to the effort we have made. We put in a lot of energy without any other parties or tools. And then you should be confident. Trust yourself and the people around you. And that they will be good and they will work for the best, and people with power will use it for the best. You should also really be creative and ready to receive nature. Rudolf Steiner said we should place ourselves by nature and let nature design and paint herself. So that means not to have preconceived ideas but to be ready to change your mind constantly. Let intuition come through and direct your steps.

What are some of your favorite wine regions and wines?

I’ve learned so much through visiting other winemakers, and in the end I realized how much was driven by passion and emotions and how that was making a difference in the wine they made. To such an extent, that when I found a passionate and sensitive winemaker, I would be very upset if the wine didn’t match. I would think that it couldn’t be possible. And when it happened, I found that there was a problem in the life of the winemaker that had diverted their energy from the wine.

For example, I knew someone in Bordeaux who lost her husband and her wines were good, but not great. But usually her passion was there. So in the end I can’t say my favorite region, only that my favorite winemakers are the people who put their passion in their wine and those who are animated by the passion of the sacred fire. This fire burns and there is no room for anything else. Your creativity goes only to the wine. All my energy is to work; to Valgiano. But still I feel that I am enriched by this and that I can live without all the other things.

Top three things you can’t live without in terms of food or drink? 

Spaghetti a pomodori fresco with lots of basil and garlic. Everything else I’m very fond of but it’s all interchangeable. I’m really adaptable. Even if Valgiano went away I could still live, no problem.