Telmo Rodriguez goes back to Remelluri

Remelluri's Telmo Rodriguez has returned to take charge of the property at which he was winemaker a decade ago.

After graduating from Bordeaux in the 1990s Telmo Rodriguez took up the post of winemaker at Remelluri, his father Jaime’s estate in Rioja Alavesa.

In 2000 they parted amicably and Telmo established Compania de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez, with vineyards scattered throughout Spain.

He will now oversee the 105ha estate along with his sister Amaia, who has recently worked with Burgundy’s Anne-Claude Leflaive.

‘She’s fast, efficient, and loves the vineyard,’ Rodriguez said of his sister.

The original 15ha estate planted in 1968 by Jaime Rodriguez, divided into 280 parcels ranging from 500m-800m altitude, has increased in size many times over.

2010 marks the first year of the estate’s final transition to organic viticulture. Rodriguez’s eastern Alavesa winery of Lancero is already biodynamic, and there are plans to integrate this method at Remelluri over a few years.

Rodriguez told decanter.com he also planned to go back to an ‘18th century vineyard style’ at Remelluri, mainly by moving the Garnacha from trellis to bush-grown vines.

‘In the next 5-10 years we’ll make trellising changes to help prevent wind damage to the vines, increase plantings of Garnacha along with mixed field plantings; we’ve identified seven parcels to be transformed from trellised to bush vines. I envision this as a return to the 18th century vineyard style,’ he said.

Written by David Furer