Quinta Apolonia is the younger sister of the exceptional Belondrade y Lurton which is recognised as one of the finest Verdejos on the market. The estate’s second wine is a careful blend of wine which has been fermented in stainless steel tanks and wine which has been aged on the lees for 3 months. This helps to emphasise the distinctive varietal character with plenty of ripe peach and apricot notes while adding more complex hints of toast and sweet pastries from the lees ageing.
The winery was founded by Didier Belondrade who came to Rueda and was inspired to apply Burgundian winemaking techniques to create exceptional white wines from the local Verdejo grape. What began in the mid-1990s as a tiny project using rented vines and a small corner of a friend’s winery quickly blossomed into Belondrade’s own winery on the La Seca plateau some 760 metres above sea level.
Here Belondrade has some 30 hectares of vines planted on pebbly soils over a sub-layer of clay and sand. The exact character of the soil varies greatly from plot to plot, allowing Belondrade to select the precise personality of each wine to reflect the vintage and the micro-terroirs of his vineyards.