100% Verdejo

Food pairings: Seafood, white fish, appetizers, fish and rice dishes, vegetables and fresh cheese.

Winemaking: Estate grapes are machine-picked at night, destemmed and given an overnight cold maceration on the skins before pressing. The wine ferments in stainless steel tanks and rests for a few months on its fine lees before bottling, which is why the label reads 'Sobre Lías' (on the lees).

Vineyards and terroir: Mantel Blanco Verdejo is a single-vineyard wine from 30-year-old estate vines in the Pago de la Serna vineyard, at 770 meters in D.O. Rueda, on pebbly alluvial soils of sand, clay and stones. The vineyard is farmed with traditional, sustainable methods.

Family and history: Bodegas Álvarez y Díez was founded in 1941 in Nava del Rey by Modesto Álvarez Romero and Eladio Díez Ossorio, and the winery still bears their names as a tribute. In 1977 Enrique J. de Benito began a profound restructuring, building modern facilities devoted to the native Verdejo; his son Juan de Benito became director in 1992, and his son Álvaro de Benito joined in 2001. The wine is imported to the US by Grapes of Spain.

In the pictures: The stony soils of an Álvarez y Díez vineyard, and Verdejo vines in flower.