Ossian

Ossian was born in 2005 in Nieva, in the Segovia part of DO Rueda, from Ismael Gozalo, a local grower, and Javier Zaccagnini, former head of the Ribera del Duero Regulatory Council and a partner in Aalto. In 2013 the Ruiz family of Pago de Carraovejas bought Zaccagnini's share and part of Gozalo's, and since 2016 it has been the sole owner; Gozalo still sells grapes to the winery.

At Nieva the vines sit around 900 metres, on sand. The sand kept phylloxera out at the end of the nineteenth century, and planting ungrafted was the norm in the area until the mid-twentieth: Ossian works centenarian own-rooted vines, certified organic, and only Verdejo.

For years Ossian was the house's only wine. Then came Quintaluna, which blends pre-phylloxera vines with young trellised ones, and Capitel, from one of the oldest plots, with patches of slate among the sand.

Picking is by hand, plot by plot, and only free-run juice is used. It ferments with native yeasts in 228- and 600-litre barrels and foudres, and ages about nine months on its lees.