Quinta Apolonia is a barrel-fermented white wine made by Belondrade y Lurton from Verdejo in Castile and León (Spain). Belondrade y Lurton is a winery in La Seca, in the beating heart of Rueda. Its founder, Didier Belondrade, is a French lawyer who turned his passion into his profession by building a Bordeaux-style château in Spain. Designed by architect Vicent Dufos du Rau, the winery has state-of-the-art technology and uses the 30 hectares of surrounding vineyards to make striking Verdejos. Quinta Apolonia comes from estate vineyards with an average age of 8 years, planted on pebbly and sandy-clay soils at 750 metres above sea level. Farming is respectful and the grapes are harvested by hand at optimum ripeness. In the winery, Quinta Apolonia ferments in stainless steel tanks and concrete eggs. It is then blended with wine used for its big brother, Belondrade y Lurton, which comes from 80-year-old vines and is fermented in barrique. Named after one of Didier Belondrade’s daughters, Quinta Apolonia combines the liveliness of Verdejo with the complexity of barrique: the most varietal expression of this grape.
