Nothing human is foreign to Telmo Rodríguez. That is why he has put the concept of ethnoenology on the map, which involves recovering old vines and ancient ways of harvesting. A dry sailor, he loves surfing and the sea, although he sees Madrid as a port from which his expeditions to Cebreros (his apple of his eye), Málaga or the lands of Castilla leave. Madrid is an oasis for him, who has lived pending the meteor and cultivation. Curiously, he relaxes in Madrid, from where he came from Remelluri, Álava, to have that oxygen in the capital that he lacked in that 14th century estate, so immutable. Sporty and jovial, he is aware that in the capital he has learned to drink thanks, why not, to the risk and courage of the youngest. He is an encyclopedia of wine, but also the only Spaniard who has entered the exquisite Bordeaux Market. Standard Related News Si Izán Llunas: «I have always loved Madrid. As in Mexico, it is the merit of its people »Jesús Nieto Jurado On paper, he has been living in the capital for just three months, almost arriving from the other side of the pond — An irundarra in Madrid. -Irún has that thing about the border. When I visit my mother, I see the immigrants jump. It’s very hard. We are a family from Irún as usual. My grandfather was a local chronicler. There was a newspaper, ‘El Bidasoa’. Irún also has its point of Roman vestiges. And my father, dedicated to archaeology, invited wine to poets, fellow excavators. Hence my vocation to unite oenology with history. — Well, let’s leave Madrid for a while. Or not. Do you have nostalgia for the sea, like Alberti? -Is rare. I am a sailor. I like the sea, I am a surfer and sailor. When I married my wife, from Paris, we went to Remelluri. It was a very hard life. In winter, with the snowfall, she realized that I was left without a woman (laughs). There we fell into the fact that she abandoned Paris and I abandoned the sea. I had already started my wine company, it is the project with which we began to recover places and wineries. In Spain they didn’t pay any attention to me, I had to travel a lot. – That’s why he appears in the capital. -Madrid was like another port. If I had to go to Málaga, Cebreros, or Rueda, I was fine in the center. Or La Mancha. Barajas is another key point. I think that to me, in Remelluri, everything already seemed very monotonous, very reducing. It was spending your whole life talking only about wines. Madrid was like an adventure. We came in the nineties. — In the nineties the city was not what it is today. -Notice that at first it shocked me because it drank regularly. And even though I came from the world of new Basque cuisine, from El Bulli… I saw that a point of sophistication was missing here. — You will have seen that things have become more sophisticated. -Yes, it has been very nice to see this brutal change in these years. – There will be some reason. -From my point of view, there has been a change in ambition. Madrid becomes a very ambitious place. We went from a restaurant that only offers Moët & Chandon to the current moment, in which three-page winegrowers’ menus are offered. That is a tremendous change. Here there are simple places, with very good wines. Any local wants to propose very good things. — You are the capital’s ambassador for the nearby Cebreros wine. Of which Cela spoke wonders. -Seeing the surroundings of Madrid, I come across the historic vineyard of Cebreros. And in the 90s they looked at me as if to say “what is this guy telling me”, even sommeliers. They are wines that are an hour from Madrid and nobody knew about them. In Spain, literature already spoke of village wines. Wines are named after the people. In the end we are a village wine country. «In Madrid, wine is already considered a luxury» — Does Madrid have to fight for the status of wine capital? -I think that Madrid is the best example of a city with ambition and freshness. There are a lot of young people. One of the places that I liked was Mitulo, and there, this boy, Miguel Laredo, had that ambition. Someone modest in a very small place. He evolved, brought out the Laredo wineries and it is where today the best bottles in Madrid are opened. I noticed that it was the beginning of a revolution. Already in Madrid there are very different profiles in the hospitality industry. It is what excites Madrid, the people who want to go further and work for their client. Everything becomes something original and more human. Madrid is one of the places where it is best drunk today. Wine in Madrid is already considered a luxury. — Tell me about Madrid wines -Marc Isart makes great wine in Chinchón. There is a very interesting generation that founded Comando G. There are very good people in Méntrida. It is true that Gredos has taken center stage. It is more exciting territory. It coincides with young people who come to make natural wines. And Gredos is in Madrid, and Madrid wants to claim its own. They consider Gredos in parallel with the revolution in Madrid. — A grape for this town.-The Garnacha, which is a variety that is very much ours, very rustic. “He’ll appreciate if we put down the wine.” How does Madrid live? -I live Madrid in a very radical way. Like a vinedresser. I am almost every day in the vineyard and I come to Madrid to rest. Madrid is almost an oasis. In the field he lived stressed. I was having a terrible time. My wife says that I have a safe house in Madrid.
