A white variety native to La Manchuela, particularly late ripening and traditionally undervalued for its low alcoholic strength, which for decades was losing its presence in our vineyards. Until it is reduced to a few hectares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Pagos de Familia Vega Tolosa we decided that it was worth recovering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the Tardana grows again in our lands and has become one of our most special wines. A different white, made with a variety that belongs to our history and that, perhaps precisely because of its characteristics, has a lot to say in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recover the Tardana so that it becomes part of our landscape again<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
During the 2020 pandemic we took the opportunity to look inside and work on a project that had been around the winery for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one of our oldest plots, planted around 1930, we had identified plant material from Tardana. From these strains we decided to reproduce and recover this wine heritage to replant it in our land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus was born a new vineyard of 2.5 hectares in the area of Tamarosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023 came the first harvest in which we made this variety. The result was very limited production: only 2,564 bottles of Vega Tolosa Tardana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recovery of this grape also has a dimension that goes beyond our own winery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the latest available data from the Ministry of Agriculture, only 59 hectares of Tardana remained in Castilla-La Mancha as of July 2024. In the Valencian Community, where this variety is called Nova Plant<\/em>, its presence is greater, with just over 677 hectares, concentrated mainly in the neighboring D.O. Utiel-Requena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did it disappear almost completely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the reasons is precisely in his name. La Tardana is a variety of very late maturation<\/strong>, which historically meant assuming a greater risk in the face of autumn weather conditions. Its low alcoholic strength was also considered uninteresting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the context has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, those same characteristics can become a virtue. In a climate change scenario, varieties capable of maintaining good acidity and ripening without alcohol levels skyrocketing acquire a new value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the Tardana has something else: It is a variety of rather neutral character, with a delicate aromatic profile, but precisely for that reason it allows the place where it grows to have a leading role. Its good acidity and its ability to transmit sapid and mineral sensations also make it an especially versatile companion on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n La Tardana is always the last variety we collect in Pagos de Familia Vega Tolosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its cycle is long and it needs time to reach the right point of maturation. It is one of the particularities that define it and that has historically marked its relationship with winegrowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there is something that surprises us every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Roc\u00edo Tolosa, responsible for the elaboration in our winery, explains, the Tardana does not seem to accuse the strong summer heats in the same way as other varieties. Its late maturation allows it to reach the harvest when temperatures begin to be milder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For us, recovering it also means learning to listen again to a variety that had long been part of our land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Work in the vineyard is essential. We perform a pruning aimed at limiting yields to approximately 2,500 kilos per hectare, seeking that the plant concentrates the expression of the grape as best as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then comes the time to wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wait for the Tardana to be ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acidity, maturity and freshness find their balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let there come, at last, that moment that gives meaning to his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last harvest of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recovering this variety made no sense to us if it stayed only in the vineyard. We wanted to find out how far he could go and what he could express in our wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, today we make two different wines with our Tardana: a quiet white and a sparkling white wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two elaborations, two different experiences, but the same grape as a starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our Vega Tolosa Tardana<\/a><\/span><\/strong> is a quiet white wine that seeks to show the personality of this variety as clearly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a clean and delicate wine, with notes of white fruit, wild herbs and light smoked souvenirs<\/strong>. But it is on the palate that the Tardana finds its true expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your good acidity<\/strong>, together with a sapid and saline character and a certain firmness, gives it freshness and personality. It is an unstructured white, but with a special ability to transmit sensations and accompany food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Breeding is designed to bring complexity without hiding the identity of the variety: six months in new 500-litre French oak barrels and another six months in bottles<\/strong> before going on the market. The wood remains in the background so that the Tardana and the place where it grows remain the protagonists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, its alcoholic strength, below 12% vol.<\/strong>, reinforces that feeling of freshness and lightness that defines wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n La Tardana is also part of another of our elaborations: Vega Tolosa Brut Nature Tardana<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, a sparkling white wine that allows us to discover this variety from a completely different perspective. Here, the natural freshness of the Tardana finds in the bubbles a new way of expressing itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The result is a wine designed to be enjoyed in a different way: as an aperitif, accompanying a meal or simply when we want to toast and enjoy a fresh and gastronomic drink.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the same grape can tell different stories depending on how we decide to work it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that is precisely what interests us about the Tardana: not <\/strong>only to recover it, but to continue discovering everything that it can express.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recovery of Tardana is not only about replanting an old variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is to recover a part of our wine heritage, preserve a grape that was about to disappear and give it a new opportunity in our vineyards and on our tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, each harvest reminds us why we decided to bet on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We see her grow in the place of Tamarosa, we wait until her time comes and, when she finally enters the winery as the last grape of our harvest<\/strong>, another stage begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then come the different ways of working it, taking care of it and turning it into wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes quiet. Maybe that's one of the nicest things about working with the earth: understand that the future can also be built by recovering what we learned from those who were here before us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to discover this native variety of La Manchuela, you can do it through our two elaborations:<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe last grape we harvest each year: La Tardana<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Two ways to discover the Tardana<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Vega Tolosa Tardana: the most direct expression of the variety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vegatolosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VT-Bobal-tardana-tumbada.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nVega Tolosa Brut Nature Tardana: when the Tardana turns into bubbles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vegatolosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VT-Brut-Nature-Tardana-tumbada.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA grape, two wines and a story that continues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes with bubbles.
Always Tardana.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDiscover our Tardana wines<\/h3>\n\n\n\n