On Friday the 22nd of January we are joined by Jean Belondrade from Belondrade Wines for the 5th edition of our talk show “Cellar Talks”. Jean will join us to talk about his career in wine, the family winery Belondrade, their great wines and the wine region Rueda in Spain. Belondrade has developed itself to one of the top 3 (Verdejo) producers in Spain and a leader in the Rueda region over its short existence (~2.5 decades). Their wines are recognised and celebrated by the famous, and served in the best Michelin restaurants of the world.
About Belondrade Wines
Belondrade was founded only in the mid 90’s by Frenchman Didier Belondrade who felt in love with the Castilian plateau, its extreme climate, its magical soils made of sand, pebbles and clay, but above all he felt in love with Rueda’s native variety: verdejo. He decided to leave behind his life of Parisian executive and live his dream.
With the idea to create a “chateau” in Spain, he decided to search for another interpretation of verdejo, expressing longevity and elegance. In 2000 Didier decided to materialize his project with the construction of his new cellar in the village of La Seca (Valladolid), just a few kilometers away from the Duero River. The estate Quinta San Diego grew steadily, obtaining in 2010 the organic certification.
As of today, it is composed of 23 plots presenting differences in terms of soils compositions (clay, sand, pebbles, limestone), orientations, planting patterns, pruning, training systems, and ages of the vines. These differences bring a unique personality to each plot.
About Jean Belondrade
Jean Belondrade Lurton has been involved in Belondrade since he was a child. After moving to Spain in 2001, he soon realized that he was not only passionate about the wine world, but also wanted to carry on the work his father started almost a decade ago.
After graduating in Business at the ESC Toulouse, with a successful exchange at the John Molson School of business in Montréal (Canada), he moved to Bordeaux and specialized in oenology and viticulture, pursuing the famous DUAD at the Université Bordeaux II. In 2018 he obtained an MBA by the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid.
While developing the exports for Belondrade, Jean had the occasion to alternate its work at the winery with several experiences abroad, discovering and experiencing different terroirs such as Bordeaux (France), the Maipo Valley (Chile) or the Mosel (Germany). In Jean’s words, these experiences have given him a wider and more complete view of the wine world, but above all, an opportunity to “understand different interpretations of a terroir and meet the great personalities able to do that”.
Jean is now an active and decisive part of every process in Belondrade’s day to day, working side by side with his father and getting ready to assume the leadership within the next years.
We are looking forward to talking to Jean and learning from his background, experiences and Belondrade Wines. Be sure to tune in on Instagram Live through our Dutch Wine Apprentice account on Friday the 22nd of January, 19:30h CET.
Click here for instructions on how to follow a live show on Instagram Live. If you have questions for our guest you are welcome to prepare them and e-mail them to us or send them as a direct message on our Instagram account.
You can find a link to the recording of the show here.
