2025 marks the 90th anniversary of Bodega Cuatro Rayas, Rueda’s largest cooperative and leading producer. The landmark celebration highlights an incredible and idiosyncratic trajectory of growth and quality-led evolution that has shaped that of DO Rueda itself. More importantly, it tells the story of Cuatro Rayas’ 300 members and the 2,500ha they manage across the municipalities of Valladolid and Segovia; the story not merely of a winery but of a community that has navigated the last nine decades together, with common goals and shared challenges. Today, rather than growth, Cuatro Rayas has entered an important period of consolidation, building upon the cooperative’s far-reaching sustainability strategy and homing in on the important resources – natural and human – it manages.
Community at the core
Among Cuatro Rayas’ growers are the direct descendants of its founding members, who joined forces in 1935 as Bodega Cooperativa de La Seca to optimise resources and leverage their labour in the vineyard to produce higher-quality wines. Their pioneering, collaborative effort set the foundation for what Cuatro Rayas is today: a brand synonymous with expressive Verdejo and quality-led cooperation. What’s more, the continuity of their initiative down the generations reveals the enduring relevance of this commitment to self- and mutual development.
In 2023, with the help of Valladolid’s Chamber of Commerce, Cuatro Rayas conducted a socioeconomic impact assessment; this report revealed that the cooperative directly and indirectly creates nearly 700 jobs, for a total economic impact of €33.3 million (£28.5 million) per year. This affirms Cuatro Rayas as one of the most important agents of social and economic resilience in the region, as well as a leading custodian of its cultural heritage. The 90th anniversary celebration is therefore also a recognition of the privilege and responsibility these numbers bring.
Among Cuatro Rayas’ growers are the direct descendants of its founding members.
Quality, research and precision
Led by winemaking director Elena M Oyagüe and winemaker Roberto L Tello, the team has developed a rigorous winemaking programme that delivers quality and consistency at scale, doing justice to the work of the cooperative’s members. Seeking increasing character and expressiveness, the team is doing careful soil and vineyard studies that inform more precise vinifications – which will be supported by the inaugural harvest at Cuatro Rayas’ new, state-of-the-art winery.
Ultimately, it is the commitment of the growers and the character of their vineyards that Oyagüe and Tello are tasked with capturing. The heritage of Cuatro Rayas’ membership means that the quality and diversity of its portfolio of vineyards is second to none in DO Rueda. It includes some of the region’s oldest, not least ungrafted plots that survived phylloxera. These provide important raw material for the winery’s Gran Vino de Rueda (GVR) labels, flagship Verdejos that reflect the full potential of the Rueda’s iconic grape, as well as Cuatro Rayas’ commitment to quality. The creation of the Gran Vino category in 2020 merely validated the work already being developed, at the crossroads of tradition and innovation, by Cuatro Rayas’ members and team.
As the cooperative enters its tenth decade, its history serves as the blueprint for the future: working together, for the benefit of all.
Winemaking director Elena M Oyagüe with winemaker Roberto L Tello.
Cuatro Rayas’ flagship Verdejos
Viñedos Centenarios 2024
91pts
As the name suggests, this Verdejo hails from old vineyards, aged 80-100 years. 15% of the juice ferments in French oak barriques, with the remainder vinified in stainless steel; all with four months ageing on the lees. Subtly nutty and unctuous, this is poised and moreish, with peach, melon and Nashi pear at the core, lined with a fragrant layer of hay, lemon balm and rose petals.
Alc 13.5%
Cuarenta Vendimias Cuvée GVR 2023
92pts
A structured, characterful blend with different components fermented in stainless steel, foudres and barriques. Deep and textured with toffee, fresh walnuts and chopped almonds over yellow apple and lemon curd; pleasant volume and weight on the mid-palate and a long finish of salted caramel.
Alc 12.5%
Longverdejo GVR 2023
93pts
The product of a research partnership with the University of León, this wine is fermented with a yeast selected from traditional cellars in Rueda. The fruit hails from old bush-trained vines. Hand-
harvested and fermented in stainless steel, concrete eggs and barriques. Very complete and balanced, with lemon zest and pear peel mingling with red apple, melon and quince. Silky, but with grippy pull and a beautiful, flinty edge, and a long finish of lingering fennel and olive brine.
Alc 12.5%
Amador Diez GVR 2021
93pts
Grapes hand-harvested from 10ha of pre-phylloxera vines were fermented and aged for seven months on the lees in French oak barriques. The result is an intense and unctuous wine, with great ageing potential. The wood is superbly integrated, supporting the melon, nectarine and papaya fruit, with subtle nuttiness beneath a top layer of honeyed almonds and wildflower honey and a spicy veil of white pepper and aniseed.
Alc 13.5%
Cuatro Rayas’ vineyards include some of Rueda’s oldest, not least ungrafted plots that survived phylloxera.
Scores were generated as part of a non-blind tasting, and all wines were supplied to Decanter free of charge to feature in paid for content.
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