Ismael Gozalo is a fifth generation winegrower and winemaker from Nieva, a village in the province of Segovia. This is Verdejo country and Ismael is colloquially known as ‘the wizard of Verdejo’.

Ismael is best known for his work at Ossian, which he established in 2004. But when his business partner sold his share to a large Ribera del Duero house it was time also for him to exit and reignite his personal project, MicroBio. 

His family is custodian to some of the oldest vines of Verdejo in Spain, with holdings of 27.5 hectares. Ismael chooses the first selection of fruit for MicroBio and sells the remaining 60-70%, to other producers including Marquis de Riscal and Ossian. There are years of exception though, and 2017 saw heavy frosts and a loss of close to 90% of fruit, needless to say he kept all the fruit for MicroBio.

During my first visit back in 2017, I was forced to question what I thought knew about the grape Verdejo. This is Verdejo unlike anything else produced. I was also amazed at how a grape picked so ripe could preserve such an element of freshness and natural acidity.

Ultimately It comes down to this: Pre phylloxera, un-grafted old vines between 100 to 260 years of age, deep sandy soils and an elevation of 800-900 meters above sea level. These are vines that have never seen chemical treatments. 

Also planted is a small amount of Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot and he works with Rufete sourced from a single vineyard in the hills surrounding Salamanca. In 2018 Ismael planted Savagnin, Ganevat rootstock gifted to him by Anne.

There are two ranges: MicroBio (the label with the most experimentation that pushes boundaries) and Ismael Gozalo (the less extreme range and wines that have the addition of sulphur at bottling).

Picking occurs across the whole harvest, some early to yield more acidity, some later when the grapes are incredibly ripe. When it comes to the pressing of fruit he uses either a basket press or pneumatic press depending on the desired result and level of oxidation he wants to get during the press. In the cellar Ismael uses a wide variety of vessels: amphora, demijohn, stainless steel, barrels and foudres. There is now between 12-15 different expression of Verdejo produced covering a broad spectrum, inclusive of skin contact, oxidative aging, wines under flor. It really is an Aladdin’s cave. 

His cellar is meticulous and Ismael is a little obsessive when it comes to producing clean and pristine wines. The quality of the fruit, natural acidity he achieves and PH levels most certainly a component in the stability of these wines. Only indigenous yeasts are used, there is no filtering or fining and no additions throughout the winemaking process.

All wines are sold as Vino de Espana as Isamel has no interest in working to DO Rueda specifications and manipulative winemaking techniques.