CWD: Godello love

[MLipton]

While in Barcelona, we had a great bottle of Godello at Can Roca: 2007 Valdesil Valdeorras which had a Muscadet-like cleansing feeling to it and was altogether lovely. Try as I might, I couldn't locate that wine for sale in Barna, so ended up bringing back another Valdeorras, which we opened tonight. In my broken Spanish, I had attempted to assure myself that I wasn't buying an oaky mess ("No me gustan los vios en roble nuevo") but it was nonethless with trepidation that we opened tonight's wine, the 2007 Bodega la Tapada Guitian Valdeorras "sobre las" (I bypassed Guitian's other cuve, which mentioned "Fermentado en Barricia"). Tonight's wine had some of the same character of the previous Godello: herbal overtones and some mineral character, but it also had a pineapply fruit to it and less acidity than the Valdesil. The mouthfeel had a certain roundness to it that I chalked up to either: a) its sur lie treatment or b) a touch of RS or both. Still a pleasant wine, it lacked the refreshing character that had so endeared me to the earlier wine. From the back label, I am able to infer that the wine was fermented in stainless steel and aged for a while in bottle. For all I know, Guitian is the Fred Franzia of Galicia, but between the wine itself and its retro Art Deco label, I wasn't at all unhappy with the purchase.

Mark Lipton

 

[VS]

Guitin Sobre Las is aged eight months on its fine lees in stainless steel, so it's obviously a softer, more rounded wine. If you like a brisker godello, you probably should have tried the regular (yellow label) Guitin. And you would have been plesantly surprised by the barrel-fermented one - one of Spain's best-made barrel fermented whites, with practically no oakiness, but just the added structure which enables the highly reductive, well-structured wine produced by godello to age gracefully for a long time. A 1997 Guitin Barrica tasted a few months ago was as good, in a different style, as a (non-premoxed) 12-year old white Burgundy would be.

There are several other interesting godello producers in Valdeorras, Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra now. The names to remember are A Tapada (Guitin), Rafael Palacios (As Sortes), Valdesil, Joaqun Rebolledo, Godeval (who are the people who brought the variety back from near-extinction in the 1970s) and Telmo Rodrguez (Gaba do Xil).

Note that you can get godello from northern Portugal too, but in that case the grape's called gouveio.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by VS:
Guitin Sobre Las is aged eight months on its fine lees in stainless steel, so it's obviously a softer, more rounded wine. If you like a brisker godello, you probably should have tried the regular (yellow label) Guitin. And you would have been plesantly surprised by the barrel-fermented one - one of Spain's best-made barrel fermented whites, with practically no oakiness, but just the added structure which enables the highly reductive, well-structured wine produced by godello to age gracefully for a long time. A 1997 Guitin Barrica tasted a few months ago was as good, in a different style, as a (non-premoxed) 12-year old white Burgundy would be.

There are several other interesting godello producers in Valdeorras, Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra now. The names to remember are A Tapada (Guitin), Rafael Palacios (As Sortes), Valdesil, Joaqun Rebolledo, Godeval (who are the people who brought the variety back from near-extinction in the 1970s) and Telmo Rodrguez (Gaba do Xil).

I saw the Telmo Rodriguez beside the Guitins in Vila Vinoteca, but space limitations prevented me from getting both (and that Telmo Rodriguez Rueda 'Basa' hadn't been too convincing, either: probably the Sauvignon getting in the way). It's interesting that the accent on the a is absent on both labels on the bottle.

Note that you can get godello from northern Portugal too, but in that case the grape's called gouveio.

...and not Vedelho as Jancis has misinformed the world? Thanks for the useful information, Victor. I also brought back an '06 Finca Sandoval to torment you with in future years.

Mark Lipton

 

[jack hott]

I've like Godeval's work through the years. Good clean presentations of a nearly lost wine variety. Godello is fun because it balances a fairly round, almost oily, mouth-feel with plenty of acidity.

I like them.

Yes. Yes, I do.

 

[VLM]

is the godello I've had the most experience with lately. I like it quite a bit. From the Valdeorras.

 

[scottreiner]

i have found that for every day drinking godellos are getting a bit dear. benaza, brought in by jose pastor, is a wonderful, easy to enjoy, godello. and, its down right cheap!

 

[VS]

originally posted by MLipton:

...and not Vedelho as Jancis has misinformed the world? Thanks for the useful information, Victor. I also brought back an '06 Finca Sandoval to torment you with in future years.

Mark Lipton

Actually I'd drink the lighter '06 Sandoval earlier than the more powerful '05, but what do I know? (No great loss or gain either way... Minor purple wines from way down south in scorching hot terroir...)

No, Jancis wasn't lying. Verdelho was a synonym for gouveio in the Douro, but the name was dropped over the past few years because of the confusion created with the 'other' verdelho - the one grown on Madeira island and also in Australia, which is an altogether different grape variety. So now gouveio is generally used for the Douro verdelho. Indeed, on the Spanish side of the border, verdello is a synonym for godello in some villages.