Every winemaker’s main premise must or should be humility. Respecting the origin, the history, and waiting for nature. This is what we have learned, mainly with varieties such as Godello. Coincidentally, a varietal that represents only 4% of the grapes grown in our region, El Bierzo.
With Godello we wait, we listen to the vineyard. We prefer not to invent and to let her be the one who guides us, the one who speaks to us. In the world of wine it seems we had forgotten why we did things. This is an art to experience moments with, to be thrilled with. Sometimes it’s better not to invent anything than to do so. This is how we feel with our Godello, a white variety adapted to the hillsides of El Bierzo with low productivity, early rotation, and early ripening.
The Godello vineyards we work with in Godelia are trained on trellises, due among other reasons to the fragility of the vegetation in the face of the strong wind in the flowering season.
A variety with practically no flesh pigmentation, very light, which gives us a complex aromatic profile, less defined than other white varieties. Put that way, it seems like the black sheep of the white varieties, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Godello, well worked (because yes, we intervene in the vineyard, taking care of it, respecting it, guiding it in each step of the way to what we think is best) is a fascinating variety for ageing sur lie, stabilising its character and gaining in unctuousness and volume. This is what we do for example with our Godelia Godello which remains in contact with the fine lees for about five months.
But the most beautiful thing about Godello also comes with its great capacity for ageing in oak, thanks to its acidity and structure. After this, its evolution in bottle amazes us and teaches us at the same time. It reveals the spectacular potential of this variety. Ripe fruit, acacia honey, quince… we love these notes. We find them today in our Godello Selection 2016. A wine that we age for eight months in concrete eggs and new French oak barrels of 350 and 500 litres made by Francis Miquel. We tasted the 2016, recently recognized in the national guide Wineup with 93.08 points, which places it amongst the top rated Godello, and we are excited to feel that this wine still has a lot of life ahead of it.
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