2011 As Sortes

An outstanding vintage for his flagship wine is the 2011 As Sortes, produced from dry-farmed, small plots of old Godello vines (35- to 92-years-old), giving very low yields. The wine ferments in 500-liter French oak barrels where it’s aged for eight months on its lees. 22,500 bottles were produced. This is the benchmark for white Valdeorras grown on granite soils in the Bibei valley of the appellation. Yellow, golden-colored, the aroma is subtle, citric, precise, elegant and sharp, with ripe yellow fruit, and lemongrass notes. The palate is full and very mineral, with a dense texture and flavors of ripe tangerine, some nuts, apples and a tropical touch, pungent and intense, with laser-like delineation. A superb version of As Sortes. Drink 2014-2020. Rafael Palacios is the youngest sibling of the Palacios family of Rioja, Bierzo and Priorat fame. He was always interested in white wines, and he created one of the first modern white Riojas, Placet, while he was still working at the family winery of Palacios Remondo. But he wanted more, and he finally settled in Valdeorras, in Galicia, in the province of Orense, where the main white grape is Godello. There he searched for high altitude vineyards and granite soils that would compensate the natural fatness and fair acidity that the grapes can produce in warmer zones. He found his goldmine in the Bibei valley, where he sourced an array of very small plots from which he produced the first vintage of As Sortes in 2004. The wine was an instant success. He has since added a couple more whites to his range (he doesn’t pay attention to the reds at all). Since 2011, which he considers his best vintage to date, he offers a very limited quantity of a single-vineyard wine, O Soro, which ranks among the greatest white wines currently produced in Spain. Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, European Cellars, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565

(100% godello, aged for nine months in large oak casks): Bright yellow-gold. A wild, highly perfumed bouquet evokes dried pear, peach pit, iodine and chalky minerals; smells a lot like a serious Chablis. Smoky, penetrating citrus and orchard fruit flavors show excellent clarity and power, with an undercurrent of minerality adding bite. Finishes spicy and very long, with impressive cling and a hint of white flowers.

Magnificent wine, as I pointed out here . Much tighter than the Hatzidikis Assyrtiko 2012 tasted immediately beforehand. The structure is like a very fine Puligny-Montrachet but the flavours are if anything more intriguing. Very tight and youthful; the sort of the wine that cries out to be decanted. Wonderfully complex. (JR)