Galicia, in the northwestern corner of Spain, is one of the more remote regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Nearly all Galicia’s major cities, except Santiago de Compostela, are along the coast, leaving Galicia’s interior very empty and making Valdeorras—a county, or comarca, way down in the southeastern corner of the region—a world unto itself.
The conversation about white wines in Spain has long been dominated by Rías Baixas and its Albariño wines. Recently, however, out of obscurity, Valdeorras has slowly become a new darling for white wines in Spain. And these wines are based not on Albariño but rather on the versatile grape variety Godello.
There’s a common misconception that the name of Valdeorras is derived from the phrase for “valley of gold,” alluding to the Romans, who were well established in Galicia and found gold in the Sil River. It’s also sometimes thought that the name comes from the color of the vine leaves in autumn, which lend a shimmering golden tone to the slopes here, much like those of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.
Although there was gold in the river and the leaves do turn a pleasing shade of gold, the name originates from neither of these, nor is it derived from a word for “gold.” Before the arrival of the Romans, an Asturian people known as the Gigurros lived high up on the hills. The Romans thought these settlements were impractical and moved them down, closer to the rivers, building in the process the Via XVIII, or Via Nova, a road linking the Galician region to ancient Asturias and the rest of Iberia.
With the fall of Rome, the term gigurri evolved into giorres, eurres, and, ultimately, iorres. By the end of the Middle Ages, the region was known as Val de Iorres and shortened to Valdiorres. From there, it’s clear how the modern name originated.
Viticulture has long been practiced in the region of Valdeorras, with vines historically one of the area’s many crops. In the 10th century, as Christian monasteries were established in Valdeorras and throughout Spain, some of the earliest documentation of vines appears. In one document dated to 953, at the San Salvador de Celanova monastery, there is a reference to “some vines” in the village of Petín, south of A Rúa. Dating to the 11th and 12th centuries, there are at least 40 additional documents that mention vines for winemaking.
In the early 19th century, several changes were initiated in Valdeorras that altered the area’s viticulture and, ultimately, the wines produced there. Most of the crops cultivated at the time were mixed, and vines were often planted near the villages at lower altitudes. This was practical for cultivation but left the vines vulnerable to the risks arising from frost, humidity, and heavy spring rains. In 1804, Lucas Labrada published Descripción del Reino de Galicia, a book that documents the region at the time. In it, he interviewed an older resident of the village of Viloira who established several methods to improve vineyard cultivation—including moving vineyards to the higher altitudes on terraces around the villages.
From then on, most vineyards were cultivated at elevations of 400 meters (1,300 feet) and higher. Valdeorras can be affected by an Atlantic influence as well as a continental one, but the region is protected from the effects of more extreme climates by the eastern and northern mountain ranges and, to some extent, by its altitude.
At this time, from the early to mid-19th century, there was a mix of grape varieties in the region, and the two that were best known were red: Alvarello (Brancellao) and Mouratón (Juan García) brought the most value to the region. In addition to these two, the grapes found most frequently were Castellana Blanca, Godello, Tinta Aragonesa (Grenache), Graciano, Expaneira, and Valenciana Tinto (Mandón).
The first cases of phylloxera in Valdeorras were documented in 1882, with the root louse having arrived via Portugal. A thousand hectares (2,500 acres) of vines soon died, and eventually the estimated 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) in the region at the time were destroyed. As in all viticultural regions that were hit by phylloxera, recovery in Valdeorras was a slow process. It wasn’t until 1904 that the first documented grafting onto American rootstocks appeared, and it marked a significant change in the region’s plantings. Many smaller varieties were lost, including Alvarello, Negreda, and Merenzao.
These changes also introduced previously uncultivated varieties, such as Jerez (Palomino) and Alicante (Garnacha Tintorera). In the years following the destruction wrought by phylloxera, these two varieties soared because of their productivity. By the year 2000, Jerez accounted for 90% of all the planted white varieties in Valdeorras. Godello was at that point a minor white variety; similarly, Mencía was less prominent than Alicante.
With its lengthy history and particular climate, Valdeorras was established as a Denominación de Origen in 1945, making it one of the oldest DOs in Spain. It incorporates the municipalities of A Rúa, Carballeda de Valdeorras, Larouco, O Barco, O Bolo, Petín, Rubiá, Vilamartín, and A Veiga, all of which are within the basins of the Sil, Xares, and Bibei Rivers. Currently, there are no legally recognized subzones at the DO level.
The permitted white grape varieties for Valdeorras DO are Godello, Palomino, Loureira, Treixadura, Albariño, Torrontés, Lado, and Dona Branca. The permitted red varieties are Mencía, Merenzao (Trousseau), Brancellao (Alvarelhão), Sousón (Vinhão), Alicante Bouschet (Garnacha Tintorera), Caiño Tinto, Grao Negro, Espadeiro, Ferrón, and Tempranillo (sometimes called Arauxa in Galicia).
Despite being elevated to a DO, Valdeorras, and Galicia in general, languished throughout the second half of the 20th century. There was massive emigration following the Spanish Civil War, and depopulation was steady, coinciding with a decline in wine production.
For Valdeorras to survive, dedicated work was needed to carve a path forward, instead of just planting productive varieties to make wines that reflected little aspiration to improving overall quality. To this end, the Reestructuración de los Viñedos de Valdeorras (REstructuring of the VIneyards of VALdeorras), or REVIVAL for short, was created in 1976–77. REVIVAL addressed the need to better understand the lands and varieties of Valdeorras and determine what thrived, rather than what merely survived. The shift included an emphasis on the variety Godello, directed by the head of the initiative, Horacio Fernández Presa. The initial trials with Godello had begun in 1975.
There were many trials over the years despite that Godello’s vineyard share had fallen to a mere 0.5% of the total holdings, according to Araceli Fernández del Palacio, Horacio’s daughter. But while the trials were proving successful, funding for the REVIVAL project ran out. Horacio and several friends then formed the winery Godeval (Godello de Valdeorras), producing 15,000 bottles in 1986, in a part of the historic Xagoaza monastery that they restored as their first winery.
Godello did not undergo an overnight boom, yet Godeval showed promise with its wines and was the first to export Godello wines to the United States. With Jerez dominating even in the year 2000, additional help was needed to raise Godello’s profile. It came in 2004, from the east, in the form of Rafael Palacios, a winemaker from Rioja.
Palacios’s family is now well established as one of the top producers of red wine in Spain, namely via his brother, Álvaro Palacios, who started his namesake winery in Priorat DOQ; took over running the family winery of Palacios Remondo, in Rioja Oriental; and then started the winery Descendientes de J. Palacios, in Bierzo DO, next to Valdeorras DO.
Rafael set out to do something different, starting with the wine Plácet, his project at Palacios Remondo. Made from Viura (Macabeu), Plácet remains the family’s only white wine produced outside Valdeorras. Rafael started his project in Valdeorras by purchasing his first vineyard in 2004, called O Soro, which is a small, half-hectare (1.2 acre) plot that was planted in 1978. He understood the potential of Godeval’s work with Godello and wanted to build on it.
Rafael worked to establish a series of wines based on vineyards, with O Soro forming his grand cru, or anchor wine, starting with the 2009 vintage. Others followed: As Sortes is a blend made from old vines grown in six plots, and Louro is the larger blend. In total, he now owns 25 hectares (62 acres) and purchases grapes from an additional 10 hectares (25 acres).
Palacios’s vineyards are in the upper reaches of the region, and nearly all the vines are Godello, with very small amounts of Treixadura scattered about. All his vineyards are at an altitude between 620 and 740 meters (2,000 and 2,400 feet), in the Bibei River valley, where deeper portions of granite are found. There’s a strong slate and schist base to the whole region, which has allowed for the quarrying of slate to be a parallel industry to viticulture.
Unlike in Mediterranean Spain, where higher altitudes are treasured for being cooler and delaying ripening, Palacios’s vineyards are located where grapes ripen more evenly and fully, without the threat of humidity and clouds found along the riverbanks. Palacios says that it’s completely possible to have Godello reach 15% ABV if one is looking for that, which few are these days.
Once Palacios’s wines started receiving the plaudits of critics, Valdeorras gained attention. His O Soro was the first Galician wine to receive 100 points from any wine publication, with 2020 the first highly scored vintage. The wines are well received because he’s coaxing a level of complexity out of Godello that hadn’t before been achieved in the region. Nearly a decade ago, in a blind tasting competition, I mistakenly called his As Sortes a top-end premier cru Chablis.
Godello can achieve all the finest points of Chardonnay in the right hands, producing wines that are aromatic but not overly fruity, and without the characteristic bitterness of Albariño. Godello shows fine acidity without being overly sharp, and there can be notable textural volume on the palate, making it a white wine that red-wine drinkers can enjoy as well. It’s also a white variety than responds well to oak aging, but many producers, such as Palacios and Godeval, are leaving oak out of the winemaking process. Recently, Palacios has been using cement as well as very large Stockinger foudre. Godeval has only one wine that’s aged in oak, Godeval 1986, and all others gain width on the palate from extended lees contact.
Although not as productive as Treixadura in Valdeorras, Godello is still considered highly productive, and the vines need to be carefully managed to avoid producing bland wines. Here, as in any wine region, planting locations need to be carefully chosen.
It remains to be seen if Godello, a variety that was nearly extinct in the 20th century, will become a victim of its own success. The harvest totals for 2023 show that Valdeorras produced 7.8 million kilograms, with 76% white grapes and 24% red grapes, although the yearly average is generally around 80% white and 20% red. Of that total of whites, 96% is Godello, now showing that Valdeorras is Godello, and Godello is Valdeorras.
This is a remarkable shift in the region. When visiting Alan de Val, a relatively small family producer, I noticed that vines were being grafted near the winery. José Luis Sánchez, the owner, said, “Yes, we’re regrafting the Alicante Bouschet over to Godello.”
The shift is also reflected in the market. Palacios no longer produces his O Bolo wine, because economically the price of Godello grapes has made it too difficult to produce this entry-level wine. Likewise, because of the demands for high quality, Rafael sold off 35% of his 2022 harvest in bulk, as it didn’t reach the levels now required to be released as a Rafael Palacios wine.
The current downturn in sales of red wine, an issue occurring in pockets of Spain as well as across southern and eastern Europe, is another market factor working in Godello’s favor, as producers are hopeful that sales of white wine will help compensate for the loss.
The expression of terroir that Godello achieves in Valdeorras—thanks to the work of REVIVAL, Godeval, and other small producers—has yet to be replicated in other regions, and this singularity is attracting more talent to the region. The Rioja producer Telmo Rodríguez, the Bierzo legend Raul Pérez, and others have established their own projects in Valdeorras to complement the 41 registered wineries already there.
The work seems to be paying off, as consumers increasingly ask for the variety and recognize Valdeorras as its natural home. Godello has yet to achieve the recognition of Albariño, but its moment is approaching, especially as its volume and market presence grow.
In a small, out-of-the-way area of northwestern Spain, Valdeorras has undergone a surprising revival as wine consumers seek fine white wines. It’s a resurgence that ideally will yield a new form of “gold” for the region in the foreseeable future.
Banner photo credit: Noah Chichester
D.O. Valdeorras (website). Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.dovaldeorras.tv/.
Bodegas Godeval (website). Accessed September 15, 2024. https://godeval.com/.
Castro Voces, Antonio, Manuel M. Losada Arias, and Cristina Rodríguez Rodríguez. Godello de Valdeorras, emblema de una tierra. Ourense, Spain: Diputación Provincial de Orense, 2006.
Rafael Palacios (website). Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.rafaelpalacios.com/.
The only Spanish wine on my mainly Alsatian and French list at the moment is the Rafael Palacios Godello Louro do Bolo 2022.
Thanks, Michael!
Great article - thank you, Miquel!