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It means so much to me that you took the time to subscribe to this wine club and, more importantly, chose to spend your hard earned money with us. This month's club release is focused on Spain. The most frequent wine related question I am asked is, "where in the 'Wide World of Wine' should I look to find the best value?" I firmly maintain, even in this period of rising prices, that if you taste with an open palate, value can be found everywhere—the quality of winemaking is so high these days. Nevertheless, there are a few generalizations to live by. They are petty easy to check off: Greece, Portugal, Australia... BUT, this is moving way too quickly and skipping over a country with far too much winemaking history to be overlooked—Spain! 

The Gist on the Wines

The first wine is Godello hailing from Valdeorras in Spain. Though its fame may be relatively new, Godello has deep historical roots. Viticulture in Valdeorras dates back to Roman times and its modern revival, at the hands of producers like Rafael Palacios, is quite notable. If Albariño is Spain's Atlantic Riesling, evoking freshness and tension, then Godello has become Spain's very own Chardonnay, revealing its opulence—a Galician Burgundy, if you will. Godello most frequently shows itself in notes of quince, butter and jasmine, along with the more classic aromas of apple and pear. At its best, it’s a luscious, rounded wine, balanced by delicate freshness and great depth. It also has a natural affinity for oak, a path many producers have wisely explored.

The second wine is Mencía from Bierzo made by two exceptionally famous winemakers, Raúl Pérez and Antoine Graillot—a Spanish wine gnome meets the quintessentially mustachioed Frenchman of winemaking royalty. Bierzo is situated in the Sil Valley, located in the extreme northwest corner of Castilla y León, bordering Galicia to the west and Asturias to the north. Bierzo has both maritime and continental conditions.  Interestingly, those two influences wax and wane from vintage to vintage, and even from one sector of the region to another within a single growing season.  Some years produce a preponderance of rich, ripe wines, whereas cooler years with more Atlantic influence have led inexperienced tasters to pigeonhole Bierzo Mencía as a bright, lighter-bodied wine.  The more comprehensive fact of the matter is that these wines can be either big or bright, depending on vintage and vineyard, or big and bright at once–which is when they are most astonishing and what I think you get in the wine featured here.

The Details on the Wines

Rafael Palacios, Godello, "Louro do Bolo," Valdeorras, Spain (2023)

Rafael Palacios is the brother of Spain’s leading winemaker and stalwart Álvaro Palacios, whose wine, “L’Ermita,” regularly receives 99+ points from critics and goes for eyewatering sums. It should come as no surprise that the family genius, enthusiasm and attention to detail is also evidenced in Rafael’s (Rafa) wines. Whereas the Palacios family made its name in Rioja, and Álvaro has subsequently achieved world-wide recognition for his vineyards in the appellation of Priorat and Bierzo, Rafael has headed to the green north-west Atlantic-influenced vines of the DO of Valdeorras, which is located windward of Rueda, not too far to the north of the Portuguese border and the River Miño. The jewel here is the white variety Godello, which is now achieving recognition similar to that afforded to Albarino and Verdejo. Sandy soils with granite substratum allied to historical terraced vineyards add up to hard work, small yields and a concomitant high level of quality. He puts a particular emphasis on the practice of using organic treatments and biodynamic agriculture. Rafa works with over 20 tiny parcels scattered around the region, with vines ranging up to almost 100 years in age.

While Valdeorras is located in Galicia in Northwestern Spain, it is not always a cool and humid Atlantic climate as it is in other parts of the province. Given its land-locked location, it is one of the appellations in Galicia that often experiences Mediterranean and Continental climates, along with Atlantic influences as well, depending on the vintage.  The main variety of focus for Rafa is Godello (though there is also a little bit of Treixadura blended into some of the older parcels).  This variety is not easy to master as it can easily spiral into rich and tropical, especially in challenging years when summers are very hot and Mediterranean, as we are experiencing more and more these days. The additional challenge for Godello is it has a shorter window of “optimal ripeness”, so you can’t just pick it early for acidity as you might with, say, Chardonnay. Under ripe Godello, unfortunately, can be somewhat bitter. Nonetheless, how the vines are taken care of, where the vines are located, and how the grapes and musts are handled in the cellar are the keys to taking this variety from the ordinary to the sublime. And only under the fastidious and watchful eye of a master like Rafael Palacios do all these factors combine correctly to produce results that consistently make him one of Spain’s greatest winemakers.  

Rafa started his project in 2004 and has slowly cobbled together 32 plots totaling 24.5 hectares of Godello vines through purchase or long-term lease. All these vines are in the municipality of O Bolo, close to the Bibei river at an elevation of 620-740 meters, on the western edge of the appellation. Most of these plots, or Sortes (Galician for parcels) are relatively steep, so are planted on terraces to prevent erosion. The 2023 Godello, "Louro do Bolo," comes from his younger vines, averaging 25 years of age, and includes a little bit of Treixadura and other white varieties that are planted amongst the Godello. The wine was fermented in 3,500-litre foudres (1 to 15 years old), and aged for 4 months without bâtonnage. It shows remarkable precision on the palate, with both opulence and salinity. Delicate mineral notes, fluid and elegant. Subtle hints of quince, chalk, and crystalline purity. Strikes a fine balance between Godello’s varietal character and the freshness and salinity brought by altitude. Precision winemaking at its best.

Antoine Graillot & Raúl Pérez, Mencía, "Encinas," Bierzo, Spain (2021)

The Graillot name needs little introduction to fine-wine lovers in the United States, having been synonymous for many years with the absolute pinnacle of quality in Crozes-Hermitage, in France’s Northern Rhône. Less well-known on this side of the Atlantic is that the family also imports top domaines from around Europe into France. This arm of the business began with patriarch Alain assembling a portfolio of Italian growers, but the family soon reached further afield, looking to Spain in late 2015. This would prove to be fruitful territory, not least because Alain’s son Antoine (of Domaine de Fa fame in the Beaujolais) spent his Erasmus study-abroad year in Zaragoza, and later worked in the solar energy field in Barcelona for five years.

In their initial scouting, these Rhône legends naturally gravitated to one of Spain’s  own great legends—Raúl Pérez. As it happened, there was not much extra wine for France, but no matter: why not just collaborate on a new project? Nothing could be more natural to Raúl’s personality of generous mentorship, and Antoine was already both salivating at the high-quality old vineyards he’d seen in Bierzo and quite taken with Mencía’s similarity to Syrah both in the winery and the glass. And thus, the Encinas project was born: vineyards sourced and winery offered by Raúl, technique provided by Antoine.

The vineyards? A few parcels in Valtuille and Otero with a blend of soils—classic (for the appellation) clay/alluvial and also a bit of higher-altitude schist. Importantly, a significant portion of the fruit comes from the venerable old plants of the increasingly high-profile El Rapolao cru. The winery? There was a slight spot of trouble here: somewhat infamously, the only way for Antoine to get a cement vat into the winery (Raúl having only wood and amphora at the time) was to take a section of roof off and lower it in by crane! (Sadly, no one seems to have had their phones out, but perhaps it’s even better left to the mind’s eye.) Once ensconced, the cement would a be a key element in elaborating à la Graillot—retaining stems, but shortening up macerations, since the extra oxygen required in a cement fermentation meant more pumping over.

The 2021 Encinas is one of the best releases yet. The wine is showing a level of polish missing in previous years but still has the earthy rusticity that seems to define Graillot’s wines from Bierzo. It was fermented with 100% whole grape clusters in concrete and matured in a new 5,000-liter troncoconic oak foudre. The wine presents with lively acidity and lightly chewy tannins springboarding flavors of black raspberry, boysenberry, mineral and rooibos tea on the palate. It offers a well-spiced finish. The wine has clout and concentration despite being only 13% alcohol, and it has lovely rusticity that should make it age nicely.