Godello

History of Godello

We’re lucky to have Godello with us because it nearly went extinct. Firstly, it was hit by phylloxera. Phylloxera is an insect that plagued European vineyards in the 19^th century and had a massive impact on the Spanish wine landscape. And whilst you can still find vines that date back to pre-phylloxera days, a lot of Galicia’s vineyards were impacted by the plague.

On top of that, the grape itself isn’t that easy to work with. It can be difficult to cultivate and often delivers low yields. Combine that with a series of export limitations that Franco introduced – not just on wine, but on a range of Spanish products – and many winemakers just felt Godello wasn’t worth the effort.

Fortunately, we didn’t lose Godello forever. And for that we can thank Horacio Fernández Presa.

In the 1970s, he launched a project called REVIVAL which focused on restructuring vineyards in Valdeorras - one of the 5 Denominaciones de Origen in Galicia - and reviving native grapes in the region – most notably Godello.

Thanks to Horacio’s work we are still enjoying Godello today. And the winemakers of Valdeorras continue to pay homage to the man they call the father of Godello.

Where is Godello found?

As we’ve seen, Godello is primarily produced in Valdeorras as well as in Monterrei, another Galician DO. But you’ll also find it being used across the border in the Bierzo region of Castilla y León. These regions, especially Galicia, offer cool wet climates, mountainous landscape, and granite and slate soils, which provide perfect conditions for the Godello grape really help to give it the minerality that characterizes these wines.

What are the characteristics of Godello wines?

Godello can take quite a bit of work to get the best out of it. It’s an early ripening grape that delivers quite low yields. This means it certainly doesn’t work for mass-produced wines.

That has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it means you’re almost always going to get a well-crafted wine with Godello. But it also means you may have to pay a touch more for it.

The wines you get from Godello tend to be straw-coloured with good acidity, plenty of body and slightly higher levels of alcohol than other whites.

You can expect strong fruit flavours – a mixture of citrus and green apple together with sweeter fruits like peach. But you’ll also get a touch of salt and that mineral flavour we mentioned before. You really can sense the slate coming through in the taste of this wine. That makes it more complex and structured than normal whites.

Usually, Godello is fermented in stainless steel vats to avoid messing with that fruit and mineral combination. But it does sometimes get aged in wooden barrels, which can give it a slightly nutty or toasted flavour and can make it quite similar to a Chardonnay.

What food pairs well with Godello wines?

Because of that combination of flavours, Godello wines go really well with shellfish, but the fact that they have more body and more complex characteristics means they also work with stronger flavours like octopus with paprika or anchovies and it’s a great accompaniment to cheeses.

What Godello wines should I try?

If you’re looking to try a Godello wine, why not start with our 100% Godello from Casar de Burbia. It’s an elegant wine with floral, spice and green fruit aromas against a more mineral and citrus background. Its eight months on lees helps provide structure, with lots of volume and unctuosity. Nicely balanced acidity, with a pleasing citrus and mineral aftertaste.

Or if you want a more gastronomic option, try Casar de Burbia’s Godello Barrica. It’s fermented in used 500 and 600-litre French oak barrels where it remains on its lees ageing for 12 months with regular batonnage to avoid any reductive aromas developing. The wine then spends a further 7 months on its lees in stainless steel tanks where it slowly stabilizes before bottling.

A lot of work goes into this wine – and you can tell. It’s delicious and complex with a blend of tropical fruit aromas like peach, mango and a touch of citrus. That’s all held together by a mineral thread thanks to the higher, stonier plots where the grapes were grown. There’s more tropical fruit on the palate, coupled with a delicious acidity that lingers in the mouth.

In summary

If you haven’t tasted Godello before we really recommend you pick up a bottle and give it a try. And if you’re not sure where to start then simply pick one of the wines above and start enjoying.

Airén

At just over 200,000 hectares (or 21% of total vines planted) Airén is Spain’s most widely grown white grape and second only to Tempranillo at 203,000 hectares.

Albariño

Albariño is a white wine grape most commonly found in the region of Rias Baixas, one of the five official wine-growing regions in Galicia. It produces wines with lovely fresh fruit and crisp citrus flavours that are beautiful to drink.

Albillo Real

Albillo Real is a native Spanish white variety grown historically in Castille, especially Ribera del Duero, Avila and Madrid, as well as Galicia.

Alicante Bouschet

Alicante Bouschet is a red grape with red flesh, one of what the French call "dyer" varieties because they add a deep colour to red wine.

Bobal

Bobal is Spain’s 3^rd most widely grown wine grape, but still not that well known. Traditionally it was used in bulk wines, but these days it’s increasingly being used for single varietal wines.

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is an early budding, medium ripening grape variety with medium to high acidity which adapts well to different soil types. It is one of Spain's less common grapes, but can still be found in places like Castilla la Mancha, Catalunya and Valencia.

Cabernet Sauvignon

A cross between Cabernet Franc and the white grape, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps the world’s most famous red grape.

Cariñena, Mazuelo or Samsó

Cariñena is a Spanish grape variety with many names - Carignan, Mazuelo, Samsó. Naming conventions aside, having once been the dominant wine grape in much of Spain only to fall out of favour, this grape is now making a comeback.

Chardonnay

One of the wine world’s most well-known grape varieties. In Spain it's used on its own or blended in Cava, and is popular because it can soak up the influence of its environment or the techniques of its winemaker like few other grapes.

Garnacha

Garnacha is one of the most widely grown red grapes in the world and Spain's third most popular red grape. From the famous Priorat to the lesser-known Méntrida, this grape has become a staple of the Spanish wine sector.

Garnacha Blanca

Garnacha Blanca is a wine with the Mediterranean in its DNA. Imagine yourself walking along a coastal path on a spring day with the smell of scrubland herbs and flowers mixing with the fresh sea air. Well, if you could bottle that it would probably be a Garnacha Blanca.

Giró

For many people, Giró is synonymous with, or a very old clone of, Garnacha and it’s the name given to the grape in the Levante region

Graciano

Graciano is perhaps best known as "Rioja's third grape" after Tempranillo and Garnacha. It has a very dark-hued skin and gives dark, intense red wines with good acidity and levels of tannin. It tends to give fresh, elegant wines which are quite full in the mouth with a long finish.

Macabeo or Viura

Macabeo, or Viura as you’ll see it referred to in Rioja, is Spain’s fifth most widely planted grape. In Catalunya, it's commonly used in Cava whilst in Rioja, it's an important part of the region’s exciting experimentation with new white wines.

Malvasía

Malvasia is a Spanish white wine grape variety. It's popular in the Canary Islands, where you’ll find it as Malvasía Volcanica or Malvasía Aromatica. In mainland Spain, it's known as Doña Blanca, Malvasía Blanca, Alarije, Blanca Roja, Rojal and Subirat Parent amongst other names.

Mencía

Mencía is particularly popular in DOs like Bierzo or Ribeira Sacra, Monterrei and Valdeorras in Galicia. In general, Mencía wines are fresh and perfumed, with very appealing fruit that works well with very subtle oak or no oak at all.

Merlot

Originally from Bordeaux, Merlot is now grown in close to 40 countries across the world. It tends to give quite plump, juicy and rounded wines, which makes it the ideal blending partner for the more austere grapes.

Merseguera

Merseguera has the reputation of being rather neutral. But in the right hands, it can produce fresh, aromatic wines with light acidity and low alcohol.

Monastrell

Tempranillo may be better known, but Monastrell is one of Spain’s most well-loved red grapes. It has an especially important role in the winemaking culture in the Levante region, and in particular the south-east of the country.

Moravia Agria

Moravia Agria is one of Spain’s more obscure red grape varieties, grown principally in Castilla La Mancha, especially in DO Manchuela.

Moscatel

Moscatel is a highly aromatic grape variety. Its key characteristic is that it is one of the only wine grapes that produces wines that actually taste like grapes.

Palomino Fino

Palomino Fino is a white grape variety which originated in Andalucia and is most closely associated with Jerez where it's the key grape used to make a whole range of wines, mainly fortified but some still wines too.

Parellada

Parellada is a white wine grape, commonly used in the Spanish wine regions of Valencia and Catalunya. Alongside Xarel-lo and Macabeo, it is one of the three core grapes used to make the Spanish sparkling wine Cava.

Pedro Ximénez

Pedro Ximénez (PX) is traditionally associated with Andalucia, and particularly the sweet wines of Montilla-Moriles. In fact, some producers in Jerez or Malaga still routinely import sweet, sticky PX wines from Montilla-Moriles to sweeten their blends.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is one of the world’s best known and best loved red grapes. But it’s also a notoriously delicate grape to work with and requires optimum growing conditions.

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is one of the world’s most popular white varieties. In many parts of Spain, the climate is a little too hot for Sauvignon Blanc to grow in large quantities. But you can find it used quite extensively in DO Rueda.

Sousón

Sousón is the most popular red grape in Rías Baixas, the Galician wine region known for its white Albariño wines. But it’s also found in the Spanish wine regions of Ribeira Sacra, Ribeiro, Valdeorras and Monterrei.

Syrah

Originally from the Rhône Valley in France, Syrah has found fame in Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa and the US. But in Spain it is still largely used in blends.

Tempranillo

Tempranillo is the most common wine grape in Spain. Whilst it's grown and used for winemaking in many Spanish wine regions, it's most commonly associated with the wine regions of Ribera del Duero and Rioja.

Torrontés

Torrontés is the second most widely planted white wine grape in the Galician wine region of Ribeiro, with smaller plantings in Rías Baixas and Ribeira Sacra. Torrontés makes very aromatic Spanish white wines.

Treixadura

Treixadura is the main white grape in the Ribeiro DO in Galicia, where you’ll often find it blended with other local Galician white varieties like Godello or Torrontés. It produces aromatic, refreshing white wines.

Verdejo

Verdejo’s popularity shot up in the noughties as it became a sort of substitute for Sauvignon Blanc. Nowadays, 4 in every 10 bottles of white wine sold in Spain is made from the Verdejo grape. It's mainly grown in Castilla y León and particularly in the Spanish wine region Rueda.

Xarel-lo

Xarel-lo is a white grape variety from Catalunya in Spain. It is most commonly associated with the Spanish sparkling wine Cava, where it is blended with Parellada and Macabeo.