Wine Discovery DC109 - Rafael Palacios, Louro
Glorious Godello, Galicia’s greatest grape?
Green Galicia is Spain’s northwest corner, and home to its best whites. Fashionable Albariño from coastal Rías Baixas gets most of the attention, but it has a rival for the title of Galicia’s (and Spain’s) best white grape: the much less well-known Godello, which grows further inland and is the dominant variety in Valdeorras, Galicia’s highest and easternmost DO.
Rafael Palacios is the master of Godello, with his top wines As Sortes and Sorte O Soro acclaimed as perhaps the best whites in all Spain. Louro is his midrange wine, one step down from As Sortes. It’s still the finest Spanish white we’ve ever tasted, coming over like a cross between Premier Cru white Burgundy and top-notch dry Vouvray.
Herbs and minerals abound in the fabulously fragrant, slightly honeyed nose; there’s a finely-chiselled concentration to the intense orchard fruit and ripe citrus flavours; and terrific backloaded acidity lifts and lengthens the cleansing finish.