SPAIN’S LESSER KNOWN WHITE WINES

Photos: Top: Caneiros's vineyards © Rafael Palacios; middle: Verdejo grapes © ICEX; bottom: harvesting grapes for Txacoli wines in the Basque Country © Kerin Auth.

About the author: Doug Frost is one of the top wine and spirits professionals in the country. In 1991, he passed the rigorous master Sommelier examination; two years later, he became America's eighth Master of Wine. He was the second person in the history to complete both exams, and fifteen years later, he is still one of only three people in the world to have achieved both these remarkable distinctions.

By Doug Frost

If you think about Spanish wine, you probably think about red wine first, second and third. Maybe you think about red wine exclusively; you wouldn’t be in the minority. Less than ten percent of the table wine made in Spain is white.

But the last five years have seen an expansion of quality white grape plantings, and a near doubling of the number of bottled white wines. It’s true that the vast majority of Spanish white wine is made from the lowly Airén grape, and most of that is destined to be flamed into brandy, but other grapes are now part of the wine lover’s lexicon. In 2007, the U.S. became the number one marketplace for Albariño (we buy and drink more of it than the Spanish). And plenty of America’s sommeliers have been drinking and listing the other white wines of Spain.

Maybe it was obvious that some scale was tipping somewhere when Gallo jumped into the Spanish wine business, locking up the largest producer of Albariño (Martín Códax) a year or two before nailing down one of the greatest red wine values in the world with a purchase of the Las Rocas brand. The brains in Modesto were right to get into the Albariño business because there aren’t many new available areas for the Albariño grape to flourish, aside from its current plantings in coastal Rías Baixas. Like they say about land, it’s valuable because they aren’t making any more of it.

If Albariño has been the darling of the stage the last few years, Godello for many has already graduated from the ballet corps and come to the fore. “I think Godello is the future of Spanish white wine”, say Spanish wine expert Steven Olson, “it’s one of the handful of grapes that is truly noble and that is capable of expressing its terroir at all ripeness levels.”

Godello’s home is the rather remote and rustic region of Valdeorras; many vineyards there are sparsely filled with ancient vines and rocky, impoverished soils. Some of these look more like Priorat’s old and meager plantings, and the grape seems uniquely suited for those hideaways. Olson prizes the way they can prosper as “old vines and on native rootstocks at high altitudes.” Rafael Palacios (yes, of that famous wine family) has crafted some of Godello’s most compelling bottles; his As Sortes is comprised of nearly century old vines (and many that are older) at latitudes higher than 2000 feet. Palacios uses large foudres for fermentation and aging, and it’s a dramatic wine with lots of toasty elements. Few of those notes are from the big barrels, though many mistakenly perceive its showiness as barrel character. Rather, it’s extended lees aging that gives As Sortes such fat texture, and it holds an almost oily minerality in its long finish. Some have been successful in crafting Albariño with these tools, but Godello (or at least some Godello) seems better suited to the resulting creamy textures.

The grape has plenty of lesser plantings in valleys or even flat areas in and outside Valdeorras, but there are some good spots elsewhere, especially in other prized DO’s such as Bierzo. “The grape can reach ripeness levels that give it amazing texture and richness,” Olson explains, “and like Riesling and Chardonnay, it can offer this kind of expression even in the absence of oak.” Like a few other white grapes (Verdejo included), Godello can alternate between satisfying melon and tangy pear flavors, and no matter its quality level, it has a palate weight beyond its flavors, more like Chardonnay’s texture than most other white grapes. And for the moment, Godello is trying on various winemaking fashions (barrel fermentation, lees stirring, old or new bar-

6