For fans of all whites that are crips and delicious, I bring you... Spain's Pound for Pound Champion...

Palacios Louro Godello 2019

Sale $22.89 

Beats Best US Price Online

93 pts Wine Advocate

Rafael Palacios’ Louro may very well be the cumulatively highest-rated Spanish white under $40 of all time. I’d say it likely is, but it isn’t an easy claim to validate… but I’ve been doing this a while, folks, and I can’t think of any other wine with this track record! It certainly ranks up there as one of my favorites.

Godello is one of those varietals that has a lot of street cred among wine geeks, and with its ability to communicate its place of origin in addition to beautiful fruit, many Spanish vintners believe may be the grape that puts Spanish whites “on the map.” What makes Godello particularly compelling to me is how it combines crisp and clean flavors with concentration and length. So while it is delicious for drinking on its own, with air it expands and fleshes out, making it a perfect foil for slightly richer foods - like grilled halibut... pork tacos… seared scallops…
 
This beauty explodes with aromas of lemons, limes, green apples and pears. Hints of white pepper, anise and spring flowers linger and lead into your first sip. Ah… laser-focused minerality takes aim at your taste buds, dazzling and tickling them awake before saturating them with waves of peach and lemon-lime. Deceptively long, the finish lingers until you can recalibrate and dive in for more!

As quaffable and enjoyable as Godello can be from Valdeorras, it rarely reaches the level of richness, balance and complexity as it does in the hands of Rafael Palacios. Bordering Ribera Sacra, the Val do Bibei is a tortured landscape of granitic, terraced slopes dotted with hard to reach and hard to farm vineyard plots. Whereas most of the rest of the DO is at lower elevation with limestone and schist soils, Rafa works exclusively with Godello planted on granitic soils at much higher elevations – so high that late Spring snow and frost are ever present dangers to his already low yields. Louro is crafted from younger vines but carefully selected from plots that produce age-worthy wines. Fermented with indigenous yeast and aged on its lees in neutral 30HL French oak  foudres, Louro showcases Rafa’s talent at balancing the minerality of the grape with the richness and texture of the elevage. Up to 10% of the blend in Louro will be Treixadura, a variety that can be found co-planted in Rafa’s sortes.

“the 2017 Louro Do Bolo is a blend of 92% Godello and 8% Treixadura from sandy, granitic soils, fermented and aged in larger foudre. Crushed lime, citrus pith, white flowers, and a beautiful salinity all give way to a medium-bodied, racy, vibrant white that makes you salivate. It’s going to be incredibly versatile on the dinner table, and while I’d drink bottles over the coming year or so, I wouldn’t be surprised if this evolves gracefully for longer.” JD on 2017

"It always has a small percentage of Treixadura, around 4% this year, and in 2019, it reached 14% alcohol, so it's not a shy wine. It might seem incredible, but Treixadura is a very aromatic and balsamic grape and that small percentage is clearly noticeable in the aromatics, which gives Louro a very different profile from the AS Sortes, with a more herbal and balsamic touch. But Palacios tells me that's the freshness of the year (Godello can also be herbal), as they have regrafted a lot of Treixadura. In 2019, there is less Treixadura than in previous years, and there's only one hectare of Treixadura left in his vineyards. The wine does have very good freshness, plus a very salty finish and the granite sensation that gives it an electric touch, complex, powerful and with a profile of a serious wine with very little bitterness" WA on 2019


Or reply. The wine is available now in Chapel Hill. Wednesday, as ordered, in Hillsborough.