huevos con vino

I wanted to look long and hard for an interesting wine made from a lesser-known varietal. A wine made from only one type of grape that, ideally, is hard to pronounce and comes from deep in the hills of Spain, or Greece, or maybe even Vermont. But then I scratched Vermont off my list because their wines seem to come from apples rather than grapes. So instead, I focused on Spain and went in search of a wine that was new to me and true to the spirit of Wine Blogging Wednesday #37: Go Native!

So I went native. Like, totally. Super native. Way out there. And I managed to pick a wine that, hopefully, nobody else chose too.

After consulting with Catherine at The Spanish Table, I picked a bottle of the 2005 Bodegas Viña Godeval Godello, made from 100% Godello grapes. You might wonder, “Godello?” Yes, Godello, pronounced “go-day-oh.” The Godello grape is a native of Galicia, the region of Spain where you find D.O. Rías Baixas, an appellation that is famous for its white wines. They speak Galego in Galicia and they drink Godello…confused? I was at first too. But then I found this decent overview of Galicia, including the wines of Galicia. It’s worth a read until you get to the part where they talk about “elaborating” white wines. And then I got confused again. Keep reading, it gets better.

The Romans enjoyed a good Godello wine, apparently; this green grape produces fragrant white wines that Catherine at TST described in terms of fir tree needles and honey. I like those two things well enough that I was sold on the Godello. Plus, it’s another check on my path to the Wine Century club! Sweet.

This particular Godello release comes from a winery built inside an historic monastery: San Miguel de Xagoaza. I love that name, it’s so evocative compared to, say, St. Francis. Nothing against St. Francis, of course. Bodegas Viña Godeval rebuilt this monastery, which sits in the Denominación de Origen (D.O.) of Valdeorras, a name that translates into “Valley of Gold” according to Wikipedia. Godello has been back in this area, grafted onto US rootstock this time, since the 1970s.

The Bodegas Viña Godeval Web site is fascinating. It’s worth reading each of the sections to see just how carefully they built this winery back up from the original monastery, apparently staying true to the original structures and retaining the original stones whenever possible. With 15-year-old Godello vines, this winery has over 40 acres of “filoxerico”-free vines now. Other winery products include a fascinating Anejo liqueur made from Godello grapes.

To the wine. Here are my thoughts on the 2005 Bodegas Viña Godeval Godello:

• Aroma: Woodsy and nutty, but also peachy and floral; a bit like a Viognier, but without as much perfume.
• Flavor: A little spicy, very woody on the palate with an almost pine tree flavor in the aftertaste, sort of like mild retsina.  Dry, somewhat acidic, not a whole lot going on here.
• General impression: Hmm…that’s one woody wine!

Overall, it’s…woody.  That’s about the best way I can put it.  But, on the upside, now I know what to drink when I want something with a lot of pine tree essence in it!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Wine Blogging Wednesday, wine review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.