This wine, named after its grape, is made almost exclusively in and around Spanish Galicia. And especially in Valdeorras. Round, full flavor, mild wood tones, soft acids, some spiciness and a pleasant blend of ripe citrus with white fruit. Its affinity with wood makes the wine an excellent alternative for those who are tired of Chardonnay.

The region:
Valdeorras is one of the smaller and lesser-known wine regions of Spain. It is located in Galicia in the north-west of the country, between the more famous DOs of Rias Baixas and Bierzo. The vineyards of this wine are at an altitude of 600 to 720 meters and consist mainly of sandy soils. Valdeorras, literally a valley of gold, has a continental climate. Because it lies some 150 kilometers inland, the influence of the Atlantic Ocean is a lot less than in other parts of Galicia.

The grape:
Godello is a rich, aromatic grape and almost certainly the same as the verdelho from Portugal. It is one of Spain's most interesting white varieties while the grape was nearly extinct in the 1970s. In terms of character, comparable to the aroma of the albarinho and the silk-like of the viognier. Its affinity with wood makes the wine an excellent alternative for those who are tired of Chardonnay.

The winery:
Rafael Palacios, brother of famous winemaker Alvaro Placios from Priorat, started making wine in Valdeorras in 2004. He bought old vineyards with godello grapes from local farmers. All 22.5 hectares of the company are planted with this grape, spread over 26 vineyards. The age of the vines varies from 7 to 91 years old. Rafael has had lightweight machines developed especially for the vulnerable terraces on which the vines grow. And because he refuses to use chemical pesticides, he has fallen back on the traditional wine-growing methods of the region. His respect for the landscape and the unique character of the vineyards are reflected in the expression of terroir in the wine.

Rafael Palacios is the youngest brother of Alvaro Palacios, who was best known for his project in the Priorat. The Palacios family has had the well-known Palacios-Remondo bodega for many years in the Rioja town of Alfaro (Rioja Baja), where Alvaro left for Priorat in the late 1980s. Rafa is the youngest of 9 brothers and sisters and worked as an oenologist at the family domain in Rioja. He mainly focused on perfecting the white wine Plácet and got a taste for making top white wines in Spain. After an internship in Valdeorras in Galicia, he was convinced that it would be here that he would make his great white wine with Godello, the typical white grape from this region. He left everything behind at the end of 2003, and in a few months he searched and bought the oldest vineyards of Godello in the highest valley of Valdeorras, the Valle del Bibei. He mainly looked for the highest situated, most accessible and least profitable vineyards, which the villagers were no longer interested in because they involved too much work and too little revenue. He managed to purchase 12 hectares in a short time, rented a large garage and cellar nearby for vinification, and in 2004 he already made his first As Sortes. His 2nd wine, the Louro followed one year later and since 2011 there is the basic wine Bolo. This wine struck immediately like a bomb and in a short time his wines at home and abroad gained true cult status. In the meantime, he also uses small amounts of Treixadura and is already thinking about doing even better. The construction of the bodega itself is completely subordinate to acquiring the best vineyards and making the best white wine, but in 2011 the plans for this were sufficiently matured. Varieties Rafael himself calls the Godello the lung of his wines; it is a glyceric cépage, with very few aromas. Nevertheless, this grape is at great heights capable of true top performances with a fraîcheur that is unseen. Godello naturally has high tartrate acids which guarantees good evolution over time. The Treixadura is similar to the Godello, but has more aromatic capacities. In the meantime, Rafa owns 21 ha, of which almost 20 ha Godello and a little more than 1 ha Treixadura. He also controls 8 ha of Godello. All the plots are biologically processed. His best plots: Sorte O Soro, Sorte Antiga and Os Canieros are all done in biodynamics. Terroir The name of the wine As Sortes is Galician for the 'inheritances'. After all, the Galician inheritance system is structured in such a way that every child receives an equal share of a piece of land, in this way the vineyards are of course incredibly fragmented and everyone gets a 'sorte' or lottery. It often happens that a vineyard of 1 ha is divided into 10 different plots or 'sortes'. The plural As Sortes are therefore many lots together in one wine. Rafa has its vineyards in Santa Cruz do Bolo, where the soil is different from the rest in Valdeorras. The soil here is completely granite, with an upper texture of coarse sand grains from the eroded granite. The granite here is composed of feldspar, mica and quartz. The quartz in particular, a mineral of crystallized silicon, gives the wines a mineral and salty character. The pluviometry is high, so the soils have a very low pH and therefore a very high acidity. All the 'sortes' have the same soils, with only the texture and size of the granules vary. The height varies from 650 to 720 m. The climate is continental with Atlantic influences. The height and orientation in particular determine the different microclimates. The most aromatic grapes by their north orientation come from Sorte Val Verde, Antiga and Chandoiro. The freshest because of the high altitude are Sorte dos Santos, a Coalleira, Chao do Couso and O Serro. The most complex due to their south and south-west orientation and high altitude are Sorte O Soro, Os Caneiros and Falcoeira. Vinification Rafa attaches great importance to the selective harvest of each parcel, precisely so as not to lose the unique character of the different parcels. The grapes come to the selection table during harvest. A cold maceration and the greatest possible protection against oxidation are other techniques that he uses in order not to lose quality. The use of feeds is very important. Rafa selects the oak from northern French forests: the colder the forest, the less aromatic the wood, more neutral and with better oxidation for the levee sur lies. The wood is lightly toasted for many hours with a very low fire so that the pores of the barrique open, but so that it is not marked by smoke or torrefaction aromas. He does Bâtonnage less than before, as he notices that the wines lose character and personality by making too much use of the yeast cells. The As Sortes is fermented in large wooden 500-liter containers for a good month, after which the wine in the same containers receives a 6-month level. Louro gets its fermentation on 3000 liter feeds for one month and an extra level of 5 months. Bolo is vinified on stainless steel cuves.