Monday, October 20, 2014

As Sortes Val do Bibei Valdeorras Godello, 2007

My last bottle of this (reported here on August 21, 2013) was badly oxidized. I blamed it on the winemaking but can see now that the oxidized bottle had probably been exposed to too much heat during storage or transit. If you're looking for information about this 2007 Godello from Rafael Palacias, please ignore that note and read this one.

The color is a deep lemon yellow, not overly gold as the previous bottle was. The wine has had some new oak treatment, but most of the oak has now been integrated nicely into the wine, as with a fine white Burgundy. I smell lime, nutmeg and flowers plus a mineral tone that apparently comes from the limestone soil. Not exactly the flintiness of traditional Chablis but similar. The salty smell of an ocean breeze? The wine is ripe upfront and then dances sprightly down the tongue, leaving a lovely multifaceted finish. More limestone minerality. I can still taste the sea breeze freshness at least half an hour later. This is a special wine.

No comments:

Post a Comment