Winemaker Notes
Sourced from one of the oldest, most traditional vineyards planted in Valdeorras, Avancia Godello expresses the authenticity of the history of Valdeorras and the oldest Godello clones in the world. A completely unique white wine that ages beautifully and has been recognized by Robert Parker as Spain's best Godello. Godello was almost extinct at the end of the 1980s, so it is extremely rare to find a Godello produced from a single vineyard planted in 1904.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The top cuvée is the 2019 Godello, which comes from 100+-year-old vines from two single vineyards. It had its malolactic fermentation blocked and was brought up 15% new, larger format French oak. Beautiful white peach, tart pineapple, honeyed citrus, and salty mineral notes all define this beauty, which is medium to full-bodied and has a seamless, elegant texture as well as a great finish. Just a classy, elegant white, it's going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and drink nicely for 7-8 years. I think it checks in behind the 2017 (I wasn't able to taste the 2018), but it’s a brilliant wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The ambitious 2019 Godello Old Vines comes in a huge bottle and was produced with the grapes from one vineyard in the village of O Barco and another one in Petín. The juice fermented without malolactic in 500- and 600-liter oak barrels, 15% of them new, and had an élevage of five months with fine lees and bâtonnage. It's spicy and smoky, clearly marked by the élevage, with a somewhat Burgundian profile intermixed with balsamic notes and the volume and freshness of the Godello and the vintage, with a bitter twist, which is one of the signature signs of Godello. Modern, clean, balsamic. There were 11,400 bottles produced. Because they had a small crop in 2018, it was bottled earlier than normal.
Rating: 91(+) -
Wine Enthusiast
Fresh and pure aromas of minerals, apple and white stone fruits precede a round palate that's clean as a whistle, with medium-level acidity. Apple flavors dominate, with notes of green herbs and a touch of skins-based bitterness backing it up. Light apple and pear notes are detectable on a minerally finish.
Bodegas Avancia lies snuggled in the slate dominant mountainsides of Valdeorras, high above the Sil River. Named for the extensive gold mining that the Romans conducted in this area, (Val-de-Oras roughly translates to Valley-of-Gold in Latin) Valdeorras is home to the finest terroir for growing two of Spain’s most important indigenous grapes – Godello and Mencía.
Jorge was the first broker to introduce Godello into the United States, and for many years, was the only merchant offering a wine made from this unique grape. Jorge always dreamed of having his own Godello project, and Bodegas Avancia is the result of this dream. Bodegas Avancia produces the finest Godello wines in all of Spain.
In 2016, Robert Parker, Jr. stated “One of my favorite wineries in Spain is Bodegas Avancia. This is a small estate of roughly 23 acres, dry farmed (a characteristic of all of the selections of Jorge Ordóñez), with organic viticulture. Their specialty is working with the Godello grape, which may well be Spain’s finest indigenous white grape. It has the texture of a Chardonnay, but with crisp, mineral and floral notes in its aromatics. Avancia is certainly the top producer of this intriguing and delicious dry white.” Jorge also selected D.O. Valdeorras due to its unique conditions for growing Mencía, Galicia’s most important red grape. The combination of slate soils, high altitudes, old vines, and warmer climate compared to the rest of Galicia provide Valdeorras with the best terroir for growing Mencía.
Godello is native to northwest Spain and has experienced a major revival in the last 20 years. Godello wines are typically sleek and lightly creamy in texture. Barrel fermentation and lees stirring are typical in Valdeorras, Spain where the grape comes from. These winemaking techniques make the most of Godello's inherent structure and help bring out its lovely floral character. Somm Secret—DNA profiling says that Spain’s Godello is actually identical to the Portugese grape variety Gouveio, which grows throughout the Douro and Dão (where it used to mistakenly be called Verdelho).
Just to the south of Bierzo, the steeply terraced Valdeorras Spanish wine region is a respected source of both red and white wines. Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) and Mencía are the principal red varieties while Godello and Palomino compose the majority of this region's whites.