Winemaker Notes
Whole bunches are hand harvested in small boxes, with a meticulous selection made in the vineyard. The bunches are gently pressed and the wine undergoes a spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in temperature stainless steel tanks. Post fermentation, the wine is racked into stainless steel tanks, where it is then aged for four months on its fine lees without bâtonnage. No malolactic fermentation. Bottled unfiltered.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2024 Gaba do Xil O Barreiro is 99% Godello with a smidgen of indigenous varieties grown on 50-year-old vines in O Barreiro in the Larouco village. Medium-bodied, it offers layers of sweet peach and well-integrated acidity, fermented on native yeast in stainless steel tank before aging on the lees with no bâtonnage. This is a sophisticated, wild take on the grape, a nod to tradition and magical vineyards in unexpected places.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Gaba do Xil O Barreiro comes from a mild year, with enough rain and lower yields because of problems with fungus. The grapes were healthy when they started picking them the third of September. It fermented and matured in stainless steel with lees for four months without going through malolactic acidity. It's pale and young, still a little reductive, faintly balsamic but with a good core and mid-palate with fantastic balance. It comes in at 13.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.6 and 4.8 grams of acidity.
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.