Rafael Palacios, the youngest of this saga of winemakers from Rioja whose best-known member is his brother Álvaro, is one of the leading white wine producers in Spain. He was behind the outstanding white Plácet in the family winery in Rioja, but found his way recovering remote vineyards in Valdeorras (Galicia), where he set up on his own in 2004.
Obsessed with freshness, he focused in O Bolo, a high-altitude, rugged, steep area with terraced vineyards in the narrow valley of the Bibei river, on the border with the Ribera Sacra appellation.
Palacios has managed to gather over 20 hectares of the indigenous, outstanding Godello grape and some Treixadura in this remote setting in the province of Ourense. Vineyards are grown at 500 to 720m of altitude. Soils are mainly granitic with sand on the surface. Terraces are needed to prevent erosion and hold the sand. Most of them are small plots due to the tradition of passing them by drawing lots —known as “sorte” in Galician, which means chance—, thus the name As Sortes of Palacios’ flagship wine.
The increased pressure on Godello vines and the rise of grape prices led Palacios to stop producing his entry-level white Bolo. His range now starts with Louro (€13 in Spain, around 90,000 bottles), which is fermented and aged in foudre. With 8% of Treixadura in the blend, this great-value wine is fruity and approachable.
As Sortes (€32, around 25,000 bottles) was the first wine made by Palacios and it still is his best-known wine. Fermented and aged in 500l oak barrels, it perfectly reflects the potential of good Godello grapes and how well it can age.
In the 2009 vintage Rafael made the single-vineyard O Soro (€98, less than 3,000 bottles) for the first time. A really expressive wine with trademark acidity, it was made again in 2011 and will be released in 2014. The late harvest Godello called Sorte dos Santos has not been released yet but Rafael has served it in tastings both in Spain and abroad.
The 2016 vintage incorporates a new single-vineyard wine from the oldest plot grown by Rafael Palacios. Sorte Antigua covers barely 0.23Ha with vines directly emerging from the rock (“granite is particularly hard here,” Rafa says). It is so delicate that it would be hard to guess -at least on the nose- that it’s an orange wine.
