When I order a Godello in a Madrid restaurant I do it almost without thinking, like ordering an Albariño. That’s why I was struck to discover that, in the mid-1970s, this grape covered barely 0.05 % of the vineyard area in Valdeorras, according to the DO itself. It was practically extinct.
How it was lost
Phylloxera reached Galicia at the end of the 19th century and forced almost everything to be replanted. When replanting, many growers chose more productive, easier varieties, such as Palomino (the sherry grape) or Garnacha Tintorera, and Godello was pushed aside. The area’s wine was sold mostly in bulk, and young people left to work in the slate quarries.
The monograph on Godello by the Xunta’s viticulture station (EVEGA) points out that the grape is old and already appears in historical documents. DNA analysis suggests it was born from a spontaneous cross between Traminer and the Iberian Castellana Blanca. In Monterrei they call it «verdello» and in northern Portugal, «gouveio».
The REVIVAL plan
In 1974, Horacio Fernández Presa, head of the area’s Agricultural Extension office, launched the REVIVAL programme (Reestructuración de Viñedos de Valdeorras, Restructuring of the Valdeorras Vineyards) with the winemaker Luis Hidalgo. The central aim was to recover the native varieties, starting with Godello. Today the DO Valdeorras affectionately calls him «the father of Godello».
According to the EVEGA monograph, the recovery got under way in 1976–1977 and the first single-varietal Godellos reached the market in 1981, with great success. Between 1984 and 1992 the clonal and health selection was carried out that produced clones GD-75, GD-76 and GD-78, and with them growers could plant with confidence. In 2024 the DO celebrated the plan’s 50th anniversary, and its president said REVIVAL «recovered Godello for Valdeorras and for the world».
Three names from the recovery
Guitián (Bodegas A Tapada). In 1985 the Guitián siblings, led by Ramón, planted Godello on their family estate in Rubiá de Valdeorras. They used a very old, pre-phylloxera clone, according to the winery. The winemaker Pepe Hidalgo has been with them from the start. Their list of awards includes the Guitián 94 Fermentado en Barrica and international medals in the late 90s, such as silver at the Challenge International du Vin in Bordeaux (1998). The winery also presents itself as a pioneer of unoaked «on lees» whites in Spain. For me it’s an essential stop in the story of Godello.
O Luar do Sil (Pago de los Capellanes). The Rodero Villa family, the same family behind Pago de los Capellanes in Ribera del Duero, has its Galician winery in Seadur (Larouco). Their Godello comes from plots of old vines at about 450 metres, on clay soils over granite. The winery explains the name like this: O Luar do Sil is the moonlight on the waters of the Sil. If you like their red, you’ll find it in my reds.
Avancia (Jorge Ordóñez). Ordóñez, a very well-known importer in the United States, was, according to his website, the first to take Godello to that country. In Valdeorras he has Bodegas Avancia, with organic, dry-farmed viticulture. His Avancia Godello comes from the Aeiroá vineyard, in Raxoá, with vines planted between 1904 and 1910 on slate slopes above the Sil. It’s fermented with its own yeasts and spends 10 months on lees in large French oak barrels.
Rafael Palacios also works in Valdeorras; his Louro do Bolo and As Sortes are two of my go-to whites.
Something to listen to
Whites go with classical music, and Godello asks me for something clean, taut and unadorned: the Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, in Yo-Yo Ma’s version. A single melodic line that says it all, like a good slate-grown Godello.
♪ Enjoy it with Suite para violonchelo n.º 1, Preludio (BWV 1007) · J. S. Bach · Yo-Yo Ma
A clean, mineral line that moves forward without ornament: that's how I understand a good Godello.
