Godello

Let's stay in Spain for at least one more day, but today we are headed to the northwest corner of the country perhaps 100 miles from the Bay of Biscay to the north and 150 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the east in a little demominacion de origen protigeda (DOP) called Bierzo. Much like Rioja that we visited yesterday, Bierzo has both the mountainous part, where grapes are grown in the small valleys, known as Alto Bierzo and the flat plain known as Bajo Bierzo. We're here to taste wine from an interesting white grape called Godello.

Bierzo is amont the older wine producing regions of the world. Pliny the Elder is said to have written about the wines of the area as early as about 60 AD. And, when the monasteries of the Middle Ages were built in northern Spain, Bierzo became a hub for Spanish white wine. This contrinued until the middle of the 19th century when phylloxera hit the Bierzo region. The phylloxera plague nearly wiped out the entire production and it wasn't until the 20th century when plants were grafted onto American rootstock less susceptible to phylloxera that the region recovered.

The soil here is a mixture of slate and quartz worn down over the centuries into a very fine grain. Barely acidic and low in carbonates, the nitrogen content is high making for easy growth, but not delivering the stress that would produce the big, bold wines that many New World wine drinkers have taken a liking to. But the h leveighls of silica in the soil give the wines a sharp minerality.

Despite the lack of high acidity in the soil, the Godello grape is naturally acidic. On the nose, we get a somewhat salty grapefruit aroma with curls of smoke wafting through it. On the palate, expect a salty, gravelly wine noticeable for quince as well as lemon and orange zest with a smoky finish.

Pair your Godello with a traditional ceviche brimming with lime and cilantro. Or, for that matter, serve with almost anything with lots of lime and cilantro.