Recommended 86-89pts
From Godello to Treixadura, Loureiro to Caiño Blanco, this tasting offered some exceptional examples of Galicia’s white wines, as well as some new discoveries and a few surprises. Here we focused on Galicia’s treasure trove of white varieties excluding Albariño, which has already earned itself plenty of attention and been well explored in other tastings. Spanish agriculture ministry data for 2022 shows that production of white wines across the four provinces of Galicia constitutes a significant 69%, bucking the trend of the majority of regions in Spain where red varieties are more widely planted.
The judging panel was most impressed with the high quality and consistency of the wines. Nearly half of them – 27 out of 59 – scored 90 points or more (see ‘The scores’, below). ‘There were no really bad wines in the tasting,’ noted Pierre Mansour. While consistency is a common feature of Spanish wine tastings, we speculated that Galician whites must surely be among the best performers across all price points. It is interesting to note that three of the wines awarded 90 points are under £15, so despite rising demand and costs in Galicia, there is still value to be found.
One variety dominated this tasting: Godello was present in 44 of the wines, either on its own or as part of a blend. Sarah-Jane Evans MW commented that Godello ‘makes much more serious wines than some would expect’ and is the ‘next thing to watch after Albariño’. There were Godellos from each of the five Galician DOs (Denominación de Origen), which allowed the panel to highlight some interesting
