White wine

Where our whites grow

In Galicia the range runs from the granite of the Rías Baixas on the Atlantic to the slate of the Ribeira Sacra along the Sil. The grapes are Godello, Albariño and Treixadura, and in the Ribeiro they often go into a blend.

Outside Galicia, Carres in Casas de Eufemia makes Sabinilla from pure Tardana off bush vines more than 60 years old, and Verónica Romero turns Macabeo into El Carbonero, left on its skins like an orange wine. On Mallorca, Rosaberto bottles Prensal Blanc and Giró Ros, in the Roero Fabrizio Battaglino makes Arneis, and Kaléidoscope makes its Fendant in Savièse.

What happens in the cellar

• Algueira Brandán 2024: pure Godello from slate in Doade, destemmed, pressed and fermented in steel, with no oak and no lees ageing.
• Ronsel do Sil Ourive Dona Branca 2023: pure Dona Branca from bush vines over 85 years old at 600 metres, eight months on fine lees in French oak. The whole Ribeira Sacra DO harvests only around 5,800 kilos of this grape a year, and Ronsel do Sil bottles 1,450 of it.
• Can Ràfols Xarel·lo Pairal 2022: Xarel·lo from the single site El Cirerer at 260 metres in the Massís del Garraf, wild fermented in chestnut casks, 1,789 numbered bottles.

Whites with some age

From Algueira we stock Finca Cortezada, a blend of Godello, Albariño and Treixadura, in mature vintages from 2009 and as a young 2024, and Escalada, pure Godello, in vintages from 2009 to 2023. Cortezada stays in steel, while Escalada ferments without temperature control in used chestnut and oak casks of 750 litres. With a mature hard cheese, we would pour the Cortezada 2012 ahead of any red.

Temperature and food

Serve young whites like the Brandán or the Fendant at 8 to 10 degrees. Veigamoura recommends 10 to 12 for its Albariño. Aged Godello and barrel-fermented whites need 11 to 13 degrees, or they stay closed. Albariño from the Rías Baixas belongs with mussels and raw fish, Rosaberto's Prensal Blanc with marinated fish, the Xarel·lo Pairal with grilled fish, risotto and semi-hard cheese, and El Carbonero with rice dishes and aged cheese.