2020 Rafael Palacios Sorte Antiga

Rafael Palacios, brother of famous winemaker Alvaro Palacios from Priorat, started making wine in 2004 in Valdeorras. He bought old vineyards with godello grapes from local farmers. All 22.5 hectares of the company are planted with this grape, spread over 26 vineyards. The age of the vines ranges from 7 to 91 years old. All the plots are biologically cultivated. He does his best plots: Sorte O Soro, Sorte Antiga and Os Canieros entirely in biodynamics. Rafa has his vineyards in Santa Cruz do Bolo, where the soil is different from the rest in Valdeorras. The soil here is completely granite, with an upper texture of coarse sand grains coming from the eroded granite. The granite here is composed of feldspar, mica and quartz. Especially the quartz, a mineral of crystallized silicon, gives a mineral and salty character to the wines. The pluviometrics are high, which means that the soils have a very low pH and therefore a very high acidity. All the 'sortes' have the same bottoms, with only the texture and size of the grains varying. The altitude varies from 650 to 720 m.

What Rafa attaches great importance to is the selective harvest of each plot, just so as not to lose the unique character of the different plots. The grapes are placed on the selection table at harvest. A cold maceration and the greatest possible protection against oxidation are other techniques he uses in order not to lose quality. The use of foeders is very important. Rafa selects the oak from northern French forests: the colder the forest, the less aromatic the wood, more neutral and with better oxygenation for the élevage sur lies. The wood has been lightly toasted for many hours with very low heat to open the pores of the barrique, but so that it is not marked by smoke or torrefaction flavours. He does Bâtonnage less than before, as he notices that the wines lose character and personality by using the yeast cells too much.

Sorte Antiga comes from Rafa's most spectacular and oldest vineyard. He always calls it his "Montrachet of Valdeorras". The Sorte Antiga is a vineyard of just 0.24 ha, entirely in gobelet, planted in 1920. The vineyard is covered with straw to prevent the erosion of the pulverizing granite. It is a completely different Godello than the wines we know from Rafa Palacios. Deeper in color because of the skin contact. White wine with a hint of tannin. Orange wine made by Rafa Palacios.

Vinification à l'ancienne which stands for fermentation of the entire bunch of grapes in old tanks with a maturation of 12 months. Total production only 960 bottles. Just before bottling, the wine is given the absolute minimum of sulphite.

The Sorte Antiga is darker in color, with a hint of orange sparkle in the glass. Tight, fleshy, good portion of acidity, white wine with bite and a very subtle barrel aging. Long and beautifully mineral finish in which this beautiful vineyard speaks.