Bodegas Mengoba, Bierzo
The 2024 Godello Brezo from Bierzo offers ripe pear, apple and a touch of barrel influence from 25% of the blend aged in foudres. Creamy and enveloping, it is fresh, lightly saline and finishes with a rich, apple-driven flavor. - Joaquín Hidalgo
The very young white 2024 Brezo Godello comes from small plots in different villages. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and was kept with the lees until bottling. It's varietal and clean, with notes of white fruit, flowers and bay leaf. It has good ripeness, 13% alcohol and good freshness, with a pH of 3.2 and six grams of acidity. It comes through as balanced, tasty, fruit-driven and easy to drink but serious. - Luis Gutierrez
I tasted a very young bottle of the white 2023 Brezo Godello, which also contains 10% Doña Blanca, all from small plots in different villages. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and was kept with the lees until bottling. It's varietal, medicinal, balsamic and a little reductive, with notes of white fruit and bay leaf. It has ripeness and freshness and comes through as balanced, fruit-driven and easy to drink. - Luis Gutièrrez
Som dråber, der siver tykt og pollenfyldt fra sommerens blomster, egentlig neutral hvidvinsduft, men den er pur som dug og bjergbække, blidt bitter som en grapeskræl, doseret syre, som kun holder friskheden i en ellers ret olieret viskositet. Til den pris får du stramhed, smerteintensitet på niveau med godello fra nogle af Valdeorras topproducenter, men også langt mere sommerlig friskhed – og det ER jo Bierzo, og ikke Valdeorras. Lige nu sidder jeg rent faktisk i drivhuset og skriver disse linjer og i haven udenfor står de vilde planter, okseøje, mælkebøtte og ikke mindst hækken med sergeantæbler i fuldt flor og det samme har jeg i glasset.
Saftig og sprød sag, der kunne minde om chablis, men såmænd stammer fra det nordvestlige Spanien. Dufter frisk og mineralsk. Aromaer af kvæde, æbleskræl, gule bær og knust sten spræller i glasset, og når du får vinen i munden, prikker den kortvarigt på tungen og lukker op for en overflod af saftspændte frugter. Jeg noterer mig bl.a. sprøde æbler, sødlig klementin og bitter grape … samt et opkvikkende anstrøg af lim. Der går en fin syrestreng gennem hele vinen, som fremstår spillevende og pivfrisk. Du kan roligt drikke den til alle former for hvid fisk og skaldyr. Jeg er glad i munden.
The young 2022 Brezo Godello has some 10% Doña Blanca, all sourced from different vineyards in different villages and soils. It has moderate alcohol for a warm year (12.5%) and very good parameters of freshness and acidity. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and was kept with the lees that were not stirred until bottling. It's pale and fruit-driven with notes of apples, pears, apricots and white flowers. It has a light palate with clean flavors and a balanced mouthfeel. - Luis Gutiérrez
Gylden farve. Animalsk næse. Tør, lidt sherryagtig stil med noter af æble, også stødt æble. Mineralsk og lettere excentrisk, ikke for alle. Måske mere vinter end sommer i stilen – eller skaldyr. Mægtig kvalitet til prisen her. - Niels Lillelund
The expressive white 2020 Brezo Godello (which contains 10% Doña Blanca) has notes of grape pulp and candied yellow fruit, wet sand and stones, full of personality and beyond the varietal aromas. It has moderate ripeness and alcohol (13%), keeping the freshness and balance. It's clean and tasty, finishing dry and serious. Much more than an entry-level Godello. - Luis Gutierrez
Setting the tone for this collection of whites that have a strong personality and high quality, the 2019 Brezo Godello is a young and expressive that doesn't show the reductive personality of many of the early-bottled Godellos. This is supposed to be a wine of thirst, easy to drink, fruit-driven and with good acidity, but it goes well beyond that and shows character and typicity, with the textbook pippin apples, bay leaf and a bitter twist in the finish, showcasing the variety. Produced with grapes from a number of villages—Valtuille, Villafranca, Cacabelos, Carracedo, etc.—on clay-rich soils, it fermented with indigenous yeasts and was kept with the lees for six months.
There are no less than five whites in the portfolio, with the 2016 Brezo as the entry level. Even if the label says Godello, it contains some 15% Doña Blanca, a grape locally known as Valenciana. It's a serious white, clean, tasty and fresh, much better than one would expect looking at the price tag. It was bottled unoaked after some time in contact with the lees that were never stirred. It has very tasty flavors and good volume and length - Luis Gutierrez
The first white is the 2014 Brezo, a blend of Godello with 20% Doña Blanca that is matured in contact with the lees without bâttonage. It had an unusual nose of pear in syrup, very different from the other two whites. It might have had some yeast/dough notes. The palate shows more austerity, good acidity, straight, linear, somehow austere. 40,000 bottles produced. - Luis Gutierrez
