Rafael Palacios is one scion of a winemaking family that has collectively helped redefine modern wine in Spain. He started out at the family winery in Rioja, Palacios Remondo, where he was responsible for a groundbreaking new white Rioja - Placet. Rafael soon decided that white wines were his calling, and he left Rioja in 2004 to set up his eponymous winery in Valdeorras, in Spain’s Atlantic north-west. He quickly established himself as one of Spain’s premier white winemakers. In Valdeorras, he focuses on Godello, a grape variety that had virtually disappeared by the 1980s, but which makes tense, well-structured whites with excellent aromatic expression. Purchasing tiny, neglected plots, Rafael assembled a patchwork of top sites on the steep, sand-and-granite slopes of the Val do Bibei. In Louro do Bolo, the Godello is supported by delicate, perfumed Treixadura. As Sortes is the flagship white, named after the lots (‘sortes’) cast locally to determine vineyard inheritance. The depth in this delicate yet powerful wine brings serious ageing potential. (NT 14/05/25)