White and Rosé Wines for Spring

wines

This has aromas of orange peel, plums, raspberries, wild strawberries, violets and tobacco leaves. Excellent freshness with lightly bitter citrus and herb notes lifting the wild berry fruit, supported by fine tannins. Drink now.James Suckling | 92 JS(Godello “Pagos del Galir”- Virgen del Galir) The 2020 Godello “Pagos del Galir” bottling from Cuné’s Virgen del Galir property is lovely this year. As I have mentioned in the past, this wine hails from the single vineyard of A Malosa, with the wine fermented and raised in stainless steel tanks. The 2020 is fairly ripe, coming in at fourteen percent octane this year, but impressively fresh and vibrant on both the nose and palate,. The bouquet offers up a refined blend of lemon, pear, a bit of raw almond, stony minerality, citrus blossoms and just a whisper of beeswax in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a superb core, lovely soil signature and grip, sound framing acids and a long, well-balanced and quite wide open finish. Like many 2020 whites, this does not have a ton of acidity, but plenty to carry it over the next ten to twelve years. (Drink between 2022-2035)John Gilman | 92 JGThe white 2020 Pagos del Galir A Malosa Godello was produced with grapes from a large vineyard (21 hectares!) planted over four years after purchasing over 100 small plots from local growers. So, it has different soils, expositions and altitudes. In 2020 they used the grapes from the lower and middle parts, the oldest plantings on slate soils fermented in stainless steel, barrels (500 and 600 liters) and oak foudres and then matured in foudres and barrels for seven months. 2020 saw a very early harvest with higher yields than 2019, resulting in a wine with 13.5% alcohol and 6.5 grams of acidity. They have seen that small barrels don’t work in the region and have moved to larger sizes, all from French oak. The nose has a Burgundian feeling to it, spicy and with a toasty twist. The oak is still there, so it might need more time to get that creaminess integrated, but it’s very clean and of high quality. There is great purity, definition and precision here. The wine is elegant and subtle, with a long, dry and tasty finish. It has good acidity, one of the challenges with Godello. 19,000 bottles and 300 magnums were produced. It was bottled in May 2021.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91+ RPLight, vivid yellow. Fresh, mineral-tinged citrus and orchard fruits and a powerful floral quality on the perfumed nose. Juicy and focused on the palate, offering lively Meyer lemon, pear and honeysuckle flavors that deepen through the back half. A dusty mineral flourish adds firm cut to the persistent finish, which features clinging citrus fruit and floral notes.Vinous Media | 91 VM

Readers may not know it, but this team makes some incredible whites. The 2020 Virginie De Valandraud Blanc has a beautiful perfume of bright citrus, lemon pith, and chalky minerality as well as a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, yet still racy and vibrant style on the palate. It’s gorgeous today, but this will evolve gracefully for 15 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDTypical Sauvignon Blanc nose of herbs, peas, apple and stalky elderflower with some white chocolate. Bright, textured and clear, a lovely clean sensation, I like the creamy yet piercing lemon and lime. Thrilling with clarity and elements of chalky, lemon, salty lime, nectarine and bitter orange peel. In a quiet phase but plenty of appeal.Decanter | 93 DECThis has aromas of almonds, thyme, clove, lemons and green apples. Crushed stones, too. Creamy, medium-bodied and textured, with a nutty thread throughout. Excellent weight and intensity. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThe 2020 Virginie de Valandraud Blanc is a very pretty and expressive dry white. Hints of passionfruit, tangerine oil, mint and pineapple all grace this airy, weightless white.Vinous Media | 92 VMCrackles nicely from the start, with oyster shell, lemon peel and gooseberry notes. Shows lots of mouthwatering zip through the finish, which brings you back for another sip. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris. Drink now through 2024. 1,200 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WSThe 2020 Virginie de Valandraud Blanc leaps from the glass with exuberant notes of green guava, passion fruit and ripe pears, plus hints of coriander seed, lemongrass and wet pebbles. The medium-bodied palate has impressive purity and intensity, delivering a racy backbone to offset the tropical fruit flavors, finishing long and lively.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 89-91 RP

The 2020 Meursault Les Tillets opens with notes of crisp green apple, freshly baked bread, white flowers and crushed mint. Medium-bodied, satiny and elegant, it’s lively and precise, with a pretty core of fruit and a mouthwatering finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RPThis too is quite firmly reduced and unreadable today. More interesting are the delicate but punchy flavors that evidence plenty of minerality on the vibrant, focused and beautifully well-balanced finale. Once again, more depth would be beneficial, but this wine has an excellent track record in that regard. Worth checking out.Burghound | 89-91 BH

The 2020 Meursault Les Narvaux opens in the glass with aromas of pear, orange oil, nutmeg, freshly baked bread and beeswax. Medium-bodied, racy and chiseled, with good concentration, tangy acids and a long, precise finish, it’s a lovely wine from this underrated producer.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RPThere is a phenolic note to the aromas of apple, pear, acacia blossom and just sliced fennel. I like the sense of underlying tension suffusing the density, tautly muscular and stony medium weight flavors that are both clean and dry while delivering outstanding length for a villages-level wine. Year in and year out this is one of the domaine’s best performers and so it is again in 2020. Recommended.Burghound | 89-92 BH