The young, unoaked 2012 Guitian, produced from 30-year-old Godello vines grown on slate soils on the La Tapada property belonging to the family, shows a bright, pale yellow color, with an herbaceous fresh nose redolent of fennel, citric fruit (grapefruit), and a touch of minerality. The medium-bodied palate is quite intense, delineated and clean, with pungent flavors and a salty/mineral finish. Clean, well made, pleasant and easy to drink. Year in, year out, one reference for Godello and Valdeorras at an unbeatable price. 70,000 bottles produced. Experience shows that this unoaked Godello ages well in the bottle. Drink 2013-2017. The Guitian Velasco family planted a 10-hectare Godello vineyard in the village of Rubia in 1989 on their property called La Tapada. They built their winery in 1993 and soon, with the help of the enological team of Jose Hidalgo and Ana Martin and their unusual art deco labels, were the first to put Valdeorras and Godello in the minds of Spanish wine aficionados. Soon, their wines were reaching the highest scores in the local wine guides and everybody was talking about them. They were the first to show the aging potential of Godello, both when raised in wood or completely unoaked. Their wines inspired lots of the younger producers to explore the appellation and the grape. Valdeorras owes a lot to the Guitian family. Nowadays, they produce 100,000 bottles per year. They are not terribly experimental and have a stable range of unoaked, barrel-fermented and aged-on-its-lees Godellos. Through the years, they vinified a blanc de noirs with Merenzao grapes (which is nothing other than Bastardo or Trousseau from Jura) sourced from a small grower, but the vineyard that provided the grapes was ripped up by the owner. They also tried fermenting a small lot of Godello in acacia wood barrels, a wine I tried in this tasting and liked quite a lot. All their wines evolve in bottle for a few years, so there’s no rush to drink the latest vintage. In fact, I’m always happy to find some of their older vintages on restaurant lists.