Rafael Palacios

100% traditional viticulture

Rafael Palacios started his personal project in 2004, in the sub-area of the Bibei Valley - municipality of O Bolo, D.O. Valdeorras, buying old vineyards of the autochthonous white variety Godello from old winegrowers.

The extreme orography and the low production of its unfertile soils, phylloxera and the depression of the 1920s led to the almost total abandonment of this small but historic Valdeorras wine-growing region. Mostly cultivated on terraces, these small plots were inherited by these winegrowers by lot, "Sorte" in Galician.

They are located in the westernmost part of the region, at the foot of the central massif of Ourense, where the geological history of the region shows a marked influence of the starting material, granite, mainly in its morphology and physical characteristics. They are sandy soils formed by the natural degradation of this granite rock and by the presence of quartz schist.

These soils are not very fertile, acidic and erodible, so light tilling machinery has been adapted in order to take care of the structure of the terraces, as well as the incorporation of traditional tillage with animal traction, thus recovering the traditional viticulture and the historical landscape of the Bibei Valley.

Currently the vineyards owned by the winery are 28 plots with a total surface area of 24.5 hectares of Godello grapes, which enjoy a continental climate with an Atlantic influence. Located on the right bank of the Bibei river, their altitude ranges from 620 to 740 m.

These plots are cultivated in a traditional way and with ecologically based treatments. The oldest "sortes" are managed within the biodynamic agriculture.

Rafael Palacios personally controls the field work and the winemaking processes, based on the utmost respect for the identity of O Bolo and the purity of the expression of its wines.