Description

He began his personal project in 2004, in the Bibei Valley sub-area - municipality of O Bolo, DO Valdeorras, buying old vineyards of the native white variety Godello from elderly winegrowers. 

The extreme orography and the low production of its infertile soils, the phylloxera and the depression of the twenties, led to the almost total abandonment of this small but historic Valdeorresa wine region. Cultivated mostly on terraces, these small plots were inherited by these winegrowers by lottery, “Sorte” in Galician.

They are located in the westernmost part of the region, at the foot of the Ourense central massif, 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 that are formed by the natural degradation of this granite rock and by the presence of quartz schists.

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

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Currently the vineyards owned are 32 plots with a total area of ​​24.5 hectares of the Godello variety, which enjoy  a continental climate with an Atlantic influence. Located on the right bank of the Bibei River, its 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 biodynamic agriculture. 

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