I’m preparing for another sojourn across “The Pond”; bag half-packed, checklist in-hand, dry cleaning to pick up, loose ends to tie before departure etc.  Heading home, I swung by the Port Charlotte ABCFWS to retrieve the extra pack of business cards I had squirreled away in my office desk drawer and to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner.  The store staff was feverishly putting away the latest delivery, when I glanced at the new wines that just arrived.  And then I saw it…..

Could it be?  Godello!!   Yes!!!

Specifically the new Atalaya do Mar Godello from the Monterrei DO.  Hello, you crisp, white Galician beauty!  Where have you been?  Took the long route home, did you?  I've been worried.  What took you so long?

OK, “worried” might be a bit of stretch.  “Pleasantly surprised” probably sums it up better.  I thought we ordered this new wine eons ago (we did, about seven months).  I'd have bet the farm that it would've been delivered just after the holidays.  February rolled around but no Godello.  On more than one occasion, I checked with our Orlando office for a status report.  Several times I heard the phrase “it’s not coming”.

Ah, the vagaries of wine importing.

As a company, we literally scour the world for our Direct-to-You exclusives.  The wine team collectively selected this little gem in a tasting of Spanish wines last September.  I had been bitten by the Godello bug after first enjoying a glass at my favorite tapas restaurant early in ’11.  I then had the pleasure of sampling more on a trip to Galicia last July (blog post on Jan 5, 2012). About the same time, Bill Stobbs and Shayne Hebert became Godello converts too.  We lobbied our buyer, Brad Lewis to add one to our growing Spanish portfolio. 

And there you have it, albeit a little later than anticipated.  One man’s quest for Spain’s most exciting white wine grape ends tonight in a glass of juicy, slate and talc tinged, exotically fruited, complex white wine.  Cheers!

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida

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