The Gouveio variety, better known in Minho as Godelho, is an authorized variety for the Vinho Verde Region, but its planting was limited to a few dozen vines, most of them in experimental vineyards without any commercial purpose. Having remained outside the recommended varieties for the Region, it was therefore practically abandoned by Minho´s farmers but it is, nevertheless, a variety still cultivated in Galicia, known as Godello, where it produces mono-varietal wines and also blends with varieties such as Albariño, Loureiro and Treixadura, among others. In Trás-os-Montes and in the Douro it is known as Gouveio and produces some of the best white wines in the region.

With the aim of deepening and improving ancestral knowledge, Quinta da Raza decided to plant arround one hectare of Gouveio. As there is no documented experience in the Vinho Verde region about this variety, Quinta da Raza chose for it a privileged location, a great slope with a southern exposure, with mostly schist soils where the resilience of the plants is put to the test. The result was a vineyard with terraces of one line per terrace, which in the first harvest showed the great potential that the variety has to produce great wines in the Vinho Verde Region.

Gouveio proved to be an early variety with an excellent alcohol-acidity ratio and capable of producing very versatile wines that allow for graceful aging in the vat and in the bottle. The small volume produced in the first harvest, 2020, was fermented in French oak barrels and is now aging in stainless steel vats. In 2021, the second harvest, after fermenting in stainless steel, the wine underwent a regular batonnage with the fine lees and was bottled in April under the Quinta da Raza brand.

The QUINTA DA RAZA GOUVEIO is, therefore, something unique in the Vinho Verde Region, its quantity is very limited, but it will undoubtedly increase the diversity and notoriety of the region’s wines. It is an intensely mineral wine with white-fleshed fruit aromas that emerge as the wine evolves in the glass. Notes of sea salt make the wine gain another dimension in the mouth where it is surprisingly pure and delicate.

Be part of our project to rehabilitate forgotten grape varieties in the region and let yourself be surprised by our new wine.