"Beautifully Pure & Stunning" Spanish Grand Cru Chablis Taste-Alike @ $33.99
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Originally sent to our list on September 29, 2026. Pricing and availability reflect that date — for current pricing and stock, see artisan.wine.
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A Personal Note
Dear Artisans,
I just returned from a buying trip in Spain, and I am elated to share the blancos I found there. These are small-production stunners that should cost double given their quality. They don’t, so take advantage.
Take Grand Cru Chablis, add more salinity, more fragrance and more nuance, cut the price tag to a fraction, and you get this gem from the mountainsides of Valdeorras: Avancia’s Old Vine Godello.
In the vineyards, and what we ate
The Valley Of Gold
Valdeorras is named for the gold mining the Romans did here: Val-de-Oras roughly translates to Valley-of-Gold. Avancia sits in the slate mountainsides high above the Sil River, and Valdeorras is home to the finest terroir for two of Spain’s most important indigenous grapes, Godello and Mencía.
Godello nearly disappeared. Jeb Dunnuck’s team: “There was a long period of time in which Godello almost went extinct. Today it’s one of the hottest grapes in Spain.” Avancia’s importer says its vines carry the oldest Godello clones in the world: old, dry-farmed, organic, head-trained vines, tended entirely by hand.
This was another first for Jorge Ordóñez, who brings these wines to America: he was the first broker to introduce Godello into the United States, and for many years the only merchant offering a wine made from it.
Robert Parker, Jr., in 2016: “Their specialty is working with the Godello grape, which may well be Spain’s finest indigenous white grape. It has the texture of a Chardonnay, but with crisp, mineral and floral notes in its aromatics. Avancia is certainly the top producer of this intriguing and delicious dry white.”
For Lovers Of Grand Cru Chablis
What Chablis lovers want is stone, salt and tension, and the critics found all three. James Suckling: “Minerally and stony on the nose, with crushed rocks… showing precision and fine balance between texture and acidity.” Wine Spectator: “a frame of mouthwatering acidity and a subtle streak of salinity.” Wine Review Online: “an intensely savory, saline core… depth, complexity, and remarkable value.”
And A Red For Burgundy Lovers
Avancia’s Mencía is the closest thing to Burgundy in Spain: silky smooth, super detailed, and downright delicious. It is a field blend from one of the oldest and most heroic vineyards in Valdeorras, and Wine Spectator counted just 250 cases made.
Then three Albariños from Rías Baixas, including La Caña Navia, made the old way, like the wines that Jorge Ordóñez first discovered in Rías Baixas.
James Tran
Artisan Wine & Spirits
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Why This Matters
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The Wine · From The Buying Trip
2024 Avancia Godello Old Vines.
Vinous 94. James Suckling 93. Wine Review Online 93. Valdeorras, Spain.
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Bodegas Avancia Godello Old Vines 2024
Valdeorras, Spain · 100% Godello
Hand-harvested into small baskets, fermented with indigenous yeast in French oak puncheons and demi-muids, then ten months on the lees with bâtonnage. The oak adds texture, not flavor, as Wine Review Online puts it: “beautifully integrated oak that adds subtle texture rather than overt flavor.” Every review is below.
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The Red · The Closest Thing To Burgundy In Spain
2021 Avancia Nobleza Old Vines Mencía.
Wine Enthusiast 93. Vinous 93. Wine Spectator 92. James Suckling 91. 250 cases made.
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Bodegas Avancia “Nobleza” Old Vines Mencía 2021
Valdeorras, Spain · 90% Mencía
Silky smooth, super detailed, and downright delicious. A field blend from a single vineyard of three small parcels planted between 1948 and 1963 on 30° slate slopes, in the house’s words “ethereal, mineral, floral, lifted”. A third of it ferments on whole clusters for crunch and lift. Every review is below.
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And Three Albariños
From Rías Baixas
Salt, stone and the Atlantic, from three of Galicia’s best addresses.
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La Caña “Navia” Albariño 2024
Rías Baixas · Vines Planted 1970 And 1978
The old way: fermented and aged in large barrels on the lees, the style Ordóñez first found here. Jeb Dunnuck: “It shines in refined texture and mouthfeel, with citrusy acidity throughout and pronounced salinity that adds length.”
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Forjas del Salnés “Leirana” Albariño 2025
Rías Baixas · Rodrigo Méndez
James Suckling gives the 2025 94 points. Vines planted between 1952 and 1982 in granite, just 5 meters above sea level. The 2024 earned 94+ from Wine Advocate and 94 from Vinous: “The palate is saline, slender and lively, with freshness and subtle complexity… The 2024 is complex and refined.”
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Do Ferreiro Albariño 2024
Rías Baixas · Val do Salnés
From a mind-boggling 164 small parcels. Tim Atkin MW: “The kind of wine that makes you long for a plate of fresh seafood, it’s racy, pure and superbly balanced, all citrus, lime and wet stones and impressive palate length.”
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The Bottom Line
Grand Cru Chablis character, from the valley of gold.
Avancia’s Old Vine Godello is $33.99, and it should cost double. The Nobleza Mencía, the closest thing to Burgundy in Spain, is $34.97.
The three Albariños run from $31.99 to $36.99, and the Leirana drops to $29.99 by the case.
Salud,
— James Tran
Artisan Wine & Spirits
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Prices so low… we can’t show!
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