Goio Macabeo 2025: the lees-aged white from Calatayud

The whites of Calatayud live in the shadow of its Garnachas, and that has an advantage: they are found at prices that are hard to match. Goio Macabeo 2025 is the white in the mid-range of Bodega San Gregorio and costs about €4.95.

It is a 100% Macabeo from the DO Calatayud, from dry-farmed, bush-trained vines between 20 and 80 years old, in Cervera de la Cañada. What sets it apart is a winemaking approach designed to gain aroma and texture.

There are three specific steps: a short maceration, a slow, cold fermentation and a rest on fine lees. Each one leaves its mark in the glass.

We will explain them one by one, in plain words, and then taste it in stages and put it on the table, including the Christmas one.

Technical sheet · Wine

Goio Macabeo 2025

• White
• White on lees
• DO Calatayud

Approximate price4,95 €

Winery

Bodega San Gregorio

Designation

DO Calatayud

Grape variety

100 % macabeo

Vintage

2025

Vineyard

Dry-farmed bush-vine vineyard (20-80 years) · Cervera de la Cañada

Ageing

On fine lees in suspension

Alcohol

13.5 % vol.

On the nose: intense aroma of citrus and white flowers. On the palate: intense and balanced, with a persistent and pleasant finish.

Serve at5–10 °C

2°7°12°17°22°

Pairs with

• Rice dishesFish and vegetable paella
• FishGrilled
• Cured meats and cheesesCured, fresh cheeses

View technical analysis

Maceration

4-5 hours

Fermentation

20 days at 16-18 °C

Total acidity

5.1 g/l

Data from the winery and the tasting published in the article · Reviewed on October 21, 2026. Drink responsibly. Sale prohibited to under-18s.

Where it fits in the winery

San Gregorio has two Macabeo whites. The Armantes Blanco, at about €3.15, is the entry-level young wine; the Goio Macabeo is the mid-range one, with a sheet that details its winemaking step by step.

The Goio range is completed by a Garnacha and a Tempranillo, all three at the same price. Above them all stands Ontos, the house’s red from single plots.

Macabeo, a grape with many lives

Macabeo is one of the most widespread white grapes in northern Spain. In Rioja it is called viura and is the main white; in French Roussillon it is known as maccabeu.

In Catalonia it is one of the three classic cava varieties, together with xarel·lo and parellada. There it brings freshness and structure to the sparkling wines.

It has a weak point that explains many decisions in the winery: it oxidises easily. That is why winemakers take great care with temperature and contact with air.

In Calatayud it is grown dry-farmed and bush-trained, like Garnacha. The vines for this wine lie on the banks of the Ribota river, between the Ribota and Manubles valleys.

How Goio Macabeo 2025 is made, step by step

The process is quite detailed. These are the steps and what each one means:

• 4-5 hours of maceration: the crushed grapes rest with their skins before the must is separated. Many of the aromas are in the skin, and this short contact transfers them to the liquid.
• 20-day fermentation at 16-18 °C: the yeasts turn sugar into alcohol slowly and cold. This preserves the primary aromas, the ones that come from the grape itself.
• Rest on fine lees in suspension: once fermentation is over, the wine stays in contact with the dead yeasts, which give it volume and texture.

For reference, many reds ferment at 25-30 °C. Those 16-18 °C explain the clean nose of citrus and white flowers.

That rest “enhances its organoleptic qualities”, that is, what is perceived by sight, smell and taste.

Lees are, in practice, one more ingredient. The more time and the more contact, the creamier the palate and the longer the finish; that is why two whites from the same grape can seem like different wines.

Technical analysis

The winery publishes the full analysis. These are the values and how they come across:

• Alcohol: 13.5% ABV. Medium for a white with body.
• Total acidity 5.1 g/l and pH 3.52: well-marked freshness, which balances the texture of the lees.
• Reducing sugars 1.5 g/l: completely dry.
• Volatile acidity 0.37 g/l: low, a sign of a clean fermentation.
• Total SO₂ 115 mg/l, with 35 mg/l free: within the usual range for whites, whose European maximum for dry wines is 200 mg/l.

These are the same figures as those of the Armantes Blanco, the house’s other Macabeo: both come from the same dry-farmed vineyards and share a winemaking school.

Tasting note, phase by phase

• Appearance: bright, straw yellow.
• Nose: intense aroma of citrus and white flowers.
• Palate: an intense, perfectly balanced sensation.
• Finish: persistent and pleasant, the kind that invites you to keep drinking.

The profile is restrained. Read alongside the winemaking, it sketches an aromatic, fresh white, to which the rest on lees adds some weight on the palate.

To notice the lees, taste the wine twice: just served and ten minutes later, already in the glass. As it warms by a couple of degrees, the texture takes centre stage over the acidity.

Serving: not as cold as you think

The winery specifies 5-10 °C. For this white the upper part of the range is best, around 8-10 °C: too cold, and the texture of the lees disappears.

Take it out of the fridge about ten minutes before serving. Use a slightly wide white wine glass, which lets the floral aromas breathe without scattering them.

Common mistake in restaurants: serving every white at the temperature of the bottle fridge, close to 4 °C. If it arrives icy, leave the bottle out of the ice bucket for a while before the second glass.

Pairing, at Christmas too

It goes well with fish and vegetable paella, grilled fish, cured cold cuts and fresh cheeses. Here are some specific versions:

• Fish and vegetable paella: the wine’s acidity cuts through the oil and the sofrito, and its volume matches the rice.
• Grilled sea bream or sea bass: white fish with a toasted touch, ideal for a white with body.
• Cardoon with almonds: the Christmas Eve dish in much of Aragon; the white respects its delicate flavour.
• Longaniza or cecina: cured meat finds in the acidity a counterpoint to the salt and fat.
• Fresh cheese with a drizzle of oil: the creaminess of the cheese and that of the lees go in the same direction.

Avoid red meats, game stews and sweet desserts. With turrón, a dry white like this one turns harsh and loses all its fruit.

Comparison: a white on lees versus a young white

A young white without lees is drunk for its immediate freshness: it is nerve and aroma, little more. It works very well with appetisers and salads, but falls short against a rice dish or fish in sauce.

A white on lees like this one gains a second layer. The acidity is still there, but it arrives wrapped in more volume, and the finish lengthens.

If there is a young Verdejo on your usual table, this Macabeo is a good way to try something else: less herbaceous and with more weight on the palate, for a similar or lower price.

Price in shops and on wine lists

Its approximate shop price is €4.95. As a guide, on a wine list it should be between €12 and €16 a bottle, and between €2.50 and €3.50 a glass.

It is a very suitable wine for restaurants that want to offer a white by the glass different from the usual, with a story that is easy to tell in the dining room: dry-farmed vines and a rest on lees.

Ageing and opened bottle

As a guide, enjoy it in its first two years, when citrus and flowers are in the foreground. The rest on lees gives it a little more life than a young white, but it is not a wine for long ageing.

Once opened, with a good stopper and in the fridge, it keeps for two or three days. On the second day, the texture often seems even more integrated.

Who it is for

For those looking for an everyday white with a little more body. For those who want to move on from Verdejo without spending more. And for Christmas Eve dinner, if the table has cardoon, fish or a good rice dish.

It is not for anyone looking for a light poolside white or one with oak: this one relies on the grape and the lees, not on oak.

A plate of cardoon with almonds, a grilled sea bream and a dry-farmed Macabeo at nine degrees? Sometimes Christmas is solved with a white that almost nobody expected.