Descendientes de Jose Palacios

VISIT IMPORTER'S WEBSITE
Country of Origin: Spain
Location: Villafranca del Bierzo, Leon
People: Alvaro Palacios & Ricardo Perez, Owners & Winemakers
Viticulture: Practicing Biodynamic

Items

Descendientes de Jose Palacios 2020 'Corullon' Bierzo DO Login WA 97 In Stock
Descendientes de Jose Palacios 2020 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO Login WA 93+ WS 91 In Stock
Descendientes de Jose Palacios 2020 Las Lamas, Bierzo DO Login WA 97+ WS 93 In Stock

Álvaro Palacios was already a celebrated producer of Priorat when he teamed up with his nephew, Ricardo Perez, a Bordeaux trained enologist, to fulfill his early passion for making great old vine wine from the Mencia grape. In the estate vineyards around the town of Corullón, Alvaro and Ricardo believe they have found a unique combination of soils, old vines, and a distinctive variety that will yield their own grands crus. Beginning with 2001, the estate began to make their case with individual vineyard bottlings with an emphasis on biodynamic viticulture. The winery is dedicated to Alvaro's father, and Ricardo's grandfather, who passed away in early 2000.

Seven wines are made. The first, Pétalos del Bierzo, is assembled from old hillside and hilltop vines from across Bierzo's western edge. The wine is vinified for immediate appeal, but it retains the estate's signature finesse and restraint. Corullón is an assemblage from old-vine parcels in and around this town. Its combination of generosity and precision makes a case not only for Corullón's special status, but also the superiority of Alvaro's and Ricardo's winemaking. Robert Parker, Jr. said Corullón "may be the finest wine of the appellation." There are, in addition, five extraordinary single vineyard wines made: San Martin, Fontelas, Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona. Each is a distinctive expression of a remarkable and compelling terroir.

Wine Advocate 6/2020
"I’ve said this a number of times before, but sometimes you have to repeat yourself: Descendientes de J. Palacios is the most coherent, moving, thrilling and consistent wine project in Spain. Period."

Descendientes de J. Palacios 2013 Pétalos Voted #53 in Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2015
"Alvaro Palacios helped build the reputation of one Spanish mountain wine region, Priorat, to international acclaim--and four-figure bottle prices. Then in 1998, he struck out with his nephew Ricardo Perez for an even lesser-known land in the sky: Bierzo, where old vines of the indigenous Mencia grape thrive in harsh schist soils. The Pétalos is sourced from multiple hillside vineyards and serves as an affordable introduction to the region and style."

Wine Advocate 1/2015
"Descendientes de J. Palacios keep going from strength to strength with a superb collection of 2012s, one of the best vintages in recent history in El Bierzo. Even though all their reds are Mencía-based, the old vineyards contain a mixture of grapes -even some whites- that are used in the wines, as they add complexity and freshness. For Ricardo Pérez Palacios, 2012 and 2001 are his best vintages here, and I think 2012 is probably the best. All the wines are exceptional, but if I had to choose two it would be Corullón and Las Lamas (and Pétalos, of course!), both in their finest vintages. There are no wines in Bierzo like this ones... What I see here is really coherent, a life project with a clear philosophy, not just a collection of (great) wines; Ricardo lives on a biodynamic farm with the animals, they provide agriculture and biodynamic courses, make cheese (he hopes to get his own goats soon), bake bread, grow vegetables, they already produce and sell fruit juices... He's trying to close the circle and use everything from the farm, with some more products slowly coming to the shelves, they are going to start producing 'orujo' (the local name for grappa)... single vineyard 'orujo' even! Stay tuned!"

Wine Advocate 8/2013
"As for the wines, they are different from the rest of the Bierzo; they have to be, because their very old vineyards are located in the village of Corullon, high up in the mountains, some of them at 1,200 meters altitude on slate slopes where they yield minuscule quantities of grapes. They also carry out very detailed work, both in the vineyards and in the winery, and the result shows."

Media Links
Wine Advocate: The Álvaro Palacios 2020 Portfolio
Wine Spectator: Featured Winemaker, Alvaro Palacios
Decanter.com: Alvaro Palacios, Spanish Wanderer
The Drinks Business: Palacios to Release 'Game Changing' Rioja
Yumivino: Q&A with Ricardo Perez Palacios

Reviews

  • Desc. de Palacios 2019 'Corullon' Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 96 (1/31/2022)
    Following the new classification of wines, the 2019 Villa de Corullón is a Vino de Villa (village), produced with grapes from 6.71 hectares divided into 200 small plots they own on slate-rich soils at 500 to 950 meters in altitude. It's 91% Mencía, 1% Alicante Bouschet and 8% white grapes from old vines (50 to 90 years old) that are organically and biodynamically farmed, and the wine will be certified in the coming years. The partly destemmed grapes fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts for 43 days and matured in barriques and foudres for 10 months. It has a "moderate" 13.5% alcohol, the lower part of the range, as they aim for 13.5% to 14% alcohol in the finished wines. This is a great blending exercise, as the wines are blended mostly before putting it in barrel. It's a subtle and elegant Corullón, with great balance and freshness; Ricardo talked about some tannins that are very fine. It's a fluid vintage for this bottling, a little herbal, versatile and complex. It seems to have more character than the Moncerbal than it has had in other years. This could be one of the lightest and most elegant vintages of Corullón, with a different texture from the rest of the 2019s.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 93+ (1/31/2022)
    The regional red 2020 Pétalos comes from 90 hectares of vineyards, mainly from Corullón and Villafranca del Bierzo and the districts of Viariz, Hornija, Valtuille de Abajo and Otero. It mixes expositions, altitudes and soils and wants to paint a picture of Bierzo in the warm 2020 vintage. They reckon it's 92% Mencía with 5% other red grapes (Alicante Bouschet, Gran Negro, Pan y Carne and Negreda) and 3% whites (Valenciana, Jerez and Godello) with an average yield of 26 hectoliters per hectare. It has good ripeness with 14% alcohol (their upper limit) and moderate acidity at 4.6 grams (of tartaric acid). It's a little more fruit-driven, a vintage of sun, jovial and juicy, approachable and round with very fine, slightly powdery tannins. The fruit is darker than in the 2019. This is still young, and, as it happens with even the most approachable wines from the region, it should be even better in a couple of years. I tasted it again in mid-December, and the wine is showing better and better; time in bottle has done it some good, and the wine has settled and is getting more balanced. I don't feel the sun now; it's harmonious and more serious, juicy and tasty. A little better than anticipated.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 Las Lamas, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 97+ (6/30/2022)
    This is always the ripest of the wines, and in 2020 it's no exception: the 2020 Las Lamas is 14.5% alcohol. But what's important is that it doesn't show—it doesn't feel ripe or warm. In fact, this feels fresher and more harmonious and lively than the Moncerbal; it DOES need ripeness. It's very expressive and very Lamas, more Mediterranean and really what it is. It's juicy and peachy, very velvety, with round and glossy tannins but without being heavy. It's very balanced and shows a certain freshness, but it's a rich wine. It's now certified organic.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 'Corullon' Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 97 (6/30/2022)
    I was blown away by the 2020 wines in barrel in June 2021 and found the 2020 Villa de Corullón very ready, open, expressive, floral and ethereal. It destroyed the idea I had of a warm and ripe 2020. Ricardo Pérez Palacios told me he was thinking of bottling the 2020s earlier, as they didn't need a long élevage, just nine or 10 months in barrel. The wine is pale, the palest Corullón ever, with 13.7% alcohol—perhaps the vines got blocked and didn't develop more color compounds or sugar. The wine makes me think of a red from Jura; it has a different profile and is more delicate, ethereal and full of light and energy. Pérez, who hates comparisons with other regions, couldn't stop saying that it felt like a Morey Saint Denis! It's all flowers and red fruit, with a lot of super fine tannins (the 2019 tannins are rougher) that are round and give it a velvety texture with no rusticity—elegant and balanced. There is a nice balance between tannin and acidity, something this has in common with the 2019, which makes the vintages quite unusual, because being warm, the wines show balance. Today, it feels more like Moncerbal than the Moncerbal bottling; nevertheless, Corullón is around 40% from Moncerbal. ... It has to be my favorite Corullón to date.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Spectator
    Rating: 91 (10/15/2022)
    Offering a minerally underpinning and overtones of bramble, herbs and spice, this medium-bodied red is fresh and focused, with juicy black raspberry and black cherry fruit, olive and iron flavors. Bright and well-balanced, with light, chalky tannins on the finish.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 Las Lamas, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Spectator
    Rating: 93 (1/4/2023)
    Fresh and silky, this focused, medium-bodied version is framed by fine-grained, supple tannins. Features flavors of baked black raspberry, red licorice, cocoa powder and a hint of warm brown bread that all glide across the palate in a graceful waltz, with a savory flash of fried sage, apple wood and mineral countering the sweet fruit and spice before lingering on the finish. Drink now through 2030.