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' Vino de Villa, Bierzo DO Login WA 97 WS 93 In Stock
Descendientes de Jose Palacios 2021 'Corullon' Vino de Villa, Bierzo DO Login WA 97 <1 Case
Descendientes de Jose Palacios 2021 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO Login WS 92 WA 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 2020 'Corullon' Vino de Villa, 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 2021 'Corullon' Vino de Villa, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 97 (8/10/2023)

    The vino de villa village red 2021 Corullón is extremely floral and elegant, clean, precise, fresh and very complete and harmonious, with a super elegant mouthfeel and a very long finish. 19,716 bottles and some smaller and larger formats produced. It was bottled in January 2022. This is super balanced and is aging slowly, with potential to age much more.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2020 'Corullon' Vino de Villa, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Spectator
    Rating: 93 (10/15/2023)

    Fresh and silky, this focused version shows flavors of baked black raspberry, red licorice and cocoa powder that glide across the palate.
  • Desc. de Palacios 2021 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Spectator
    Rating: 92 (10/15/2023)

    A bright, harmonious red, with savory notes of mineral and cigar box leading to flavors of black raspberry, black olive and milled pepper.

  • Desc. de Palacios 2021 'Petalos' Mencia, Bierzo DO
    The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 93+ (8/10/2023)

    2021 is clearly the finest vintage of the trio of 2020, 2021 and 2022, and the bottled 2021 Pétalos delivers what the unbottled samples promised: a wine with lower alcohol than ever (13.5%), lighter, a little narrower but with the juiciness of Mencía that seems to come back after some time in bottle. It has lots of notes of aromatic herbs, with some similar aromas to the La Faraona. It's quite expressive and showy, very pleasant and easy to drink, very gourmand, with a velvety mouthfeel and very fine tannins. 320,000 bottles and 2,567 magnums produced. It was bottled between November 2022 and March 2023. Approachable now, very hedonistic.