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The
remarkable wines of
Alvaro Palacios, Priorat and Bierzo, Spain
One of Spain’s most important and influential
producers, Alvaro Palacios is making stunning wines in Priorat and
Bierzo. They’re expensive, yes, but they’re thrilling with it.
His family come from Rioja: he’s one of the nine kids
of the owner of Bodega Palacios Remondo. But rather than work with the family domain, he wanted to
do things a bit differently.
After
studying winemaking in Bordeaux, and spending two years working at Château
Petrus in Pomerol, he opted for the Priorat region, where he bought
his first vineyard, Finca Dofí, in 1990. To this he added the now
iconic L’Ermita vineyard in 1993. As well as making acclaimed
single vineyard wines from these regions, he also makes the more
affordable and accessible Les Terrases, made from bought in fruit.
Then
there’s Bierzo, a lesser known region, but which has wonderful
hillside vineyards and a fantastic grape variety, Mencía, to work
with (it’s a wonderful grape variety that’s the same as
Portugal’s Jaen). Alvaro took the opportunity to join with his
nephew Picardo Perez and form a joint venture in 1998, with a view
to making great wines from old vineyards in the region. The company
is called Descendientes de J Palacios, and they now make seven
wines, including five single-vineyard wines from exceptional
terroirs.
Pétalos
del Bierzo is the entry level, but it’s still a serious effort.
Corullón comes from three old vine parcels aged 60–100 years, and
is quite special. These have been joined since by the single
vineyard wines Fontelas, Las Lamas, La Faraona, Moncerbal and San
Martin.
These
wines are simply brilliant, and to my mind are among the very best
that Spain makes today. They’re available from Berry Bros &
Rudd in the UK, whose prices are given in brackets after each note.
Descendientes
de J. Palacios Pétalos 2007 Bierzo
Fresh, sappy, slightly reductive edge to the pure fruit on the
nose. This is really focused and delicious. The palate is
beautifully pure and fresh with vivid raspberry fruit and has a
minerally core. A fantastic effort. 92/100 (£13.65 BBR)
Descendientes
de J. Palacios Villa de Corullón 2005 Bierzo
Fresh, pure raspberry and cherry fruit on the nose with a bit of
creaminess. The palate is beautifully dense with a pure fruit focus
and some attractive tannic structure. Complex, fresh and pure, this is special. 94/100 (£34.25
BBR)
Descendientes
de J. Palacios San Martin 2005 Bierzo
Pure, expressive, beautifully focused and elegant, with cherry
and blackberry fruit to the fore. Really intense and utterly
delicious, this shows a wonderful elegance and purity. 95/100 (£68.50 BBR)
Descendientes
de J. Palacios La Lamas 2005 Bierzo
Sweetly fruited, concentrated and pure with amazing minerally
complexity under the sweet yet precise fruit. This fantastic wine
shows great purity of fruit and quite a bit of elegance, but it’s
no wimp. 94/100 (£88.05 BBR)
Alvaro
Palacios Les Terrases 2006 Priorat
This is Alvaro’s entry-level Priorat, but it’s still pretty
impressive, in an accessible, modern, fruit-driven mould. Sweet,
focused berry and cherry fruit dominate here, with nice structure
and balance. 90/100
(£21.75 BBR)
Alvaro
Palacios Finca Dofí 2006 Priorat
Very modern, pure, elegant nose showing lush dark fruits. On the
palate there’s a minerally streak under the dense fruit. Pure and
modern, but if you look below the sweet fruit there’s some of that
Priorat minerality that’s just so delicious. 92/100 (£45.95 BBR)
Alvaro
Palacios L’Ermita 2006 Priorat
Probably Spain’s most expensive wine? This shows sweet, pure,
smooth, elegant red berry fruits in the nose with a liqueur-like
edge. The palate is pure and smooth with sweet, lush fruit and
lovely minerality. It’s rich yet elegant with freshness and
minerality pointing towards its Priorat origins. Lovely wine. (£410
BBR)
Wines tasted 05/09
Find these wines with wine-searcher.com
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