There’s so much coal, gravel and other natural resource action on the nose that if Kevin Rudd happened to garner a whiff of this wine he’d immediately slap a 40% mining super tax on it. There’s some delightful blood plum fruit that’s infused with flora also. In the mouth it has good power yet its not overblown and it possesses an enticing creamy almost lacy texture. It finishes with good minerally precision. Back off K.Rudd, you already get 5% Import Duty, 29% wine equalisation tax and 10% GST on top of all that.
Cheers
Jeremy
Yes, it is made with Mencía grapes. Not sure what you mean by the “regular” Descendientes.
For the first released vintage, 1999, Descendientes de J. Palacios had two wines, Bierzo and Corullón. Bierzo was mostly made from purchased fruit and aged in used barrels. For the 1999 and 2000 vintages Corullón was made from fruit of Las Lamas, Moncerbal and San Martín vineyards in the town of Corullón in Bierzo.
In 2001, Descendientes de J. Palacios started releasing a few single vineyard designated wines (Las Lamas, Moncerbal, San Martín and La Faraona) in addition to the Bierzo and Corullón bottlings.
After the 2001 vintage, the Bierzo bottling was eliminated since you are not suppose to name a wine with the same as the region.
On the 2002 vintage they added another single vineyard bottling, Fontelas.
The winery added an entry level bottling called Pétalos starting with the 2003 vintage. This wine sort of replaced the old Bierzo bottling since it is made with fruit from rented vineyards and it is mostly aged in used oak barrels.
Jose, thank you! I believe the bottling I had in mind was the Bierzo/Petalos bottling. I had a 2001 a few months ago that was fantastic, and have also been a fan of the '04 and '05 vintages as well.
Brian,
The Petalos is the entry level Mencia and it drinks very well young. I really like the 01 and 04 Corullon and I think this 07 is quite similar, they are wines that age very well and look a little like Northern Rhone meets Burgundy (that can’t be a bad thing can it?).
Best Regards
Jeremy
I’ve had a few vintages of their Pétalos, Corullón and Moncerbal. The Moncerbal is my favorite, though they are all nice in their own ways. Thanks for reminding me. The last of these I’ve had was their 2003 Moncerbal on Friday the 13th (November 2009) . Current vintage locally available costs around PhP6700 = US145 more-or-less. That’s pretty pricey for a Bierzo. How much is Moncerbal in the US? Maybe it would be cheaper for me to order some from the US…
I had the 2007 Pelacios Corullón “Las Lamas” Bierzo tonight. In a word, “wow.”
This was my first bottle of high-end Bierzo after enjoying many inexpensive examples. I was skeptical that it would be too modern-styled for me given the producer and the high critic scores , but this was just fantastic. I want more. Bigger and deeper than the inexpensive Bierzos I have had, but just as pure and clean. No noticeable oak, no over-extraction, etc. Open and expressive (after a few minutes in the glass), with some smoky and spicy notes. Highly recommended. Great with my veal pasta with cream sauce.
My next question is how to get more of something like this for a reasonable price. It looks like this (in any vintage) is going for about a c-note or more, which I’m sure is far more than I paid for this bottle, and I know is more than I’m willing to pay for more.
What’s the best $50-$60 high-end Bierzo out there?
Dave - the price has gone up. But since nobody seems to know it, you can sometimes find it at good discounts.
That 2007 wasn’t even a great vintage, but the wine making is first rate and that’s a nice wine. Some of us have been going back and forth about the age-worthiness of Mencia, and I’m still on the fence, but those wines are aging quite well.
Dave,
Besides Decendientes, Raul Perez is the other obvious star of Bierzo. He makes/advises on a ton of wine but his three main lines are: Castro Ventosa (his family winery), La Vizcaina (single vineyard wines) and Ultreia. It’s tougher to find aged bottles due to the previous distributor but I’ve had some luck w/older bottles of Castro Ventosa. Even the high end wines from these 3 wineries should fall into your price range. And I think the Ultreia St Jaques which is widely distributed is one of the best qpr’s out there.
Another producer who flies a bit under the radar in Bierzo but makes first class wine is Luna Beberide. His Art and Paixar bottlings are excellent but need some time and age. However, you can usually find some Paixar at auction and for extremely reasonable prices ($25 currently on WineBid). Drinks well above that price point especially w/10 years or more of age.
We did a vertical of the first vintages of Paixar a few years ago. Didn’t pick up anything definitive about aging ability. They change dramatically though. On release they’re full of peppery spice and that seems to fade. I have a few and one day when I settle in somewhere we’ll do another, in honor of José.
Thanks, and you’re right because it turns out I have a bottle of the 2012 that I also got for $50, that I didn’t realize I had. I will keep an eye out and grab any if they are ever on sale in that price range.
And thanks to all for the tips on the others, I will keep an eye out for them as well. I know I’ve had (and still have) some Luna Beberide bottles, at least from the lower-priced end of their offerings. Good stuff!
Not this one, but I forgot to post a note on the 11 Corullon which I had a few months ago. I agree with your descriptors of Jeremy as applying to that wine as well—lots of mineral and earth to go with dark fruit. Needs time.