Pétalos del Bierzo 2022
92-93 Parker points for one of the most popular mencías
Pétalos del Bierzo 2022 is the new vintage of one of the most sought-after wines from Bierzo. Made with a selection of old vines on slopes, which Álvaro Palacios and Ricardo Pérez cultivate using biodynamic methods, it is a mencía that respects the traditional agriculture of Bierzo but interpreted in a contemporary key.
Consumption features
Serving temperature
Consumption time
General features
General Information
The essence of Pétalos del Bierzo 2021 lies in the queen grape of the denomination: mencía, which contributes 94% to the varietal 'coupage', complemented by 3% of the red alicante bouschet, gran negro, pan y carne, and negreda; and another 3% of the white valenciana, jerez, and malvasía. Its origin is found in old vineyards, 50 to 110 years old, grown in goblet form on slopes (450-1100 m altitude) and spread across several municipalities, mainly Corullón and Villafranca del Bierzo, and the villages of Viariz, Hornija, Valtuille de Abajo, and Otero.
The mencía vines grow on different types of soil, such as the slate soils of Corullón and other clay-ferrous soils, with pebbles and some sandy soils. This diversity adds complexity to the wine. The harvest was manual with strict selection. Once in the winery, fermentation took place in wooden vats and stainless steel tanks, with native yeasts. After malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged for 9 months in barrels and bocoyes. It was bottled without filtering.
Álvaro Palacios was already one of the brightest figures in Spanish wine before arriving in Bierzo, having made a mark and enamored international critics with his work in Priorat (L’Ermita, Finca Dofí...). In 1999, he landed in El Bierzo and founded, together with his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios, the winery Descendientes J. Palacios, where extraordinary quality wines are crafted, such as Moncerbal, La Faraona (100 Parker points), and Corullón. These reds have brought mencía to unimaginable levels until a few years ago.
Pétalos 2021 (D.O. Bierzo) is ideal to accompany chicken in pepitoria or Iberian pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce.
The winery
Winery
Also in Bierzo, the Palacios family has managed to find the most hidden vineyards and produce splendid wines. Architects of the great revolution taking place in Bierzo, the young Ricardo Pérez Palacios—one of the descendants of the Palacios Remondo dynasty from La Rioja—and his uncle Álvaro Palacios—one of the gurus of Priorat—embarked on the adventure of crafting a great wine in Bierzo from the native mencía variety. And they succeeded.
They began producing in 1999 after acquiring a few hectares of vineyard and a small winery in Villafranca del Bierzo, which has been restored. They make their wines from mencía grapes, sourced from a vineyard located in a privileged environment with 27 hectares divided into almost 200 plots, planted with old vines of great quality on very steep soils, which Ricardo and Álvaro cultivate using biodynamic methods. This way, they produce fresh, fragrant, juicy, and lively wines, a true reflection of the viticultural personality of the Bierzo hills.