Descendientes de Jose Palacios - Petalos del Bierzo 2023
Price: $32.99
Sale Price: $26.99
3+ Price: $25.99 / btl
6+ Price: $24.99 / btl
| Producer | Descendientes de Jose Palacios |
 | |
| Country | Spain |
| |
| Region | Bierzo |
| |
| Varietal | Proprietary Red |
| |
| Vintage | 2023 |
| |
| Sku | 14692 |
| |
| Size | 750ml |
| |
|
Let me just put it out there: this is an offer for wines from Bierzo, Spain, made from the Mencia grape... Some of you know what that is... think Raul Perez. For most of you, you are thinking, "Huh? What? Why am I getting this offer?"
Because the wines are flat out delicious, and have much in common with wines I know you enjoy, US Pinot, Burgundy, Chateauneuf du Pape...
The wines here are from Alvaro Palacios, who found fame, and fortune, in the 1990s as one of the pioneers in Priorat. His famed l’Ermita sells for more than $1,200 per bottle! Yes, $1,200 per bottle! Before settling on Priorat to make his mark, Alvaro’s second choice was Bierzo. With money in hand from his Priorat success, he started Descendientes de Jose Palacios in 1998 with his nephew, Ricardo Perez, as winemaker. With time, Alvaro and Ricardo have achieved the same critical and commercial success in Bierzo, with a slew of 96-100 pt wines to their credit and their La Faraona bottling selling for $1195 per bottle! Thankfully, this incredible success also allows them to produce a range of wines at all price points.
Petalos is his entry-level offering. An what an entry-level it is!!!
James Suckling: 93 Points
"This has dark cherries, underbrush, dried flowers and a bright edge on the nose. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with firm, focused tannins. It’s polished and angular, almost skeletal in structure. About 85% mencia with small amounts of other red and white varieties co-planted in the vineyard."
Wine Advocate: 93+ Points
"The 2023 Pétalos has around 20% grapes from Corullón and the rest bought from around 100 families across Bierzo, approximately 91% Mencía, 8% whites and 1% other reds that fermented in open-top oak and stainless steel vats with indigenous yeast. Malolactic fermentation took a couple of months in oak and stainless steel, and the wine matured in barriques and bocoyes for 10 months. It comes in at 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.74. It has a serious nose that combines berry fruit with herbs and a licorice twist, and it is a little tighter and more herbal, denoting more sensation of freshness in the wine even if the year was also warmish. But the peaks of heat did not reach the highs they did in 2022. It makes you think of the Bierzo wines from yesteryear, with the rain during the harvest. It's elegant but there's weight. Despite the price level, this is a wine that aged beautifully in bottle, something you don't expect in an entry-level wine. Final production figures were as expected, 297,867 bottles. The wine was bottled between January and April 2025. This keeps its position as one of the best values in Spain."
Vintages and ratings subject to change at any time.
All pricing and availability subject to change.
Artwork does not necessarily represent items for sale.
