Wine Advisor
Descendientes de Jose Palacios, Moncerbal 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
I find the 2020 Moncerbal a little more closed than the other 2020s, darker and serious. It's still moderately ripe, with 13.8% alcohol, sweet tannins and a soft texture. Today it shows a little austere and very calm—it whispers. It's quite discreet. It was bottled in October 2021, during the 2021 harvest. This is already certified organic from 2020 onward. Approachable already. 5,000 bottles were filled in October 2021. These wines were usually bottled in January/February of the following year, so in 2020 they had a shorter élevage in barrel. The wines were ready earlier.
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
I find the 2020 Moncerbal a little more closed than the other 2020s, darker and serious. It's still moderately ripe, with 13.8% alcohol, sweet tannins and a soft texture. Today, it shows a little austere and very calm—it whispers. It's quite discreet. It was bottled in October 2021, during the 2021 harvest. This is already certified organic from 2020 onward. Approachable already. 5,000 bottles were filled in October 2021. These wines were usually bottled in January/February of the following year, so in 2020 they had a shorter élevage in barrel. The wines were ready earlier.
About the Producer
Descendientes de José Palacios (DJP) is one of three estates of the family of Álvaro Palacios. The 'Descendientes' are Álvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Perez Palacios, both of whom grew up in the Palacios family home in Alfaro, Rioja. Both are descendents of Álvaro's father, José Palacios, who died in 2000, just as the first Bierzo wines were being prepared and for whom the Bierzo project was then named. DJP commenced in 1999, when the young Ricardo was studying permaculture in Leon, subsequent to his viticultural studies in Bordeaux. Ricardo came across some very old plantings of Mencía high on the mountain slopes above the village of Corullón, and recognised these as heritage material of great potential and importance, just as Álvaro has done a decade earlier with the remnant old autochthonous Garnatxas of Priorat. Álvaro was summoned to inspect and an immediate decision was made to invest and investigate. Ever since, Ricardo and Álvaro have been purchasing and renovating old vineyards, massale propogating heritage genetic material throughout their holdings, all the while refining how to grow and vinify Mencía.
