This biodynamic wine is ripe and purple fruited but not overripe. Some dark chocolate shavings, black olives, mulberry and blackcap aromas with some Mediterranean herbs and graphite. This wine is alluring, you want to dive into it and once you do you discover the supple texture, something savory, worn leather and smooth tannins that could do with some more ageing. The palate has white pepper, vanilla, and baked raspberry. It is deep, brooding, and not as ripe tasting as it smells; this is a great additional to any table. 

93 Points, Views from the Cellar:

The 2019 Petalos is a superb young bottle of Mencía. The wine offers a pure and complex bouquet of dark berries, graphite, pomegranate, a hint of anise, stony minerality, tree bark and a bit of chicory in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a fine core, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe tannins and a long, complex and very promising finish.

WINE INFORMATION 

Mencía is a Spanish grape variety primarily found in the northwestern part of Spain.  It is planted on over 22,000 acres and is grown in Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras regions.  It was once thought to be an ancient clone of Cabernet Franc, with which it shares some of its aromas, but DNA profiling proved otherwise.

Alvaro Palacios gained considerable winemaking experience working at Pétrus in Bordeaux with Jean-Pierre Moueix.  The Palacios family has an estate in Rioja and In Bierzo, but he established his namesake winery in 1989.

Petalos del Bierzo is an entry-level wine project of the Palacios family in Bierzo, the rugged plateau- covered area just west of Leon and on the way to Spain’s great northwest. The Mencía vines emerge from the biodynamically farmed vineyards planted on steep hillsides with rocky slate soils. The grapes for this wine were sourced from rented vineyards—50% in Corullon and 50% in selected villages at an elevation of approximately 2100 feet above sea level.  The vines range in age from 40 to 90 years.  The wine spends a few weeks in new French barriques followed by 6-10 months in seasoned oak.

Charcuterie, Cheese, Duck, Lamb, Mushrooms, Wild Game