Descendientes de J. Palacios, S.L.
In the late 1990s, Álvaro Palacios came to Bierzo in search of a new challenge after having achieved great success in the Priorat. Bierzo, in the far northwest of Castilla y León, awaited him with its wild, craggy landscape where heather, rock roses and holly oaks dominate the flora, with its climatic and geological characteristics, and with the fascinating grape variety Mencía.
His first experience with this native grape variety was with the Pérez Perreira family at their Castro Ventosa winery in the village of Valtuille de Abajo. In 1999, he teamed up with his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios, known as Titín, to found the Bodega Descendientes de J. Palacios in the municipality of Corullón.
Red wines from Descendientes de J. Palacios, S.L.
from Descendientes de J. Palacios, S.L.
The first challenge was to get to know the terroir and gain valuable experience year after year. Since those days, Ricardo Pérez has become a driving force in the Bierzo wine region, making a considerable contribution to the new DOP regulations and the classifications in Bierzo.
The winery covers a total of 45 hectares on 220 plots, some of which are extremely small and situated on slate soils in steep slopes between 500 and 850 metres above sea level. That requires hard manual labour using horses or mules. Biodynamic methods are also employed. Most of the Mencía vines are between 60 and 90 years old. However, many of the older plots also feature other grape varieties such as Garnacha or white Godello and Jerez (Palomino). The region is exposed to various climatic influences – both Mediterranean and Atlantic. Under these complex conditions, Álvaro Palacios and Ricardo Pérez succeed in producing fragrant, elegant, yet energetic wines with their own unique signature. Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona from the single vineyard El Ferro are their internationally acclaimed flagship wines, while the Pétalos and Corullón wines are the stepping stones into the wonderful world of wine in this special part of Spain for any wine lover.
Producer
Casa Lupo by Paladin
Casa Lupo is the Paladin family’s Valpolicella “subsidiary” and consists of 25 hectares spread between the towns of Negrar and Illasi in the province of Verona.
Nicolas Feuillatte
Nicolas Feuillatte, a visionary and gifted entrepreneur, presented his Champagne for the first time in 1976. It quickly became the trendy brand in jet-setter circles in the USA, Australia and England, circles which Nicolas Feuillatte regularly frequented. In just 30 years, Nicolas Feuillatte rose to become the No. 1 Champagne brand in France.
Sette Cieli
It isn’t easy to ascend to seventh heaven. And indeed, the road to the wine estate Sette Cieli is fraught with some difficulties. You might need to take a few detours (seventh heaven isn’t on Google Maps’ radar), but the Ratti family’s wine paradise is more than worth the effort.