Descendientes de J. Palacios, Bierzo, Al Chelo 2023
3x75cl £ 840 6 cases available In Bond

Region

Spain > Castilla y Leon > Bierzo

Producer

Descendientes de J. Palacios

Grape

Type

Red

Designation

DO

Vineyard

Al Chelo

Appellation

Classification

Score


Descendientes de J. Palacios, Bierzo, Al Chelo
· 2023·

WO score

RP
V
JR

WO score is the average of all critic scores for this wine

Tasting notes

Robert Parker
Tasted: 16/05/2024
Drink: 2026-2038


There are not many new wines here, and the first new one in a very long time will be the 2023 Al Chelo, a selection of plots in the Valdafoz zone of the village of Corullón. It comes from a 100% north-facing slope, a very steep slope reaching 70% in some parts. Here, the grapes used to ripen only three years per decade, but it now benefits from the warmer seasons. It wasn't...

...usually vinified separately, because it was challenging and the volumes were small (it's also a favorite of the wild boars). This is 95% Mencía with 5% Jerez from 50- to 90-year-old vines on steep slopes with a northeast exposition at 612 to 675 meters in altitude on laminar slate soils that are worked organically with cover crops. The grapes were partially destemmed in oak vats with punching down of the cap. It has the stony and austere nose of the 2023s, even more austere than Corullón and Moncerbal; it's a little reductive and flinty, but with that elegant reduction that gives it a mineral feeling. It's full of energy and light and is clean, precise and focused, with great purity. It's currently aging in oak and is the wine with more time in oak of the 2023s; it has powerful and energetic tannins that are going to benefit from a longer élevage. It will be priced above the Moncerbal and Las Lamas, and I think it could be better than them! There are around 1,000 liters of this wine