Descendientes Jose Palacios

Mencía’s refined journey in Bierzo

Together with his nephew, Ricardo Perez, legendary Priorat winemaker Alvaro Palacios founded the Bierzo-based Descendientes de J Palacios in 1998. Together the pair have gained an enviable reputation for their fragrant and elegant wines made from Mencía. Descendientes de J Palacios (the estate is named in honour of Palacios's father, who died in 2000) is based in the village of Villafranca del Bierzo. Using fruit from old vines planted on extremely steep hillsides – much like those Palacios works with in Priorat – Palacios and Perez produce a Burgundy-model range of wines (region, village and single-vineyard expressions) that express the ripe, spiced fruit profile, beguiling, garrigue-y aromas and smoky minerality of Bierzo’s old-vine Mencía.