Pétalos Bierzo Mencía

The bouquet is like a basket of perfectly ripe red berries, mixing with violet florals, lavender, a hint of white pepper and smoke. On the palate, I'm finding soft textures, like liquid silk gliding across the senses, yet also lifted and finessed (I’m not sure how they achieve this), opening with sweet violet pastilles giving way to peppery ripe strawberry, as minerals and spice settled in toward the finale. The finish is long, not necessarily on fruit, but on a mix of sweet and savory spices that seem to saturate the senses, all kept fresh by lingering acidity. This is a different animal from the 2016, yet equally, if not more, enjoyable.

Just love this wine! Nice blend of grapes from the Bierzo Valley, the ‘17 has about 10% of perfectly ripe white grapes, more than any other year. Deep Ruby with lighter edges with tons of Berry fruits aromas adding some sweet floral spice. On the palate flavors of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry with a juicy mineral edge. Well balanced and integrated with fine tannins, lively acidity and a long dry finish ending with toasty pepper notes. Tremendous value.

Nice blend of grapes from the Bierzo Valley, the ‘17 has about 10% of perfectly ripe white grapes, more than any other year. Deep Ruby with lighter edges with tons of Berry fruits aromas adding some sweet floral spice. On the palate flavors of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry with a juicy mineral edge. Well balanced and integrated with fine tannins, lively acidity and a long dry finish ending with toasty pepper notes. Tremendous value.

Beautiful acid and texture. Drank it at-will with each dish.

Just love this wine! Nice blend of grapes from the Bierzo Valley, the ‘17 has about 10% of perfectly ripe white grapes, more than any other year. Deep Ruby with lighter edges with tons of Berry fruits aromas adding some sweet floral spice. On the palate flavors of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry with a juicy mineral edge. Well balanced and integrated with fine tannins, lively acidity and a long dry finish ending with toasty pepper notes. Tremendous value.

I don’t believe this is a 93 according to #luisgutierrez at the #wineadvocate This is a very good wine for the price which is exactly the marketing strategy of #alvaropalacios for this wine and for Camins Del Priorat. He’s on very good terms and relations with the critics, so he gets a very generous score on ALL of his wines including the introductory wine at the lowest price (La Montesa also for example) he then sells those at a somewhat elevated price (when compared to neighboring wineries), and then the next wines up in the chain double, then quadruple and then 8x as much and so on and so forth. So the consumer, having tried the first wine, seeing the scores and having some extra cash in their pocket, launches to try some of the more expensive wines and that’s when this formula really pays off, because when you pay $30, $60 or $120 for a wine, you are already predisposed to like it because you paid handsomely for it. So you try these wines (again they are very well made) and you have the scores and price in mind, most people value them beyond their actual quality. Alvaro Palacios is a brand and in the same way that Moët and Veuve Cliquot are overpriced and you know they are overpriced (or maybe you don’t) you don’t care because you want the brand and the brand has performed it’s marketing sorcery on you. There are some suspicious aspects of this wine: #1 it sells for the same price or less expensive in the US than in Spain? #2 Nowhere on the label does it say that it is made with #mencia grapes, not even on the PDO back label? #3 I don’t have the exact sales figure but I believe that this wine sells a quantity of at least six figures (volume) when you go to Bierzo, even if you include the valley floor, there doesn’t seem to be enough grapes to go around for all of the Pétalos that is sold? I think it is a very good wine, but a 9.3 for many Napa wineries or even Bordeaux wineries is a very high score and a score that in those areas guarantees a quality that this wine does not achieve. A small caveat, I am jealous of how well Palacios markets his wines and the scores he is able to achieve, I only wish I was as wise and clever in marketing.

This Mencía-based wine offers highly expressive cherry and dark berry scents and flavors, with bright mineral and spice topnotes. Concentrated and at the same time lively, the 2017 offers seamless texture and polished tannins, making it delicious now, especially alongside lamb or steak. $20.00 (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, January 2020)

Radiant, elegant, pure. Sweet and sappy bing cherry and raspberry fruit infused with Asian spice, licorice and savory minerality. Firm tannins and bright acidity. Seriously underpriced, which is fine by me.

Always a great buy Mencia glory , delicious.

Always a winner this vintage is so delicious, go get some🇪🇸