Important Update From the Founder

The Wines of Alvaro Palacios, with Alvaro Palacios

The Sampler, London

Tasted April 7, 2011 by Papies with 712 views

Introduction

Another well organise event at the Sample in South Ken, London this time have the man himself present a good variety ( including an old and impossible to find 1994 Ermita)

Flight 1 (10 notes)

Red

2007 Palacios Remondo Rioja Propiedad Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

86 points

65% Grenache / 35% tempranillo. 60k bottles made in 2007 out of this classic dry vintage.
Grenache is very evident, cherry red fruit finished with some orange peel. Very dark in colour and super strong, powerfull wine. Not huge fans of the style so..

Comment

Red

2008 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos Spain, Castilla y León, Bierzo

85 points

Caramel, violet, blackberry and spice. Too strong too dark and not very approachable.
300k bottles made in 2008 and grapes come from 4 vineyards.

Comment

Red

2007 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Villa de Corullon Spain, Castilla y León, Bierzo

87 points

Again another uber strong wine, over powering and dense. Rose, floral elements and honey on the nose. Organic and biodynamic wine and "village" style wine with blends from a lot of vineyards int he area.

Comment

Red

2005 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Corullon San Martin Spain, Castilla y León, Bierzo

88 points

Another super dark over extracted colour. Lots of jammy notes. Prefered it tot he rest of the Descendientes but still of that too stong too powerful brand. 2000 botles amde in this very hot vintage.

Comment

Red

2007 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Corullon Las Lamas Spain, Castilla y León, Bierzo

90 points

Lots of honey evidence and a floral nose. Needs food with it and for sure 10yrs more in a bottle (assuming the fruit will survive the journey). Single vineyard idea and 1.7k Bottles made. 89£ estimated price NO WAY!

Comment

Red

2008 Alvaro Palacios Priorat Les Terrasses Velles Vinyes Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

85 points

Regional wine blended from very old vines 50yr+ . 100k Bottles and grenache dominates.
Cooked fruit, extremely strong and extracted. Difficult to approach and enjoy withought heavy food.

Comment

Red

1994 Alvaro Palacios Priorat Finca Dofí Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

91 points

Smooth wine and age has helped here. Mint notes. Good balance and very vibrant wine and can last many more years,. 1994 was a very dry and hot vintage that made for concentrated wines. Price estimate 135£ and am sure we can find much better wines for that amount..

Comment

Red

2008 Alvaro Palacios Priorat Finca Dofí Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

91 points

Grenache is properly tamed in this wine. More balanced and smooth and cab sauv and syrah are a lot more evident int he blend. 14.5% Alc.

Comment

Red

1994 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

94 points

WOTN. Floral nose and again age has tamed the grenache. Especially vs the 2006 which was uber powerful and unapprochable this was a very elegant wine. However this had 25% cabsauv while wines post this are almost 100% grenache so no real comparable for future Ermitas. 2000 Bottles made

Comment

Red

2006 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

Too young too strong. Grenache powerhouse with lots of sweet tones and red fruit. Wine needs lots of patience in the cellar and we found it difficult to rate now.

Comment

Closing

In general the wines are far too strong and too full of themselves. With the exception of the top range of wines ( which are priced like gold) the rest are pretty avg in quality. Felt a bit dissapointed in a way.
His grenache is very difficult to approach young and Oh boy Palacios loves his Grenache. He used to use 25% cab sauv in his Ermita (1994) but now he is moving to 100% Grenache for his Ermita (2006).
From the wines we tried the only one the stand out is was the 1994 Ermita, but that is really difficult to find and if you do end up finding it we have a feeling it will be much more expensive than Vega – and allow us to be blunt here but no way are these wines even close to the quality of Vega.

The Wines of Alvaro Palacios, with Alvaro Palacios

The Sampler, London

Introduction

Flight 1 (10 notes)

Closing

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