Descendientes de J. Palacios

Descendientes de J. Palacios was founded in 1999 by Álvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios, the second of Álvaro's landmark single-region projects after his 1989 L'Ermita and the broader Priorat revival from Gratallops. The first harvest came in 1999, and the project was named in honor of Álvaro's father and Ricardo's grandfather José Palacios, patriarch of the Rioja Bodegas Palacios Remondo family in Rioja Baja, who died in early 2000 soon after the inaugural vintage. The brand reads Descendientes de J. Palacios in the literal generational sense of descendants of José Palacios. Ricardo Pérez Palacios completed his enological studies in Bordeaux and worked harvest at Château Margaux as well as an internship with the Moueix family in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion before returning to Spain to take over the day-to-day winemaking and viticulture in Bierzo. Álvaro Palacios remains the strategic architect and external face of the project; Ricardo runs the cellar and the vineyards. The estate is permanently identified with the village of Corullón on the western edge of Bierzo, distinct from the larger nearby town of Villafranca del Bierzo, with the cellar, the namesake Villa de Corullón village cuvée, and the three single-vineyard wines all anchored in Corullón.

• Founded 1999 by Álvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios; the second landmark single-region project of Álvaro's career after his 1989 L'Ermita and the broader Priorat revival from Gratallops
• Named in honor of Álvaro's father and Ricardo's grandfather José Palacios, patriarch of the Rioja Bodegas Palacios Remondo family in Rioja Baja, who died in early 2000 soon after the first 1999 harvest
• Ricardo Pérez Palacios trained in Bordeaux with harvest experience at Château Margaux and an internship with the Moueix family in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion before returning to Spain to take over the cellar and vineyards
• Permanently identified with the village of Corullón on the western edge of Bierzo, distinct from the larger nearby town of Villafranca del Bierzo, where the cellar, the Villa de Corullón village cuvée, and the three single-vineyard wines are all anchored

Corullón sits on the western edge of the Bierzo DO at the foot of the Sierra de los Ancares range that separates the Bierzo basin from the Galician interior, on the long hillside that descends toward the Sil and Cúa river drainages of the central Bierzo valley. The estate works vineyards across many small plots in the village and its immediate surrounds, with parcels running from roughly 500 metres at the lower hillside up to 975 metres at the top of the hill above Corullón, where La Faraona sits as one of the highest commercially worked vineyards in Bierzo. The slopes are among the steepest commercially worked vineyards in Spain, and the defining substrate is pizarra (slate), with bands of decomposed slate, quartzite, sandstone, and clay across different parcels. The slate forces vine roots deep into the bedrock fractures and gives the wines their saline-mineral profile and structural backbone. The orographic surround pulls Atlantic moisture into the Bierzo basin from the Galician interior while preserving the warm continental afternoons that ripen Mencía to full physiological maturity. The Corullón hillside aspect, the slate substrate, and the Atlantic-influenced continental climate together define the west-Bierzo identity that the estate has spent the last 25 years articulating in fine-wine form.

• Corullón sits on the western edge of Bierzo at the foot of the Sierra de los Ancares range, on the long hillside descending toward the Sil and Cúa river drainages of the central valley
• Vineyards run from roughly 500 metres at the lower hillside up to 975 metres at the top above Corullón, on slopes among the steepest commercially worked vineyards in Spain
• Defining substrate is pizarra (slate), with bands of decomposed slate, quartzite, sandstone, and clay; vine roots are forced deep into bedrock fractures, giving the wines their saline-mineral spine
• Atlantic moisture pulled in from the Galician interior combines with warm continental afternoons in the Bierzo basin to ripen Mencía to full physiological maturity while preserving the high natural acidity that defines the appellation

Farming at Descendientes de J. Palacios has been organic and biodynamic from inception in 1999. Ricardo Pérez Palacios is widely recognized as Spain's foremost biodynamic authority, both as a practicing winegrower and as a translator and educator. He has translated foundational biodynamic and agricultural texts into Spanish, including work by Nicolas Joly and Rudolf Steiner, and has been a long-running advocate for regenerative agricultural practice in northwest Spain. He has been deeply involved in regional biodynamic education and hosts encounters that draw practitioners from across Spain and the wider biodynamic world. The discipline reads directly into the wines: minimal-intervention cellar work, native-yeast fermentations, restrained use of new oak (the higher single-vineyard cuvées see French oak, but always sized to the parcel rather than overlaid on the wine), and a wine register that reads the slate-and-Mencía signature of each individual site rather than smoothing it out into a single house style. The cellar focuses on whole-cluster work and gentle extraction appropriate to old-vine Mencía, with élevage running in a mix of French oak (mostly used or once-used barrels and larger formats) and concrete or stainless for the entry-tier Pétalos.

• Organic and biodynamic farming from inception in 1999; minimal-intervention cellar work with native-yeast fermentations and restrained use of new French oak
• Ricardo Pérez Palacios is widely recognized as Spain's foremost biodynamic authority and has translated foundational texts by Nicolas Joly and Rudolf Steiner into Spanish
• Long-running advocate for regenerative agriculture in northwest Spain; hosts biodynamic encounters that draw practitioners from across Spain and beyond
• Cellar register reads the slate-and-Mencía signature of each individual site rather than overlaying a single house style; new oak is sized to the parcel rather than the producer

The estate's three single-vineyard cuvées are drawn from named parcels (parajes) on the Corullón hillside, each reading a distinct combination of elevation, exposure, soil, and vine age. La Faraona is the apex: a half-hectare parcel (around 0.5 to 0.55 hectares) near the top of the Corullón hill at roughly 975 metres of elevation, southeast-facing on slate with quartzite, sandstone, and clay layered through the substrate. The vines are very old, approaching a century in some references, planted to roughly 97 percent Mencía with a small percentage of mixed indigenous varieties in the historic field-blend tradition. Production runs at roughly 1,000 bottles per vintage, the wine is unfiltered, and it is among the most prized red wines in Spain with secondary-market prices regularly in the four-figure range. Moncerbal is one of the largest parajes in Corullón, with multiple exposures across its footprint and a wider tonal range than the other crus; the wine reads as the more mineral and savoury of the trio with a long aromatic arc. Las Lamas is a steep south-facing slate site whose old vines (over 60 years) ripen earlier than neighboring parcels; the wine reads as denser and more powerful, with a structurally weighted tannic profile. San Martín, formerly a single-vineyard bottling, has been folded into the Villa de Corullón village blend alongside Fontelas, Ferro, Vasnada, María Cota, and Bruxa. A newer single-vineyard, Al Chelo, was introduced from the 2023 vintage from a small parcel in the Valdafoz site.

• La Faraona: half-hectare parcel (around 0.5 to 0.55 hectares) near the top of the Corullón hill at roughly 975 metres of elevation, southeast-facing on slate with quartzite, sandstone, and clay; very old vines; roughly 1,000 bottles per vintage; among the most prized red wines in Spain
• Moncerbal: one of the largest parajes in Corullón with multiple exposures across its footprint; the more mineral and savoury cuvée with a long aromatic arc
• Las Lamas: steep south-facing slate site with old vines (over 60 years) that ripen earlier than neighboring parcels; the more powerful and brooding cuvée with a structurally weighted tannic profile
• San Martín, formerly a single-vineyard bottling, has been folded into the Villa de Corullón village blend alongside Fontelas, Ferro, Vasnada, María Cota, and Bruxa; Al Chelo introduced from the 2023 vintage as a newer single-vineyard from the Valdafoz site

The Descendientes de J. Palacios cuvée hierarchy reads as a deliberate Bierzo translation of the Burgundian regional-village-cru tier system. Pétalos del Bierzo, first released in 2001, is the regional entry, drawn from estate fruit and from roughly 180 small contract growers across the appellation; recent vintages have run roughly 270,000 to 320,000 bottles, with the wider sourcing letting the estate hold the price accessible while still delivering the slate-and-Mencía signature in fine-wine register. Villa de Corullón is the village wine, built from a multi-plot selection inside Corullón itself, including parcels at the Fontelas, Ferro, Vasnada, María Cota, Bruxa, and San Martín sites; the wine reads as a Burgundian Premier Cru analog, expressing the Corullón hillside identity without the extreme single-parcel narrowing of the named-vineyard wines. The three single-vineyard cuvées (La Faraona, Moncerbal, Las Lamas) sit at the apex as the estate's Grand Cru tier, each from a single named paraje on the Corullón hill. This Burgundian tier framework, when applied to Bierzo's slate hillside and old-vine Mencía, established the appellation's modern fine-wine identity in the early 2000s and remains the structural reference point for every other Bierzo producer building a serious portfolio. The estate is imported in the United States by Polaner Selections and distributed in the United Kingdom by Berry Bros. & Rudd alongside specialty importers across continental Europe and Asia.

• Pétalos del Bierzo (first released 2001, roughly 270,000 to 320,000 bottles per vintage): regional entry drawn from estate fruit plus roughly 180 small contract growers across Bierzo, with the slate-and-Mencía signature delivered at an accessible price
• Villa de Corullón: village wine built from a multi-plot selection inside Corullón (including Fontelas, Ferro, Vasnada, María Cota, Bruxa, and the historic San Martín site); the Burgundian Premier Cru analog expressing the Corullón hillside identity
• La Faraona, Moncerbal, Las Lamas: three single-vineyard cuvées from named parajes on the Corullón hill at the Grand Cru apex of the Burgundian-tier framework that established Bierzo's modern fine-wine identity in the early 2000s
• Imported in the United States by Polaner Selections and distributed in the United Kingdom by Berry Bros. & Rudd, with specialty importers across continental Europe and Asia