First taste: Alvaro Palacios 2020 new releases

The latest-release tasting of the wines of Alvaro Palacios and Ricardo Pérez Palacios in the cellars of Berry Bros & Rudd in London is always a must-attend. Inevitably this year uncle and nephew remained in Spain, and appeared via Zoom.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the Alvaro Palacios 2020 new releases

Despite being filtered through the internet, Palacios had lost none of the energy that made him Decanter’s Man of the Year 2015. He has played an exceptional part in the elevation of the reputation of Spain’s wines internationally.

The fact that he has wineries in three regions of Spain – more or less Atlantic, Continental and Mediterranean – always makes tasting the wines fascinating, watching the ways he focuses ever more closely on the vineyard and the winemaking, and the changes he chooses to make.

The tasters had been sent the sample bottles of the 2020 vintage to which we have all become accustomed for Zoom tastings. Small sample bottles are never as perfect as full bottles in a regular en primeur tasting. What was gained instead was a very full discussion of the wines.

Vintage variation

Across all the properties in Rioja, Priorat and Bierzo there were strong signs of the effects of the vintage. Rioja and Priorat had more in common with each other than Bierzo. Rioja in 2020 was memorable for the intense mildew resulting from rain with warm temperatures in the spring.

Palacios commented: ‘We really had to work hard – mildew is even harder to prevent than oidium, and organic viticulture makes it even more complicated.’

However he went on to emphasise the paradoxical aspect of the mildew: the resulting lower yields gave ‘lovely’ quality and colour. From July, there was a ‘luminous, healthy summer’.

Priorat in 2020 was distinguished by exceptional rain. ‘Angry violent rainfall of unique opulence,’ as Palacios poetically described it. Priorat lost its usual Mediterranean aspect, given that 800 litres of rain fell in a month. As in Rioja, the resulting mildew ended up being a surprising quality factor for that vintage, given its reduced yields.

Focus on Priorat

In terms of other developments in Priorat, for the first time the 2020 Finca Dofí contains a small percentage of the local, but much disappeared variety, Picapoll. It was grafted four to five years ago. Palacios tasted the grapes of Joan Asens, colleague and eminent biodynamic viticulturist, and recognised their importance at a time of climate warming, thanks to their high acidity – evident even in the 4% used in the Finca Dofi.

Another change in the Priorat portfolio this year is that with the latest release, the 2019, L’Ermita is appearing in a Burgundy bottle for the first time. In the early days the decision was taken to bottle everything in a Bordeaux bottle. The winery now recognises that Garnacha needs a Burgundy-shaped livery.

In addition there was a very strong message from this tasting for would-be buyers of Palacios’ Priorat wines. As a result of the climate the yields for those wines have been strongly reduced. The Priorat wines will be harder to purchase than usual (I have pointed out just how small the yields are on the tasting notes below).

Bierzo: all about tannins

A key feature of Priorat, according to Pérez Palacios, is that ‘Priorat is all about the acidity at harvest. In Bierzo we normally harvest by flavour. Bierzo is usually about taste.’ However he adds that with the 2020 harvest they had to focus on tannin management.

In Bierzo, with its continental climate with Atlantic influences, 2020 was very dry and very hot. By contrast 2021 is the year they have had mildew in Bierzo – completely opposite to Rioja or Priorat. This was the second year that harvest began in August (the first was 2017). The holdings in Bierzo are some 30ha scattered in small parcels over rocky slate soils. Pérez Palacios farms according to biodynamic principles.

He commented that the 2020 wines are darker in impression and show some reduction. The winery team has to be very precise in its handling of tannins and oxidation. ‘We work in a reductive way. That’s why you need to decant the wines. In some years it’s more intense,’ he added.

Mencía too is a wine that’s prone to reduction, so take his advice and have the decanter handy. At this tasting the lovely La Faraona, served from its sample-size bottle, did not show at its best initially. A few hours later it was more or less restored.

Sarah Jane Evans MW rates the Alvaro Palacios 2020 new releases

Wines are listed in score order

Related content

Expert’s choice: Spanish roséSingle-vineyard Rioja – is the new category working?Bobal wines: panel tasting results