Petalos Palacios Bierzo 2021

Descendientes de J. Palacios Bierzo “Pétalos” 2021

Mencía (Men-thee-ah) has always struck me as one of those grapes that rewards patience and curiosity. It doesn’t strut or swagger like so many of its Iberian cousins—it leans in, whispering its story slowly, with a kind of restrained grace that reveals more the longer you listen. In Bierzo, a remote and rugged corner of northwestern Spain, the land itself feels like part of that story: misted mountains, terraced slopes of slate and quartz, vines clawing into poor soils that yield wines of haunting perfume and quiet depth.

It was Alvaro Palacios—already a legend in Priorat—who, alongside his nephew Ricardo, saw what Bierzo could be. Together they didn’t so much invent something new as resurrect something ancient. Their Pétalos bottling was meant to be a love letter to the region, a gathering of old-vine plots blended into one eloquent expression. It was never meant to impress—it was meant to speak.

And it spoke to me early. One of my fondest memories of the old Brady Street store, way back in the day, is of my mother and a dear client—now a good friend and, in a twist of fate, my corporation’s attorney—sharing a bottle of the very first vintage of this wine ever made. That was twenty years ago now. We opened it without ceremony, no decanter, no expectations. And yet, I remember how it filled the room with violets, with wild berries, with something I can only describe as the scent of rain on stone. It was then I realized what Mencía could be—how it could dance between delicacy and power, fruit and earth, heart and intellect.

The 2021 Pétalos carries that same duality. Aromas of black raspberry, plum skin, and dried rose petals lift from the glass. The palate hums with energy—silken fruit framed by fine tannins and a cool mineral edge that keeps everything vivid and alive. Beneath the surface, there’s that whisper of earth and herbs, a savory undertone that reminds you this is mountain wine, born from terraces that look out over the mists of Galicia.

If Rioja is Spain’s velvet jacket and Ribera del Duero its tailored suit, then Bierzo—especially in the hands of Palacios—is its poet’s coat: weathered, soulful, quietly confident. Pétalos remains one of the great expressions of honesty in modern wine. It is generous without being showy, complex without pretense, and for all its pedigree, remains remarkably humble in price.

Two decades after that first bottle, it still has the power to stop me mid-sentence. And that, I think, is the mark of something truly timeless.