#wineadvocate
Descendientes de José Palacios
Pétalos Bierzo Mencía 2017
I won’t try to disabuse you of that notion save to say that the Pétalos has never been sold at an elevated price in the market I’m familiar with. Personally I think the wine itself is excellent and amazingly consistent.
@Jordan Wardlaw agreed the price isn’t high, so to speak, it’s very calculated to seem the exact opposite. Under $20 and in some parts of the US under $15 for a 93 point wine!!! That’s almost a giveaway. I agree that the wine is very consistent from one vintage to the next but that’s also partially what makes me doubt in part it’s authenticity, because the weather in Bierzo is not consistent year in year out. That’s why it makes sense as well that nowhere on the label does it put Mencia, because the same vineyards of Mencia from one vintage to the next should give you some variation. I apologize for my rant, I was tasting it alongside 6/7 other Mencia from Bierzo and I started with Pétalos and when there was no comparison, it seemed much better than when I tried it in comparison and that is when I wrote the note. I have since edited the note. I appreciate the comment and it has made me look deeper into this wine and what I wrote. Thank you
M. Chapoutier
Domaine de Bila-Haut Occultum Lapidem Syrah Blend 2012
Light peppery, blackberry nose. Succulent palate of blackberry soft peppery notes. Richly extracted. Finish is long and soft. Well deserving of the 94 points #wineadvocate gave! — 9 years ago
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MICHAEL COOPER DipWSET
Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com
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. — 5 years ago