2013 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos ***

Musky scent. light-med body with a lot of flavour. leather, earth, allspice dominates some red berry underneath. very dry finish, turns a bit bitter, but not too much. not a sipper, but a foodwine, atm. I wonder if it just needs aging to mellow down a notch.

Michael Nielsen > wrote in
:

>
> 2013 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos ***
>
> Musky scent. light-med body with a lot of flavour. leather, earth,
> allspice dominates some red berry underneath. very dry finish, turns a
> bit bitter, but not too much. not a sipper, but a foodwine, atm. I
> wonder if it just needs aging to mellow down a notch.
>

I have not tasted 2013, but 2012 was just great. It is the most affordable
wine of the winery but it always drink well.

Pétalos is not the wine to lay down from the winery, things start to become
interesting at Corullón level (their 2012 is stellar) and then the Single
Vineyards (too expensive IMHO).

But I am sure that Pétalos is a wine that can age 5 years and it would be
interesting to see where it goes.

On 9/11/15 11:12 AM, santiago wrote:
> Michael Nielsen > wrote in
> :
>
>>
>> 2013 Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos ***
>>
>> Musky scent. light-med body with a lot of flavour. leather, earth,
>> allspice dominates some red berry underneath. very dry finish, turns a
>> bit bitter, but not too much. not a sipper, but a foodwine, atm. I
>> wonder if it just needs aging to mellow down a notch.
>>
>
> I have not tasted 2013, but 2012 was just great. It is the most affordable
> wine of the winery but it always drink well.
>
> Pétalos is not the wine to lay down from the winery, things start to become
> interesting at Corullón level (their 2012 is stellar) and then the Single
> Vineyards (too expensive IMHO).
>
> But I am sure that Pétalos is a wine that can age 5 years and it would be
> interesting to see where it goes.

Santiago,
Have recent vintages been aged in new oak? I recall earlier vintages
that weren't and were quite fresh and lively, but then later years
(probably ca. 2006-7) seemed to have changed their style and been
heavier and oakier. My preferences for Mencia are for the former style,
in case that wasn't already clear ;-)

Mark Lipton


--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

Mark Lipton > wrote in
:
>
> Santiago,
> Have recent vintages been aged in new oak? I recall earlier
> vintages
> that weren't and were quite fresh and lively, but then later years
> (probably ca. 2006-7) seemed to have changed their style and been
> heavier and oakier. My preferences for Mencia are for the former
> style, in case that wasn't already clear ;-)
>
> Mark Lipton
>
>

Current oak aging is 10 months in barrels that are new or up to 4 years
old. But I must say that I do not normally find too much oak in Pétalos
(and I do not like oak in my wines, neither)

On Friday, September 11, 2015 at 5:12:20 PM UTC+2, santiago wrote:
> I have not tasted 2013, but 2012 was just great. It is the most affordable
> wine of the winery but it always drink well.

I saw wine notes of previous vintages that seem opposite of the one I tasted. people call it full bodied and fruit driven. Is that a matter of calibration of reference or a style change?

A wine store convinced me to buy a Cenit, Vinas del Cenit http://www.bodegascenit.com/cenit

He called it a "Pingus Killer" - is he right?

Michael Nielsen > wrote in
:
>
> I saw wine notes of previous vintages that seem opposite of the one I
> tasted. people call it full bodied and fruit driven. Is that a matter
> of calibration of reference or a style change?

I would say that Pétalos is medium to full bodied and that it is more about
the fruit than any other thing. What it normally has not is oak tannin and
therefore if can feel more fluid than other wines.


>
> A wine store convinced me to buy a Cenit, Vinas del Cenit
> http://www.bodegascenit.com/cenit
>
> He called it a "Pingus Killer" - is he right?

I only had Pingus once and it was blind. I was not impressed, although the
company (40 wines from Bordeaux and California) was top of the top.

Never had Viñas del Cenit. I do not drink a lot of Ribera del Duero anyway
and, from the area, I just love Mauro (not Ribera because of formalities),
although it is quite oaky when young and needs 10 years to show greatness.
You may also like it young.

From Ribera del Duero, since you like wines which are ripe, with fruit,
dusty tannins and oak, I think you may like Aalto and Alonso del Yerro,
amongst others. Alión too.

Please tell us about Cenit when you have it.

On Friday, September 11, 2015 at 10:47:25 PM UTC+2, santiago wrote:
> I would say that Pétalos is medium to full bodied and that it is more about
> the fruit than any other thing. What it normally has not is oak tannin and
> therefore if can feel more fluid than other wines.
>

Hmm. so either the 2013 is lighter than previously, or its calibration.

> I only had Pingus once and it was blind. I was not impressed, although the
> company (40 wines from Bordeaux and California) was top of the top.
>

I had pingus at a tasting with chateau latour. Both "current release" , both costing 850euro per bottle, at the time. I liked Pingus slightly better than latour. But thought the best QPR of the night was flor de pingus at 100E per bottle. This was 10 years ago. and I still havent ever bought a flor de pingus haha, as I thought 60-100$ napa valley reserve cabs pulled the same strings as those top wines.

On Friday, September 11, 2015 at 10:47:25 PM UTC+2, santiago wrote:
> Never had Viñas del Cenit. I do not drink a lot of Ribera del Duero anyway
> and, from the area, I just love Mauro (not Ribera because of formalities),

This list is interesing. I dont know the price of your Mauro, but I Pingus is 1100euro here. I paid 40E for the Cenit. And Unico is 250E. So its up there with those giants at a fraction of the price. Is your Mauro also that "cheap"?

http://www.vinrejserspanien.dk/vin-o...orit-vine-2011

Michael Nielsen > wrote in
:

,
>
> This list is interesing. I dont know the price of your Mauro, but I
> Pingus is 1100euro here. I paid 40E for the Cenit. And Unico is 250E.
> So its up there with those giants at a fraction of the price. Is your
> Mauro also that "cheap"?

Mauro makes three wines:

Mauro which retails 25E in Spain.
Mauro VS (stands for Vendimia Seleccionada) which retails 50-60E in
Spain Mauro Terreus (single vineyard) which retails 80-90E in Spain.

The basic one is always very good and well made, very reliable. It has
saved many lunches or dinners where there was not much more available.

I do not like all the vintages the same, and usually lay down some
bottles from supposedly good vintages. I still have 2001, 2004, 2005,
2009 and 2010 and finished drinking the 1999 last year. Wines display
oak when young but they integrate it with time. For drinkes who like oak
in their wines, they are very appealing in their youth too.

I had a 2003 at a restaurant in Tudela de Duero (very close to the
winery) a couple of years ago and I did not like as much as other
vintages. I do not say it in a negative way, I like wines which express
the vintage and 2003 was very hot also in Ribera del Duero. Probably
this 2003 was a wine to be consumed in 2006 and not in 2013.

I think it is about time to crack a bottle of Mauro soon.


Their Vendimia Seleccionada is a bigger wine, takes more time in oak
barrels. 1994 was just singing two years ago. A truly great wine, a bit
under the radar, and the price remains reasonable for the quality.

Terreus, when I tasted at wine fairs, I usually prefer VS. I understand
they try to make a single vineyard for business reasons, but I prefer to
trust my palate and go with what I like most, specially if it is
cheaper.

>
> http://www.vinrejserspanien.dk/vin-o...obert-parkers-
spanske-favorit-vine-2011

That list was published at Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, but the
reviewer was Jay Miller, a man that judged Spanish Wine like it was
Australian Syrah. The bigger the better.

After Jay Miller came Neal Martin (an Englishman whose field of
expertise was Bordeaux) and then finally Robert Parker got it right and
hired Luis Gutiérrez. This is what Luis wrote about Viñas del Cénit:

"Vinas del Cenit produces a mixture of Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y
Leon and new appellation Zamora, but all the wines follow the same
pattern: very oaky, ripe Tempranillo with high alcohol, low acidity and
residual sugar. For fans of the style, but not really for me."


Since Jay Miller knew very little about Spanish wine (my opinion), he
was also very careful not to bother the big names (my opinion), and
that's why Vega Sicilia also came on top. He got it right here, of
course, because, Vega Sicilia is the paradigm of Ribera del Duero. Their
Unicos and Reserva Especial are world class wines priced at such level.

By the way, reading the list I discovered that Cénit is VdT Zamora which
is more Toro than Ribera del Duero. Vega Sicilia makes an excellent Toro
called Pintia, which is good year in - year out. And price is also
reasonable, around 25-30E in Spain. You may like it, it is big (as a
wine from Toro should be), but classy, and it ages well. It is not
comparable to Unico and is released much earlier but it is worth trying.

Long post!!!