The Wine AdvocateRP 97Reviewed by:Luis GutiérrezRelease Price:$150Drink Date:2022 - 2030I find the 2020 Moncerbal a little more closed than the other 2020s, darker and serious. It's still moderately ripe, with 13.8% alcohol, sweet tannins and a soft texture. Today, it shows a little austere and very calm—it whispers. It's quite discreet. It was bottled in October 2021, during the 2021 harvest. This is already certified organic from 2020 onward. Approachable already. 5,000 bottles were filled in October 2021. These wines were usually bottled in January/February of the following year, so in 2020 they had a shorter élevage in barrel. The wines were ready earlier.
I tasted the 2019s (and the 2020 Pétalos) from Descendientes de José Palacios as part of the annual tasting of the Álvaro Palacios portfolio of wines from Priorat, Rioja and Bierzo, and I am including them here again for completeness and context. Later I realized that the 2020s were in bottle, as they have seen that warmer vintages need shorter time in oak, so I tried to taste the whole range. SO, yes, the 2020 vintage was warm and the wines quite forward, approachable and more delicate than I expected. The vintage is a little more fruit-driven, a vintage of sun, jovial and juicy and round with very fine, slightly powdery tannins. The fruit is darker than in the 2019s, but the wines are a lot fresher than everybody anticipated. Depending on the wine, some are better in 2019 and some are better in 2020. Picking early makes wines get reduced, and in a warm year like 2020 you have to harvest early unless you want to end up with 15% alcohol. So, the 2020s have a tendency toward reduction, and they had to work a lot in the winery. It's something I've seen in other wineries too... But the wines are very aromatic, fluid and fresh and don't show heat, sun or excess ripening. They are soft, with a certain freshness (it's not 2013!), and they keep the tannin that was also found in 2019. The 2020 tannins are rounder, and 2019 and 2020 are the two most tannic vintages of the last few years. The 2020s were ready soon and were bottled early, and they show quite approachable already. Corullón was the big surprise in 2020, and from the very young 2021s I sampled, going through full malolactic (the most challenging year so far for Pérez; a year when Mencía wouldn't ripen!) and thus quite difficult to read, the Moncerbal feels like it is going to shine and be among the finest vintages for this paraje. Corullón is Vino de Villa. Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona are Vino de Paraje. With time, Las Lamas and La Faraona should be Vino de Viña Clasificada/Vino de Gran Viña Clasificada. Moncerbal will remain Vino de Paraje, as not all of the plots are contiguous. 2019 is like 2010 or 2011, and 2020 should be more approachable, perhaps not as long lived as 2019. 2020 was picked earlier, and most of the wines are 13.5 (all except Pétalos and Las Lamas). The 2020 single-vineyard bottlings—Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona—are certified organic, and Corullón will have it from 2021. They are focusing more and more on the vineyards. They sold eight hectares of their vineyards, among the highest in altitude in Bierzo, to Raúl Pérez (who's doing a separate project with them), and they are going to rent some others to local growers. At the same time, they have more people working the vineyards. Less surface, more people...
They are bottling the wines from Bierzo earlier than ever, so I already tasted the 2020s in bottle for the region's article at the end of January 2022. I include those notes here for the completeness of the article, but now I only tasted the unbottled 2021s, from a very different year, which, according to Ricardo Pérez Palacios, was the most challenging year so far, a year when Mencía wouldn't ripen! I had already tasted some of those 2021s before, and back then, even if the wines were going through full malolactic, the Moncerbal already shone and felt to be among the finest vintages for this paraje. 2021 was an atypical year, cooler but with a warm and dry end of the season. They harvested some grapes at the end of August and then they had to stop ... because the grapes wouldn't ripen! So, Pétalos is only 13.5% alcohol. Some wines have a reductive character; it was a cooler and dry year, and the wines showed that character, continental and cold, despite the heat in July and August. The wines are juicy and aromatic, a lot fresher than they anticipated. The wines have contained alcohol (all around 13.5%) and a narrower profile. It should be a long-lived vintage, perhaps not as juicy as the 2018s, but with very good balance and freshness.
Published: Jun 30, 2022
