Descendientes de José Palacios

Ricardo Pérez Palacios lives on a biodynamic farm in Corullón, only a stone’s throw away from some of his vineyards. He does it out of conviction, not for image or marketing reasons, which unfortunately is the case more often than not. He arrived in Bierzo at the age of 23, and he’s been there for close to 20 years now. So, although he’s still a guy from Alfaro in Rioja, he has lived and breathed Bierzo for so long that a certain amount of Bierzo blood runs through his veins. Biodynamic principles have been applied in his vineyards since the beginning of this venture, in the harvest of 1999. Back in 2001, when a group of Portuguese winemakers from the Douro visited, the concept of biodynamics was a groundbreaking agricultural philosophy guided by the stars while simultaneously following organic principles that respect the environment and vineyard life, and only a handful of growers in the world applied it. Despite walking around the vineyards for almost a day, admiring the landscape and tasting the wines, Ricardo didn’t once mention biodynamics to his guests. When later asked, “Why didn’t you tell them anything about biodynamics?” He replied, “They didn’t ask me.” Anyone else would have jumped at the opportunity to proudly show off what he was doing, but not Ricardo. He does what he does on principle and follows through. He has also translated and published (in Spanish) Nicolas Joly’s book on biodynamics. His home in the village of Corullón is also as a farm school, Granja Escuela Cando, where they carry out different activities related to rural life as well as organizing courses and workshops, a yearly congress on viticulture attended by winegrowers from all over Spain and some from Portugal, teaching how to work with animals and biodynamics, how to make sourdough bread, cheese-making, courses on pottery, wild plants, how to make wine at home… His house has always been close to the farm animals, and he’s planning to get his own goats. At the moment, he buys the milk for making cheese, bakes his own bread, distills his own vineyard-designated spirits, grows his own vegetables, makes and sells fruit juices, slaughters his own pigs and makes chorizos and botillos (typical charcuterie from León). Obviously, he takes living in a sustainable ecosystem for self-sufficiency very seriously—it’s his lifestyle. And on top of all that, he makes some of the best wines in the region and the whole of Spain.

Descendientes de José Palacios is the name of the adventure in Bierzo from uncle and nephew Álvaro Palacios and Ricardo Pérez Palacios. Álvaro spends his time between his project in Priorat, the Bierzo vineyards and the family winery in Rioja, Palacios Remondo. And Ricardo is the resident grower and winemaker in Bierzo. They tried to do things slowly and not cause a fuss, buying up old vineyards here and there on the steep slopes of Corullón (the village they settled in). They saw great potential and a different personality from that of the valley floor. In the flatter valley area, there are predominantly deeper clay soils, whereas in the mountain villages like Corullón, the vineyards are on steep slopes and the soils are shallow, with a slate base not present in the lower areas. This gives the wine a very different character. Álvaro Palacios defined it quite well many years ago: “This is something halfway between Burgundy and the Rhône.” The wines possess the subtlety and elegance of Burgundies and that wild touch of Syrah from the Northern Rhône. It’s widely accepted now, but when they arrived in Bierzo, many thought the relatives were nuts. At that time, it was believed that Mencía couldn’t make great wines. It was considered an inferior variety, destined for young reds for immediate consumption or rosés. That was another pioneering aspect of theirs, daring to interpret the grape variety for what it was. They’ve worked organically and biodynamically from day one.