Descendientes de J.Palacios Villa de Corullon, 750ml, Bierzo, Spain

The Story
As far back as the Middle Ages, Cistercian Monks arriving from France had identified Bierzo as a special place for wine. They also saw Mencía as the variety best suited to its slate/schist soils. Mencía was so closely identified with their work that the variety itself was long thought to have French origins. While we now know that Mencía originated in Portugal, where it is known as Jaen, Álvaro had no doubts about the monks’ wisdom in pairing the variety with this rugged land.
In Pursuit of the Dream
The idea of making great wine from old-vine Mencía never left Álvaro. And his experience in Priorat—particularly with L'Ermita—convinced him of Bierzo's enormous potential. Meanwhile, his nephew Ricardo Pérez had finished enological studies in Bordeaux and was travelling across France, absorbing everything he could about great wines. He worked the harvest at Château Margaux and did an internship at Moueix, the owner of Châteaux Petrus and Trotanoy. Meanwhile, he frequently visited Álvaro, coming to share a belief in Bierzo's potential. In 1998, the two decided on a joint venture and set out in search of the region's finest old vineyards.
Assembling the Pieces 
Álvaro and Ricardo found promising sites in a number of villages but soon came to believe that the greatest potential lay around Corullón, a small town on Bierzo’s western border. Old vineyards lined the precipitous hillsides there, and the local soils were extremely poor—composed mostly of schist—but with incredible diversity. The minute variations in soils and exposures across this zone immediately reminded the two of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or or Piedmont’s Langhe hills.
While Mencía is the dominant grape, the duo found that these old vineyards also held an array of other varieties, including reds like Alicante, Gran Negro, Estaladiña, Garro, Negreda, Ferrón and whites like Palomino, Valenciana, Godello, Malvasía, and even a little Chasselas.  And, over time, they came to understand that the field blend yielded fresher and more complex wines. 
Villa de Corullón is built from a dizzying array of the village’s top sites, including not only Monçerbal and Las Lamas, but also San Martín and Fontelas, both of which were once notable single-vineyard bottlings. The blend also includes La Faraona’s neighbor, Ferro, along with Vasnada, María Cota, and Bruxa, each representing a different elevation, exposure, and soil. As such, Villa de Corullón is the ultimate expression of the village’s terroir. Its combination of generosity and precision makes a case not only for Corullón’s special status, but also the superiority of Álvaro’s and Ricardo’s winemaking.
The Wine
Grape Varietals : Mencia. Viticulture : Everything is done by hand or mule. Practicing Organic and Biodynamic. Vinification : The grapes are harvested by hand, sorted and destemmed by hand. They macerate for 25 days in oak fermentors with hand punch down. Spontaneous fermentation. No fining or filtering. Aging : Aged in French oak, all of which was previously used either for past vintages of Corullon or to have briefly aged Petalos.