Las Lamas 2025

Descendientes de J. Palacios is the Bierzo estate of Álvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo, based at Corullón in north-west Castilla y León. Las Lamas comes from a steep single plot of old Mencía vines, with a small portion of Palomino, planted on the slate and quartzite soils that define the slopes here. These thin, well-drained soils force the roots deep and lend the wine its graphite edge, while the marked diurnal range of the hillside slows ripening and holds natural acidity. Farming is organic. The wine spends fourteen months in French oak, where slow oxygen exchange softens the tannins and adds a fine cedar and smoke frame without masking the fruit. The colour is bright medium ruby. The nose leads with wild raspberry and cherry, violet and crushed stone, with savoury earth and black pepper behind. The palate is medium bodied and fresh, with fine slate-driven tannins and a long mineral finish. Serve at 16 to 17C, ideally decanted for half an hour, with roast lamb, game birds or a mushroom risotto.