2019 Quiñón de Valmira, Álvaro Palacios, Rioja, Spain
Critics reviews
The single-vineyard 2019 Quiñón de Valmira is made with Garnacha (and 10% other traditional varieties) grown at 616 meters in altitude, fermented with some full clusters with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and matured in oak foudres and bocoyes for 16 months. This is 'only' 13.5% alcohol (lowish for Garnacha), so I asked Palacios how this wine can be so low in alcohol in such a warm and dry year. He explained to me that the red soils are only 20 centimeters deep, and below that, it's all white. Those calcium carbonate soils are cold soils, and the wines are also pale and low in alcohol but with fully developed flavors and aromas. The wines come through as lively, vibrant and deep, with pungent flavors, incredible finesse, with the red fruit from Garnacha intermixed with limestone that gives it the incredible elegance and tastiness, with an almost salty finish. This has more fruit than flowers, different from the 2018 but at the same quality level. It was bottled in April 2021, and 3,914 bottles, 110 magnums and 22 double magnums were produced.
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Jul 2021)
Plenty of sweet berries, such as strawberries and plums with some citrus. Full-bodied with round tannins and a fresh finish. Layered and intense, but there’s lovely purity of fruit and a delicious, juicy finish. So attractive now, but better in two or three years.
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Oct 2021)
About this WINE
Álvaro Palacios
Álvaro Palacios, whose family owns the prestigious Rioja Bodega, Palacios Remondo, spent two years at Château Pétrus before setting up on his own in Priorat in 1989. From the outset, he set out to produce world-class wines using fruit from extremely low-yielding old vines and applying ultra-modern winemaking techniques.
The cream of the crop is the single vineyard wine L'Ermita, which was first produced in 1993. It is a blend of 80% Garnacha, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cariñena, all aged in new French barriques for up to 20 months. It is bottled unfiltered. It has intense concentration, enormous depth and a complexity which is simply staggering.
Grenache/Garnacha
Grenache (Noir) is widely grown and comes in a variety of styles. Believed to originate in Spain, it was, in the late 20th century, the most widely planted black grape variety in the world. Today it hovers around seventh in the pecking order. It tends to produce very fruity, rich wines that can range quite widely in their level of tannin.
In many regions – most famously the Southern Rhône, where it complements Syrah and Mourvèdre, among other grapes – it adds backbone and colour to blends, but some of the most notable Châteauneuf du Pape producers (such as Château Rayas) make 100 percent Grenache wines. The grape is a component in many wines of the Languedoc (where you’ll also find its lighter-coloured forms, Grenache Gris and Blanc) and is responsible for much southern French rosé – taking the lead in most Provence styles.
Found all over Spain as Garnacha Tinta (spelt Garnaxa in Catalonia), the grape variety is increasingly detailed on wine labels there. Along with Tempranillo, it forms the majority of the blend for Rioja’s reds and has been adopted widely in Navarra, where it produces lighter styles of red and rosado (rosé). It can also be found operating under a pseudonym, Cannonau, in Sardinia.
Beyond Europe, Grenache is widely planted in California and Australia, largely thanks to its ability to operate in high temperatures and without much water. Particularly in the Barossa Valley, there are some extraordinary dry-farmed bush vines, some of which are centuries old and produce wines of startling intensity.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The single-vineyard 2019 Quiñón de Valmira is made with Garnacha (and 10% other traditional varieties) grown at 616 meters in altitude, fermented with some full clusters with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and matured in oak foudres and bocoyes for 16 months. This is 'only' 13.5% alcohol (lowish for Garnacha), so I asked Palacios how this wine can be so low in alcohol in such a warm and dry year. He explained to me that the red soils are only 20 centimeters deep, and below that, it's all white. Those calcium carbonate soils are cold soils, and the wines are also pale and low in alcohol but with fully developed flavors and aromas. The wines come through as lively, vibrant and deep, with pungent flavors, incredible finesse, with the red fruit from Garnacha intermixed with limestone that gives it the incredible elegance and tastiness, with an almost salty finish. This has more fruit than flowers, different from the 2018 but at the same quality level. It was bottled in April 2021, and 3,914 bottles, 110 magnums and 22 double magnums were produced.
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Jul 2021)
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