Palacios Remondo house spotlight
Alvaro Palacios is on camera for Wine Oh TV, talking Palacios Remondo in Rioja Oriental, the Alfaro house behind this 2020 La Vendimia.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2020 Palacios Remondo La Vendimia, Rioja Spain (92JS) across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $9.24 and the average is $17.17. Our slash is $14.00.
2020 Palacios Remondo La Vendimia, Rioja Spain (92JS)
Alvaro Palacios' Garnacha-led Rioja Oriental, James Suckling 92, a 2020 you can pour at sixteen-fifty.
The 2020 La Vendimia is 90 percent Garnacha and 10 percent Tempranillo: ripe red and yellow cherry, juicy orchard fruit, orange peel, and a long refreshing close after four months in barrel, now $14.00.
Alvaro's young Rioja, not a vanilla-oak slogan
La Vendimia is Palacios Remondo's open door: Garnacha from Monte Yerga above Alfaro, Tempranillo from the north shore of the Ebro, four months in barrel, meant to drink now. The live sheet is 90 percent Garnacha, 10 percent Tempranillo. James Suckling 92: a fresh and refined red with cherry and berry character, fine tannins, hints of orange peel, medium body, a bright finish, delicious now. House notes add ripe red and yellow cherries, juicy orchard fruit, silky minerality, a long refreshing close, and a green light to serve it slightly chilled. This is the bottle that puts Alvaro Palacios' Rioja Oriental on a Tuesday table at sixteen-fifty.
The house
Alvaro Palacios took Palacios Remondo after his father Jose died in 2000 and pointed the Alfaro estate back at Garnacha on Monte Yerga.
The wine
90% Garnacha, 10% Tempranillo. Hand harvest, steel ferment, 4 months barrel. 14% ABV. Drink now, even slightly chilled.
The scores
James Suckling 92: cherry, berry, orange peel, fine tannin, a bright finish.
The drinker
Cherry first. Serve 55 to 60 F. Roast chicken or rosemary lamb chops.
Red and yellow cherry, then orange peel and a bright close
The winery note is ripe red and yellow cherries on nose and palate, juicy orchard fruit, silky minerality, a long refreshing finish. Suckling found cherry and berry, fine tannins, orange peel, medium body, a bright close, delicious now. It is Rioja you can chill a few degrees, not a heavy reserva costume.
A Garnacha year Alvaro bottled for the table, not the cellar. The sheet says drink now through the next few years. This 2020 is in that window.
Ripe red and yellow cherry, orchard fruit, berry, orange peel.
Medium, 14% ABV, 4 months barrel, fine tannin, bright acidity.
Silky mineral, refreshing length. Serve 55 to 60 F. Slight chill is allowed.
Yerga Garnacha, a little Tempranillo, four months of wood
Garnacha from organically farmed Yerga slopes around 1,800 feet, Tempranillo from growers near Haro. Hand harvest, sorting, stainless ferment, about 20 days of maceration, malolactic in tank, then four months in used French oak tanks and French and American barrels. Unfussy wood so cherry and orange peel stay in front.
La Vendimia means the harvest. It is the young wine of the house, not Propiedad and not La Montesa.
Serve 55 to 60 F. A slight chill in warm weather is how Alvaro meant it.
A family bodega Alvaro pointed back at Garnacha
Jose Palacios Remondo built the Alfaro house. Alvaro, after Priorat and Bierzo, came home and argued that Rioja Oriental is Garnacha country.
The Palacios family has farmed Alfaro for generations. Monte Yerga sits behind the bodega, clay, chalk, and stones.
La Vendimia is the harvest wine: Garnacha first, a little Tempranillo, short wood, a table price.
The 2020 is that argument in a glass: James Suckling 92, cherry, and a number that still startles.
Chicken on the roast, lamb on the grill
Young Garnacha Rioja wants herbs, a little fat, and a plate that will take cherry and orange peel. Roast chicken and rosemary lamb chops are the landing.
Two plates. One lemon-garlic roast chicken. One rosemary garlic lamb chop. Both can take La Vendimia's cherry and lift.
Serve 55 to 60 F. A slight chill is allowed. No long decant.
Lemon-Garlic Roast Chicken
Herbs, lemon, and a golden bird. Young Rioja's easiest landing.
Why it works: Acidity cuts the roast skin. Cherry and orange peel echo lemon and garlic.
View Recipe for lemon garlic roast chicken (opens in a new tab)
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Garnacha's cherry, orange peel, and fine tannin.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds the wine. Rosemary keeps the pairing in a Mediterranean key.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)Put this La Vendimia in the cart
Alvaro Palacios, James Suckling 92, Garnacha-led Rioja. Sixteen-fifty against a $30 typical retail.
Put it in the cart. This is the Palacios Remondo bottle for a table that wants cherry and lift, not a reserva costume.
