2021 Descendientes de J. Palacios Corullon Las Lamas

92% Mencía, 6% Jerez, 2% Alicante Bouschet. Aged for 10 months in foudre and barrique. Buzzing with fruit on the nose – way more alert and alive than their Moncerbal. Gorgeous purity. Lightly chewy tannins. All fruit at the moment, but will age for many years, and that fruit will morph into a more complex beast. (RH)

The 2021 Las Lamas is Mencía and others from Corullón, Bierzo. Deep garnet in hue, it reflects slightly riper harvest decisions compared to other wines from the producer. Pomegranate tones come across as jammy, combined with plum. Broad and slightly plush, its fine-grained tannins provide structure without being restrictive. It is long, finishing with ripe fruit and moderate juiciness.

The bottled 2021 Las Lamas started a little closed and took some time to unfurl in the glass. It developed some medicinal notes, hints of dry roses and spices with fine but slightly dusty tannins, not as refined as those from Moncerbal. It develops further notes with more time in the glass, white flowers. There's more clay here and more organic matter than in Moncerbal, so the cooler nights don't manage to cool the soil down; the grapes have a more steady ripeness, and the wines are a little more generous. 3,752 bottles, 86 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in January 2023.