Barbarot 2016 Red

Bárbara Palacios, the niece of Álvaro and Rafael Palacios and cousin of Ricardo Pérez Palacios, is the first female producer in this renowned saga originating from Alfaro in the Rioja Oriental region and the Palacios Remondo winery.

Her own project began with a parcel of land owned by her grandfather in Haro. It was planted in 1989 by her father, Antonio Palacios Muro, after he left the family business. Located at an elevation of almost 500 metres, the plot sits in a beautiful setting on the Riscos de Bilibio, at the eastern edge of the Montes Obarenes mountain range.

What sets it apart is the presence of Merlot, a variety that Antonio was particularly fond of, having trained in Pomerol and which had been authorised in Rioja on an experimental basis at the time. Barbara herself followed in her father's footsteps, training in Bordeaux with a focus on the Médoc , where she worked at Château Margaux and Château Pichon Longueville Baron. She later broadened her experience with harvests in Italy, Napa, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

The word Barbarot combines the name of the producer and her defining grape variety. Merlot was also the name of Barbara's first golden retriever, an inseparable companion in both vineyard and winery. Her second dog, Puppi, lent its name to her entry-level wines: a lively Garnacha Blanca and an expressive red blend that includes Merlot. Barbarot 2016 contains around 15% Merlot alongside Tempranillo.

The wine's greatest appeal lies in its exceptional development in the bottle. In Rioja, producers who opt to eschew traditional ageing indicators rarely hold wines back for extended periods prior to release, as some historic estates still do with their Reserva or Gran Reserva wines.

“The market demands wines that are ready to drink yesterday, but Barbarot's philosophy has always been to craft a Bordeaux-style wine with phenolic ripeness and the ability to improve with age. The 2016 vintage has been available for two years, and I usually wait four years to release Barbarot," Bárbara explains. It's not just a question of style, but of location too. Working in one of the coldest areas of Rioja gives the wine naturally high acidity. Here, Merlot complements Tempranillo, lowering the pH to around 3.3 and providing the structural stability needed for long ageing.  

“Until 2015 I aged the two varieties separately, but when I topped up a Tempranillo barrel with Merlot, I realised how much extra freshness it brought,” she notes. “Since the 2016 harvest, I’ve blended the wines straight after alcoholic fermentation.”

The 2016 vintage is special for another reason: a storm shortly before harvest brought an additional lift of freshness to the grapes. Tasting the wine today, you would never guess that it reaches 15% alcohol. Barbarot is not produced every year, however: it was not be made in 2022, 2023, 2024 or 2025. These were difficult years in which the vines suffered and the grapes had to be harvested earlier. “The grapes were not ripe enough for the wine to mature slowly in the bottle,” says Bárbara.

Barbarot 2016 is an expressive, deep and lively red with well-defined notes of red and black fruit and spice. I particularly enjoyed the smooth, finely textured tannins. While it is drinking beautifully now, it still has plenty of life ahead of it. The price is a real bargain for such an enjoyable wine at its peak.

15% abv.
10,000 bottles
€22 
Score: 93