Bodegas Margón is the result of the passion that has moved the Martínez and González families, to produce high quality wines with the Prieto Picudo variety. All of their estate grown, old vineyards are located in the village of Pajares de Los Oteros within the new D.O. Tierra de León. Under the brand PRICUM, they produce white and red wines, made with grapes from their hundred year old vineyards, cared and fussed over as their ancestors did. During the harvest all their bush vines are hand harvested. Raul Perez is the manager and winemaker for this project. He has become one of the most international rec-ognized winemakers from the northwest of Spain. They focus especially on allowing the maximum expression and quality of the Prieto Picudo variety. As such they received harvested grapes to a cooling room at the top of the winery. This permits the raw material to access the tanks by gravity and with the best temperature conditions. Fermentation occurs in French oak vats instead of conventional stainless steel tanks. A great selection of french tonnelleries in the cave allows to additional structure of oak to balance the power of the Prieto Picudo grapes.
93pts View from the Cellar– 2010 vintage
Raul Pérez is the winemaker at Pricum, and his 2010 old vine Preito Picudo (an indigenous grape to the region with which I am not overly familiar), made from sixty to one hundred year-old vines and fermented and aged in foudre is a fine and quite refined bottle. The octane here is 13.5 percent, and the low yields of these old vines (ten hectoliters per hectare!) gives the wine lovely intensity of flavor on the palate, as well as a refined and impressively complex nose of cassis, a dollop of roasted game, espresso, chicory, a touch of currant leaf, dark soil tones, a discreet framing of cedar and a topnote of garrigue. On the palate the wine is fullbodied, complex and very transparent, with fine focus and grip, a good core and excellent length and grip on the still youthful, moderately chewy finish. This is terrific wine, which is certainly approachable today, but would be even better once it has had a few years in the cellar to shed a bit of its tannin. 2020-2045+.
92pts Vinous– 2010 vintage
Inky ruby. Pungent dark berries, candied violet and a hint of licorice on the highly perfumed, mineral-accented nose. Sweet and penetrating, offering intense black raspberry and cherry liqueur flavors that unfold and pick up a smoky element with air. Powerful yet graceful and precise, showing closing thrust and silky, even tannins that build slowly and lend shape and gentle grip. (Made with 30% whole clusters and fermented in open-top oak vats, with malo-lactic fermentation and 14 months of aging in new and used French oak barrels.)
Drink 2019-2023
89pts Wine Advocate– 2010 vintage
The 2010 Pricum Prieto Picudo fermented in oak foudre and matured in French barrels for 14 months. This 2010 feels initially fresher than the 2009, less ripe and extracted, but where the 2009 grows in the glass this one seems to fade slowly away. The tannins are very fine and the flavors are subtle with good acidity, but there’s not much complexity. 18,579 bottles. Margón is the contraction of Martínez and González, the names of the families that created the winery in Pajares de los Oteros in 2007. They hired Raúl Pérez for technical advice to create a range of wines from old vines of Prieto Picudo, the red grape from León and the white Albarín. They own 30 hectares of vineyards, which are fermented in 5,000-liter French oak vats to produce around 60,000 bottles of wine per year.
