As you may remember, we recently reviewed the Palencia Albariño, a white wine that was such a big hit that it left me wondering about the winemaker behind such a unique and lauded wine. So I rang up Victor Palencia to learn more about Palencia wines and found that he is as gracious with his time as he is talented with wine. Here is his story, which has made me appreciate his wines even more.
Born in Michoacán, Mexico, Victor Palencia was 2 years old when his dad, in search of new opportunities, uprooted the family and moved them to the United States. The Palencias landed in Yakima, Wash., where Victor’s father began working in agriculture, tending to fields of mint and corn.
Luckily for the family (and the rest of us), an amnesty program allowed the Palencias to work legally. Eventually they established a home and became citizens. All the while, interest in Washington wines was building, and soon the land Victor’s father tended was replanted with grapes.
Victor followed in his dad’s footsteps. In middle school, he began working in the fields, including planting grapes. By high school, he was on staff in a winery, and by the time he reached his senior year (in high school, people!) he was an assistant winemaker. Pretty impressive for a kid who was still too young to drink wine.
“But I’m not going to lie,” Victor says. “I tasted the wines.”
Now the owner of his own winery with two product lines, Bodega Palencia and Monarcha, Victor has nearly come full circle. Those Yakima area vineyards he helped plant as a child? He gets some of the grapes for his wines from them now.
Fit in, stand out or rock it?
It’s a big deal for anyone to start their own winery, but even more so for a winemaker of color. Victor says that when he was a kid, it wasn’t common for Latinos to drink wine. For many, wine was a luxury they couldn’t afford.
But times are changing. The Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia estimates the total buying power of the U.S Hispanic population will rise 89 percent between 2010 to 2023, for a total of nearly $2 trillion dollars.
In the early years of running his own winery, Victor tried to fit in with the traditional world of wine. It never felt quite right until he decided to pay tribute to his family and his roots. In honor of his father, who worked the land for so many years, every bottle of Palencia wine carries an image of a shovel. As Victor likes to say “At Palencia Wines, we dig deep.”
Monarcha wines feature beautiful imagery of Monarch butterflies, which make the incredible transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. Victor’s transformation echoes the Monarchs; from a young boy working the fields to a world-renowned winemaker.
The nose knows
Victor’s determination helped him accomplish this transformation relatively quickly. After high school graduation, he landed in the inaugural class of Walla Walla Community College’s enology program. As the only underage student, he had to rely on his nose while his classmates tasted their way through the program.
To survive without tasting, Victor worked to develop his sense of smell. Given the outsize role that smell plays in perception of food and drink*, Victor’s early sensory training gave him an advantage as a young winemaker.
Following college, Victor worked his way up in the wine industry. He managed a custom crush facility that helped other wineries expand their production. He was head winemaker for Jones of Washington. And in 2012, he took the leap to create his own wines.
Palencia Wines
Both Palencia and Monarcha wines are born from Victor’s winemaking philosophy: great wines are rooted in the land and offer beautiful aromas to enhance one’s enjoyment.
There are some differences between the two brands. Palencia wines, which sell for an average price of $33, are more concentrated, with grapes from single vineyards. These wines age better than their Monarcha cousins. Monarcha wines, whose average price is about $20, use grapes from a variety of vineyards.
If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, you can typically find Monarcha at Costco and Whole Foods and Palencia at upscale bottle shops. And if you are out of town, do yourself a favor: buy some of Victor’s wines online.
* If you will allow me to geek out: “Our appreciation of wine is mainly due to its scent. The sense of smell is our most important, sensitive and versatile sensory evaluation tool. A normal person can be trained to identify about a thousand odors and wine is estimated to contain at least two hundred odorous compounds.” From The Society of Wine Educators.