Consequently, it comes as no surprise that Álvaro Palacios’ wines give the impression that they spring from the very bowels of the terroir. In fact, he likes to describe himself as a farmer, a farmer whose way of doing things incorporates the exquisite and obsessive care of his vines in order to reach his objectives: make the best possible wines every single day, venerate the art of viticulture and give his full uncompromising support to native varieties. “The best recipe for making a good wine is to respectfully continue the legacy handed down to us from our ancestors. These old traditional vines, full of character, make the most authentic wines”, he explained.

On the subject of the increasing technical orientation of his profession, Palacios has a very clear opinion: “The technology and the modernity of the vineyards, in most cases, only helps to make good wines at the middle-market level, which is the industry’s daily bread. But for really great wines, wines dreams are made of, those are the wines from our past”.

As a result, the oenologist, known by many as the most international Riojan, who studied in Bordeaux under the watchful eye of Jean Pierre Moueix, is a true lover of marked personality Garnacha. Garnachas just like the ones he grows in Gratallops, where he settled at the end of the 80s after abandoning his family home in La Rioja. This DO Priorato region also boasts other outstanding varieties such as Cariñena and Cabernet Sauvigon, and it is there that Álvaro Palacios, regarded as one of the driving forces behind this appellation’s revival, makes such renowned labels as ‘Les Terrases’, ‘Finca Dofí’ and ‘L’Ermita’, whose 2005 vintage was given 98-points by The Wine Advocate.

A little later, together with his nephew Ricardo Pérez, he landed in the vicinity of El Bierzo, in Corullón, and repeated his success story in a region characterised by its difficult orography and its thousand-year-old native variety: Mencía. And it was there that wines such as ‘Pétalos del Bierzo’ ‘Bierzo’, ‘Corullón’, ‘Las Lamas’ and ‘La Faraona’ materialised made by ‘Descendientes de J. Palacios’ (Descendents of J. Palacios), the name given to the bodega in homage to both Álvaro’s father and his grand-father, Ricardo, who passed away in the year 2000 soon after the project was launched.