Ethereal Priorat, Atlantic Bierzo

And an entirely sublime Rioja

Outwardly affable and utterly charming, Alvaro Palacios seems like the embodiment of the best characteristics of his nation. Yet he is also clearly possessed of a fearsome drive; the list of his triumphs in the world of wine just gets longer and longer. As a young man, he might have chosen to stay and work on the family winery in La Rioja, but instead he scoured Spain in search of old and forgotten vineyards. He lighted on the rocky hillsides of Priorat, where he immediately saw the potential of old Garnacha vines. Over the following years he spearheaded the renaissance of this area where winemaking had seemed to be in terminal decline. Together with his nephew Ricardo, he then went on to repeat the trick in the north-western Spanish region of Bierzo, where together the pair proved that the local Mencia variety could produce fabulous wines if only it was given the right treatment.

2016 brought very different conditions to the two areas. In Priorat, though not very hot by Spanish standards, summer conditions were close to drought. The resulting wines are an amazing combination of power and weightlessness, intense aromatics and delicate mouthfeel. By contrast, Bierzo saw plenty of rain through an extremely wet spring. But the long, calm summer brought even ripening and the wines have freshness of a cool Atlantic vintage, naturally offsetting the powerful, earthy spices characteristic of Mencia.

You might expect Alvaro to be resting on his garlanded laurels by now, but not a bit of it. In 2000, he discovered a very special vineyard in his native Rioja, and has been cultivating and regenerating it ever since. The old, bush vine Quiñon de Valmira displays a level of finesse one very rarely finds in Burgundy, let alone Rioja. /NT

Offered subject to confirmation for shipment autumn 2018