WHAT I’VE LEARNED | Alvaro Palacios
Alvaro Palacios is arguably Spain’s most celebrated winemaker, the force behind Priorat’s most famous wine L’Ermita, as well as family wineries Palacios Remondo in Rioja and Descendientes de J Palacios in Bierzo. His brother Rafael runs his own winery in Valdeorras, Galicia, while his niece runs the eponymous Bárbara Palacios with another brother, Antonio, in Rioja. We managed to get the ever-restless Alvaro to sit still for half an hour on a visit to the London Club, to discuss the importance of family
‘Today is very emotional for me. It was on this day three years ago that we lost my sister Chelo to Covid. Now I have my daughter Lola (pictured left, with Alvaro) by my side, for a trade tasting here at 67 Pall Mall, the first event we have ever hosted together. She only started working with me full-time this month. It’s a proud moment.
‘Lola has been gaining experience in the winery since she was 14 – during her school holidays I would wake her up in time to be in the winery at 8am. Then during lockdown, we were working together in the vineyard for the first time, 12 hours a day, because we couldn’t go anywhere else.
‘My father was very disappointed when I left the family winery in Rioja in 1989 to go to Priorat [where he founded the famous L’Ermita; he came back to Rioja in 2000 after his father’s death]. But I was the seventh of nine children. Lola is the one and only, and she’s like a mirror of myself, so I hope she won’t do the same to me!
‘Lola will be involved in every aspect of the business – the vineyard, the winery, the marketing, the distribution – across all three estates. That’s how we work.
‘I put all my life into wine. For me, it’s something spiritual, emotional – it makes me happy and gives me pride every day. Maybe I went too far earlier in my career, trying to do too much by myself. It’s a big challenge, and those slopes are steep in Bierzo. I’m breathing hard sometimes.
‘I’m 60 this month, and having someone behind me now is fantastic. I couldn’t achieve anything by myself, but equally, I couldn’t do it with someone who isn’t family. It’s about soul, and ancestral experience. That’s just how I feel.
‘My sister was an incredible person, with such a capacity for work. She was brilliant at business, so entrepreneurial, such a great manager.
‘My nephew Ricardo is my partner in Bierzo, and he manages the property. Me and Ricardo, we are crazy idiots. But crazy in a good way – passionate, optimistic.
‘I couldn’t work with my brother Rafa – we are totally different characters. But our relationship is easy – it’s real, truthful. I talk to him all the time, and he’s doing great work with his white wine in Valdeorras. I am so proud of him.
‘As a family, we are romantics, and we want to dedicate our lives to this small world of wine. It makes me excited every day.’
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