Alvaro Palacios, S.L.

Together with José Luis Pérez, René Barbier, Daphne Glorian and Carles Pastrana, Álvaro Palacios became one of the Priorat’s principal rediscoverers and pioneers. In the beginning, these friends made wine together. One by one, they ‘restored’ the abandoned, partly ancient plots of land, which were overgrown with gnarled Garnacha and Cariñena vines – hard, sweaty labour on steep slopes. They planted new varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to blend them with the local grapes. It was not long before wine lovers took notice. As time passed, each of the friends developed and realised their own ideas. 

Álvaro Palacios bought his first vineyard in the Priorat in 1990: Clos Dofí, later renamed Finca Dofí. He still has a particular fondness for this wine to this day – and with good reason: alongside its beguiling elegance and great complexity, it is quite simply incredibly drinkable. Finca Dofí comes from various plots in the municipality of Gratallops and is made mainly from Garnacha. His second venture was called Les Terrasses: a wine made from grapes grown on old vineyard terraces across various municipalities. These two wines laid the foundations for Palacios’s reputation. In 1993, he acquired the vineyard that would make him a legend: L’Ermita.

L’Ermita launched Álvaro Palacios to the very top of the wine world practically overnight – and not without reason, as he dared to market the wine as the most expensive in Spain, more expensive even than the established legend, Vega Sicilia from the Ribera del Duero. Several 100-point ratings from wine guru Robert Parker cemented the reputation of this exceptional wine. At the same time, L’Ermita drew the wine world’s attention to the entire Priorat region for the long term. This wild stretch of land is no longer a blank spot on the map.

Just as at his Descendientes de J. Palacios estate in El Bierzo, which he runs together with his nephew Ricardo Pérez Palacios, Álvaro has also developed his winemaking here in Priorat along Burgundian lines. He studied the characteristics of the individual plots in order to produce exquisite single-vineyard wines. Over time, he moved away from international grape varieties and focused on indigenous varieties.

La Baixada in Gratallops and Les Aubaguetes in Bellmunt, with their vines that are soon to be 120 years old, are examples of this. Camins del Priorat is the gateway to the Priorat and a wine that also (still) contains a certain proportion of international grape varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot). The grapes for this wine come from various villages. Vi de Vila Gratallops, on the other hand, is made exclusively from Garnacha and Cariñena. As the name suggests, all the vineyards are located in the municipality of Gratallops, in the Priorat – a region renowned for its unique character and mystical landscape.