This is Jamie Drummond for Good Food Revolution. I'm here with Alvaro Palacios all the way
from Spain. How are you today, sir?
Very well.
Now, tell us a little bit about the wines that you're bringing to Canada at this moment in
the show. You have wines from three different regions of Spain, from Biafdo, from Rioja,
and from Pre-Orazo.
Yes. You know, I come from Rioja. My mother region is Rioja, Alvaro, the village of Alvaro,
in the eastern side of Rioja. But for many things that I have studied in my life, after
my studies and training in France, I came back to Rioja, I came back to Spain, and well,
I came back with a special idea, special inspiration from France, essentially about great
classic wines. And with the hope and the faith, absolutely, the absolute conviction that in
Spain there was many, many great vineyard patrimony, great treasures to rescue. I couldn't do all
of them, but at least I went to Priorat in 1989. And then thanks to another company, another
relative, my nephew Ricardo, thanks to him, we can start together also in the region of
Biafdo, in the northwest of Spain. So those are the three regions, Priorat in the south
of Catalonia, Rioja, everybody knows, and Biafdo in the southwest of Spain.
Now what makes those regions of Spain so important to you, and why do you feel you had to make
wine in those particular regions?
It's a difficult answer, could be easy, but sometimes also difficult, because it's a very
personal thing too. But the main thing is, I was following the three ingredients that I
do consider that a region must have.
Three ingredients?
See, in my English, I should say like this, one of them is a region that, well, of course
these regions make very good wine. But when you are right there, okay, there is some kind
of, all these regions in Spain were very forgotten, most of them. And it is true that you don't
know exactly what it's offering from the beginning. But with these ingredients, if you follow these
ingredients, it's difficult to follow, it's difficult to make a mistake, or it's difficult
to follow, yes, to don't really, in my English, sorry.
No, no, no, so these particular components, what are these secret components that make
for a great wine in your portfolio?
They are no secrets, they are just very evident things. First probably is not that evident,
the first probably is not that evident, because it's a bit of mystic, it's a bit of mysticism.
But for me, it's regions which has a kind of religious background history, essentially
from the Middle Ages, monastic backgrounds. So this is probably more difficult to understand.
The other things are very, very absolutely evident. The other is a question of having all
wine vineyards, and the third should be that these all vine vineyards are through a big
constellation of many, many different vineyards. Why is that an ingredient? It's just because
of course it's the way to find the greatest wine, or the better than the superior from
the better. I mean the top one, select the best to find the greasiest beautiful wine.
And in terms of the second ingredient which is the age of the vines, I cannot wait, it
was 25 years old, I cannot wait 50 years of age to have a vineyard of that age to offer
you the whipsome that the old vines have.
You are constantly replanting younger vines also?
Also, also. But at the end, if I went to these places because there was a patrimony of all vines
through there. Young vines is also things that you do because you consider you do it, etc.
And in fact that has been in Prerat, because Prerat is lucky. Prerat is only 600 hectares
of all vines left. By the other hand, in Biertel, we have 7,000 hectares of all vines, almost
all vines. So in Biertel, we never replant anything. In Prerat, the circumstances cause you
to gander a little bit yourself, you know, especially that you believe that should be
defined. But Lermita wine in Prerat is the result of these constellations of many, many
old vines. As I said, this one is, it is, this one is the one which was to be bought apart.
Thank you very much for joining us in Toronto today. Always a pleasure to speak with you.
The last time we recorded this, it was only audio. But this time, video. Thank you very
much, sir. Thank you. All the best.
