Alvaro Palacios is a Spanish winemaker, famous for its Garnacha-based wines from Priorat. Established in 1990 by Alvaro Palacios himself, the winery has been forefront of Priorat's rise to fame as one of Spain's most prestigious wine regions. Palacios grew up in Rioja where his family makes wines under the Palacios Remondo name (see below). After spending time working at Petrus in Pomerol, he bought his own vineyard, Finca Dofi in the then-obscure region of Priorat, where the steep, slate-based hillsides covered in gnarled bushvines had been forgotten about in the second half of the 20th Century. Palacios soon grew his Priorat estate and now owns several vineyards in the area, which make a range of single-vineyard and blended wines. L'Ermita, the most famous of these, was added in 1993. It produces a varietal Garnacha wine of the same name that has become one of Spain's most collectable wines, often considered in the same league as Dominio de Pingus or Vega Sicilia. Elsewhere in the Priorat portfolio, Garnacha is predominant but is often supplemented by Cariñena, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Finca Dofí wine comes from a single vineyard, whereas Gratallops, Les Terrasses and Camins del Priorat are all blended from multiple vineyards within Priorat. Alvaro Palacios took over the reins of his family estate at Alfaro in the eastern corner of the warmer Rioja Oriental subzone in 2000. It is unusual in Rioja in that it owns all of its own vineyards. The focus for the red wines is Garnacha, rather than Tempranillo; the former accounts for 90 percent of the blend in both the Montesa and Propriedad cuvées. Plácet is a white wine made entirely from Viura. In partnership with his nephew, Alvaro Palacios has also blazed a trail in the region of Bierzo, in northeastern Spain. For more information see our separate Descendientes de J. Palacios profile.