Álvaro Palacios comes from a prestigious wine family from the 'La Rioja' region.
He could have had a privileged position in the family winery of Palacios Remondo. However, being a dynamic visionary, he decided to go out into the world and do it his way. He studied oenology in Bordeaux and had the privilege of working under Pomerol and oenologist Jean Pierre Moueix.
When he returned to Spain, he founded his own company in 1989 in the Mediterranean wine region of Priorat, south of Barcelona in Tarragona.
Together with respected oenologist René Barbier and a few others, they ventured on what has been called the 'Gratallops' project, named after the picturesque Priorat village where the wines are produced.