Period: Sept 2011 – Dec 2011
Winery: Imagery Estate Winery (Sonoma Valley, California, United States)
Favorite Wine: Imagery Pinot Noir

The United States is another world. It seems like any other wine-producing region in the world, but it is not.

But let’s take it step by step. This journey began in a very emotional way, saying goodbye to my friends in the early hours of the morning at the Guillena fair, without having slept, and barely two hours later taking the Seville–Madrid flight, with a one-hour layover and two more flights ahead.

The first was Madrid–New York, on September 11, 2011, exactly ten years after 9/11, on a flight bound for New York—hard to fall asleep. The second was New York–San Francisco, this time without checked luggage, because I had left it at the New York airport. Luckily, I recovered it two days later.

And finally, at the winery, we began to discover what awaited me.

My winery, in particular, followed an artistic path: all the bottle designs were inspired by paintings, which were also sold on all kinds of products.

The oenology is not very different—modern techniques applied to traditional concepts. The wines did not seem overly oaked to me, except for the Pinot.

California’s wine tourism model should prevail in all wine-producing regions. I was fascinated to see how wineries partnered to create wine routes. The wineries’ tasting rooms are wonderful places where you can taste the wines or even buy golf balls with the logo of your favorite winery!

The best thing I took away from this experience was, without a doubt, the development of wine tourism in the region.

Period: Mar 2011 – Jun 2011
Winery: Viña Calyptra (Termas de Cauquenes, Cachapoal, Chile)
Favorite Wine: Gran Reserva Chardonnay

This is undoubtedly one of the trips that marked me the most in my life—not only because it was the first time I traveled abroad on my own, nor because it was the first time I left Europe, but because of what destiny had in store for me.

I had no idea about Chile or its wines, but luck led me to a winery where I would work for one of the people who has influenced me the most in the world of oenology: François Massoc.

It feels like yesterday when he picked me up at Santiago airport and drove me to the winery. It was night and nothing could be seen. I went to bed, and when I woke up… I was in a small valley on the banks of the Cachapoal River, surrounded by the Andes, without a car and about 6 km from the nearest town (Coya). My first panic attack of my life! About 11,000 km from home, in the middle of nowhere.

As the days went by, I began to enjoy the place, the vineyards, and the wines. But above all, I began to learn—in fact, I learned so much that it took me years to fully process everything that happened during those months.

Grape and must tastings, grape processing, the stages of fermentation, the subtlety of Pinot, the protection of Sauvignon, the complexity of Chardonnay. Wines that I still remember today as a true spectacle, and a style of winemaking that I made my own.

But I didn’t only gain technical knowledge; I also gained a lesson in humility that made me a better person and prepared me to face the long journey that still lay ahead.

I also learned that if you’ve never shot a bow before, don’t learn with your boss’s bow—I still owe you the repair. François is truly something else!

Period: Jul 2011 – Aug 2011
Winery: Arca de Vitis (Güímar Valley, Tenerife, Spain)
Favorite Wine: Contempo Malvasía Seco

We arrived on the islands! With an energy you only have before turning 30, in 2011 I set myself the goal of doing three harvests in one year, and taking advantage of the fact that the harvest in the Canary Islands starts much earlier, off I went to discover volcanic soils.

I arrived in mid-July, and depending on where you were, it could have felt like mid-October, February, or May—astonishing climatic changes and microclimates on this wonderful island.

The winery was nestled in the middle of the Güímar Valley. When you looked toward the sea, you could see a strange mountain on the coast: the Socorro volcano. Little by little I discovered that Teide was not the only volcano on the island.

The winery’s vineyards lay on a tongue of black lava—what you can discover with Google Maps—and the wines produced there had a minerality and salinity that I have never encountered again in any wine.

I didn’t only find enjoyment in the wines: La Viuda beach, the friends I made (Bentorei leading the way), the meat sandwiches with spicy mojo sauce from Bar Chicho, and the pilgrimage and festivities of Arafo.

A place where the wine lives up to its people and its landscapes. A short but intense stay.

Period: Aug 2009 – Oct 2009 and Aug 2010 – Nov 2010
Winery: Cantina Teanum (San Severo, Puglia, Italy)
Favorite Wine: Gran Tiati

While taking my first steps in the world of oenology, I was lucky enough to work two harvests at this winery, where I gradually consolidated all the knowledge I was acquiring through my studies.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, like the road trip from Seville to San Severo (2,700 km) with my friends and colleagues Manuel Carrizosa and Simbad Romero, with whom I also shared that harvest.

A place where I learned about Italian grape varieties, the warm character of wines from southern Europe, and where I made the first mistake of my career: thinking that once you’ve seen one winery, you’ve seen them all…

Fortunately, another pleasant surprise of this journey was meeting Donato Giuliani, a remarkable winemaker whom I consider a friend and who encouraged me to break boundaries and continue with this journey that had only just begun. I have to tell you, Donato, you were right: it is necessary to travel and to get to know other ways of working and understanding wine.

I still remember the aromas of Novello (young red wine made by carbonic maceration), Falanghina and Chardonnay fermenting in barrel; and how could I forget the cocoa aromas of the red wines during fermentation, my first contact with the Primitivo grape (Zinfandel), or the long waits for the trailers to arrive from Manduria.

Period: Sept 2012 – Dec 2012 and Jul 2013 – Mar 2015
Wineries: Hajszan Neumann and Wieninger (Vienna, Austria)
Favorite Wines: Gemischter Satz Weissenberg and Chardonnay Gran Select

I was sure it was time to make wine in a continental climate, and Vienna appeared.

Let’s be clear: after spending the previous two years in rural areas, arriving in Vienna was a breath of fresh air. The winery was located in Heiligenstadt, on the northern edge of the city. The vineyards ended where the streets began; it was the neighborhood where Beethoven had lived, a wonderful place just 10 minutes by metro from the city center.

The vineyards, farmed biodynamically, were set on a hill overlooking all of Vienna—quite a scene. The white wines were spectacular, which made perfect sense given the exceptional grape quality, and all of this was enjoyed even more because it was paired with a metropolitan lifestyle and an endless number of things to do in the city.

Vienna is one of those cities you never forget, especially when you build a family of Spaniards pursuing their careers abroad. Beyond the professional experience, the best thing I brought back from Austria was the friendships, which to this day remain very important in my life.

By February 2014, the winery where I worked was acquired by Wieninger, almost certainly the best winery in Vienna. Once again, luck smiled on me, as I began working for Fritz Wieninger, a person who made me see white winemaking in a different way.

I was not only fortunate to cross paths with Fritz, but also with Luis Teixeira, a highly experienced Portuguese winemaker with whom I shared my time at Wieninger and who brought greater rigor to my work.

Clearly, one of the best periods of my life.

Period: Feb 2013 – Jun 2013
Winery: Bremerton Wines (Langhorne Creek, South Australia, Australia)
Favorite Wine: Old Adam Shiraz

Having learned from my trip to New Zealand the previous year, this time I invested a little more in plane tickets, with just one stopover in Dubai (14 hours, admittedly, but it allowed me to visit the city).

And once again, luck was on my side—at least in terms of winemaking (as it took me more than a month to see a kangaroo)—because I ended up at a winery producing the most concentrated red wines I have ever worked with. Australian Shiraz is something truly admirable.

The winery was located near the coast, next to Lake Alexandrina, and the wines had nothing in common with those from the nearby Adelaide Hills.

The treatment I received from the Wilson family was exceptional. If I ever own a winery, I promise to host harvest lunches every Sunday just as we did at Bremerton—they made you feel part of the family.

Rebecca, the winemaker, is a warm person with a great sense of humor and a true professional. She had a very clear vision of what she wanted and how she wanted it, and for good reason: her wines are on another level.

And Tom, her husband and the viticulturist, had his own wine brand, The Pawn Company, where he made wines from a wide range of grape varieties from all over the world.

There was also time to brew craft beer with Matt, Bremerton’s assistant winemaker, and to travel. One trip was especially memorable: the one I took with my friend and partner at La Quinta Vendimia, Narciso Ossa, when we ventured into the Australian continent on a 3,800 km road trip in a single week which, after crossing an immense desert, took us to Alice Springs.

Period: Aug 2017 – Present
Winery: Cooperativa Manjavacas (Mota del Cuervo, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain)
Favorite Wine: Selección Parcela Chardonnay

After many kilometers traveled, it was time to move closer to home, and destiny brought me to Mota del Cuervo.

A place on the edge in every sense: geographically, the provinces of Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Toledo meet here, and it almost touches the province of Albacete. From the hill overlooking the town, where its famous Manchegan windmills stand, you can see an endless plain that is home to the largest vineyard area in the world. This same hill also marks the boundary between two types of terroir: beyond it begin the first foothills of the Cuenca mountain range, the La Mancha plain comes to an end, and the vineyards are planted on different soils, with slopes and at higher altitude.

Manjavacas has given me a great deal. We are talking about a winery that processes 60 million kilos of grapes every year, and I face challenges I had never encountered before, while also seeing a side of the wine world that I had not experienced at any point in my career.

Mota del Cuervo also gave me, in addition to friends, something more personal: six months after arriving here I met Cris, my partner. I knew then that Mota was going to be part of my life for a long time…

In this way, I thought I was in the right place to see my great dream come true, but seeing that Betis was not going to win the league, I went after my other great dream—the one that had accompanied me through so many long harvest days along this journey: making the wines I had always imagined a reality under the Villa Iulia label.