Winner - 2016 Winemakers' Winemaker Award - Institute of Masters of Wine
"Alvaro Palacios was one of the ‘pioneers’, who vivified and re-interpreted Priorat after the Franco era de-planting. This small group of change-agents planted lots of French varietals in the fertile, alluvial valley soils and some in the mountains too – typically, modern Priorats contain about a third of (mixed) Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah. Now, after 20 years, Alvaro sees it was clearly a mistake, and as his commitment is to the nobility of the local Garnacha he is reverse-engineering the French varietals out of his Priorats as quickly as he can.
Today, with the introduction of his 'Vi de Gratallops' Alvaro’s regional ‘hierarchy’ and expression of Priorat complete (for now). Without doubt he is the finest producer in one of the most unique terroirs of world wine, working with indigenous old strains of Garnacha." - The Spanish Acquisition