Raúl Moreno

Back in Andalucía after three decades on an international quest of self-discovery, this Seville-born sommelier-now-winemaker is producing some of Spain's most characterful and surprising wines

- INES SALPICO

There's a cerebral intensity, underpinned by an electric vibrancy, to both Raúl Moreno and his work. Similarly, the unfortified wines he produces in Jerez have matter and substance, but also chiselled definition.

But Moreno's gentlemanly, erudite composure can be deceiving: his character and work couldn't be further from conventional or expected – his path both unlikely and fascinating, his wines as precise as they are impossible to categorise.

Opportunities seized

Born in Seville in 1979, Moreno's childhood and early teenage years were defined by his modest academic performance. 'I was never a good student,' he says. 'And back then, if you lived in southern Spain and weren't good at school, your options would be either the army or the kitchen.'

He chose the latter and enrolled in Seville's hospitality school. At 18, after two years of training, he moved to London. His English was rudimentary but, with few jobs available in kitchens, he began training to become a junior sommelier at Marco Pierre White's Mirabelle restaurant in Mayfair. His wine knowledge flourished along with his mastery of English and he soon climbed the restaurant's sommelier ranks. Eventually, he was offered the chance to join the opening team at a new restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia.