Four Decades at Spain's Iconic Vega Sicilia

In celebration of his family's long ownership, Pablo Álvarez is on a quest to make an iconic white

- KRISTEN BIELER

Difficult, expensive wine projects have exerted a lifelong gravitational pull on Pablo Álvarez Mezquíriz-one that has not weakened with time. Two years shy of his 70th birthday-the date he has promised to step down as CEO of his Vega Sicilia Spanish wine empire-Álvarez announced earlier this year he is building a new winery in Galicia, named Deiva, with the goal of producing an iconic white wine.

"I have always wanted to create a world-class Spanish white, similar to a top Burgundy, and I believe the Albariño grape has that unique potential," he told Wine Spectator during a recent visit to New York. A man of few words and fewer smiles-Álvarez was in town to unveil the new vintages of his estates' wines, highlighted by Bodegas Vega Sicilia, which is widely considered to be Spain's first-growth. As we tasted the 2017 Valbuena and the crown jewel Unico 2012, he explained how his journey to craft a great white wine in Spain has been long in the making.

Back in the mid-1990s, Álvarez planted Chardonnay and Rhône white wine varieties at Vega Sicilia's estate in Ribera del Duero, with less than-ideal results. After looking around in Burgundy ("No one can afford to buy in Burgundy!" he complained) and a successful white wine project in, of all places, Hungary, he refocused on Spain and, for the past four years, has been busily buying up vineyards in the Rías Baixas region of Galicia in northwest Spain.

So far, the company has invested $20 million, and the first cuvée will be released in 2025. It will take many vintages beyond that first release to achieve Burgundian-like finesse and complexity, he said, but he's confident that eventually he will do just that.