Alejandro Fernández

When many winemakers in the Ribera del Duero were grubbing up their vines for sugar beets in the 1970s, Alejandro Fernández did the opposite: He planted. At 42, he took out a loan, bought a vineyard and old winery equipment – and founded Tinto Pesquera. What seemed like a gamble back then became the founding story of an entire wine region.

His approach was uncompromising from the start: maximum extract, consistent work with Tempranillo, no concessions to mass taste. The wines that emerged from this attitude made him internationally known – and the previously barely noticed plateau on the Duero one of the most sought-after red wine regions in Spain.

Today, Fernández runs four wineries, three of which he founded for his daughters. The style has remained: dense fruit, structured tannins, long breath in the cellar. Wines for people who understand red wine not as an accompaniment, but as the main event – with lamb shank, aged Manchego, or simply pure, when the evening allows it.