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The Master Winemaker 100: Héctor Gómez, Altos de Rioja Viticultores y Bodegueros
The drinks business recently published a guide celebrating the talent of the winemakers who have scooped the highest accolade of our Global Masters tasting series, which is judged almost exclusively by MWs. Each week we profile the winemakers behind these medal winning wines – the creatives, scientists, mavericks and dreamers who are at the pinnacle of winemaking.
Héctor Gómez, winemaker, Altos de Rioja Viticultores y Bodegueros, Araex
In 2006, Héctor Gómez teamed up with Jean Marc Sauboua, formerly of Château Haut-Brion, to establish Altos de Rioja, a boutique winery in Rioja Alavesa, which produces modern Riojas.
What or who inspired you to become a winemaker?
It was while studying. I don’t come from a wine family and studied to be an agricultural engineer. But out of the entire agricultural industry, oenology was what caught my attention and I decided to specialise.
What is your favourite part of the job?
All technical work: the vineyard, the elaborations and the ageing.
What is the hardest part?
The amount of paperwork we must do: regulatory council, agricultural industries, the ministry of agriculture. I do not understand how today we have to give the same information but in different formats for different agencies. It takes us a lot of time because they are not interconnected.
What is your go-to drink at the end of a long day?
Well, after a hard day working with wine it’s a good craft beer. Garapar Txak is a great choice.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Everything you’ve learned by studying is fine as a base, but don’t think you know it all, because you’re going to really learn by making wines. Experience is very important, every year is different and we do not stop learning.
What was your biggest winemaking error?
At the beginning of my career, I made wine according to protocols instead of properly preparing the grapes I had.
Which wine-related achievement are you most proud of?
Have placed the Altos de Rioja wines in high-quality segments of the market, as a new winery without years of history behind it, and having set up my own project in the Getariako Txakolina DO.
Who is your inspiration in the world of wine today?
Producers that give maximum importance to the vineyard and its work in a sustainable way and produce wines with great personality.
Where would your fantasy vineyard be?
Old vineyards in the Rioja Alavesa. Elvillar is wonderful, and Kripan a treasure, but I am happy working my vineyard in Getaria, near the sea, watching the fishing boats entering and leaving the port.
If I were not a winemaker, what would I be doing and why?
I really don’t know; I don’t see myself in another profession, I’d maybe be a brewmaster.
What wine (grape/style) do you find impossible to get along with?
Large-quantity productions. I am not able to make wines industrially.
How has your taste for wine changed throughout your career?
It has gone from intensity to complexity, both in whites and in reds.
Which type of wine do you drink most frequently?
Tintos de Rioja Alavesa, I work here and it is what I have most access to.
Which wine would you most like to drink, and who would you share it with?
Sparkling; I like them a lot and I know them little. I am starting to make them and it is a great challenge. I would share them with my wife, who is also an oenologist and the best companion to enjoy a wine with.
Master medals
- > Altos Rioja Reserva 2012 (Rioja Masters 2017)
- > Altos de R Crianza 2015 (Rioja Masters 2018)
- > Altos R Pigeage 2015 (Rioja Masters 2019)
To buy a copy of The Master Winemaker 100, please click here.