News

Master Winemaker 100: Álvaro Martínez

18 March 2026 By db staff writer

The winemaker at Rioja’s Bodegas Martínez Lacuesta features in this year’s Master Winemaker 100 guide and won the title of Rioja Grand Master. He tells db about learning from other winemakers, tasting century-old bottles and his mantra of “drink and enjoy”.

After completing his oenology studies in Logroño, Álvaro Martínez spent several years working, living and breathing wine alongside his father, Álvaro Martínez del Castillo. By 2004, he was ready to take over the winemaking reins – the fourth generation of his family to do so. Since then, Martínez has overseen each and every vintage that the winery has brought to market, demonstrating expertise and passion that go beyond a simple job: this is a way of life.

A wise person once told me to remember you can make whatever wine you want, but always make sure it is drunk and enjoyed, not just tasted and left in the bottle. That was what my father told me more than 20 years ago, when I took over his position as winemaker.

A great wine should make you enjoy the company, conversation and time you spend with the people you drink it with, regardless of whether they are family, friends or people you have just met.

A great winemaker should know how to listen to other winemakers. There are many ways of doing things, and you always learn a lot, no matter how many years you have been doing a job.

Perfection is, in the world of wine, that wine you enjoy, which never tires you, which you flow with and which never disappears from your memory.

The thing I’d most like to change about the wine world is how complicated we have made it for all those who want to get closer to it and to whom we should convey a message of greater simplicity. Drink and enjoy.

I wish I could tell the consumer who drinks my wine that they should value all the work, effort, enthusiasm, commitment and investment that goes into my wine – and any other.

The last time I asked a sommelier for advice was whenever I travel and visit restaurants. I always take advice from sommeliers, who know the local wines best, or can recommend wines that have surprised them, which are the ones I want to try.

Partner Content

Argea shows the business sense in pushing sustainability

Cono Sur shows off terroir-led range

AIX Rosé sets summer mood with Playlister

Auction update: Can the Loire compete with Burgundy?

If I couldn’t be a winemaker, I would have liked to work in any position in a winery.

I wish our vineyards did not suffer any climatic disasters, ageing naturally in order to maintain the quality of their grapes.

My next ambition is… Well, I am not an overly ambitious person. I am happy enough with what I have and what I have achieved. But, if I had to make a wish, I would like to continue working towards making that “perfect” wine I have always dreamed of.

If I won the lottery, ufff, I don’t know. I think I wouldn’t tell anyone and act as if nothing had happened, continuing with my normal life in every respect.

If there were more hours in the day, I would spend them in the cellar and definitely working. But I prefer to leave it at 24 hours; that’s enough to get the most out of life.

When it’s all going wrong, the best thing to do is to stop, take a break, think and try to rectify the situation as calmly as possible

My desert island wine would be… Firstly, I would never go to a desert island, but if I did, I would take a Gran Reserva Martínez Lacuesta 1922 with me. We had the privilege of tasting and enjoying two bottles of that vintage, owned by two different clients, last year at two different events. It was the closest thing to being on a desert island because of the excitement it gave me.