Born into a family of growers in El Pego, at the south-eastern edge of the Toro appellation, Alvar de Dios left his small village to broaden his experience alongside his winemaker friend Fernando García at Bodega Marañones, the Gredos project García was involved in before establishing Comando G alongside Dani Landi.
In 2008, Alvar inherited three hectares of ungrafted vines planted by his grandfather Aciano in 1919, at 700 metres elevation on sandy soils. The vineyards, largely Tinta de Toro interplanted with numerous other varieties, are farmed organically and provided the fruit for his first wine in 2011. Aciano (7,500 bottles, around €18), named in tribute to his grandfather, is a fresh, finely textured red with restrained tannins, far removed from the powerful, full-bodied style more commonly associated with Toro.
His second historic vineyard was Vagüera, which he acquired and restored in El Maderal, a village barely three kilometres from El Pego, close to the Salamanca border. Planted in 1920 on a fluvial terrace of the River Tormes at 950 metres elevation, the north-facing site is sheltered by cork oak woodland. Doña Blanca is the dominant variety, grown on red clay and rocky soils. The resulting wine, Vagüera (1,500 bottles, €23), is a white with a gently reductive profile that combines freshness, tension and complexity.
Alongside his single-vineyard wines, Alvar also produces Tío Uco (20,000 bottles, €11), a juicy, expressive red conceived as an entry-level wine. Labelled as a “vino de comarca”, it comes from three organically farmed plots —two old vineyards and one younger site— in the south-west of Toro. The blend is mainly Tinta de Toro with a small proportion of Garnacha, fermented with whole bunches and indigenous yeasts before spending a couple of months ageing in foudres.
The move to Arribes
Having re-established himself in his home village, Alvar turned his attention in 2015 to Arribes del Duero, a deeply rural region on the Portuguese border where local grape varieties hold enormous potential. Camino de los Arrieros (10,000 bottles, €15) was the first wine he made there and retains the fresh, understated profile that defines his Toro wines. It is a spicy, fluid blend of more than 30 local varieties —including Trincadeira, Mencía, Bastardo, Rufete, Juan García, Mandón and Gajo Arroba— sourced from 36 plots (4.5 ha in total) around Villadepera at around 800 metres elevation. The approach in the cellar remains the same: whole-bunch fermentation and indigenous yeasts.
Villadepera, the northernmost village in the Arribes del Duero appellation, is also home to two further wines. Las Vidres (1,900 bottles, €40) is a varietal Doña Blanca sourced from five old plots at 850 metres on slate soils with southern exposure.
The red Yavallo (1,300 bottles, €45) comes from a small walled vineyard of 2,500 m² planted on iron-rich red slate soils. The wine blends Bastardo (70%), Sumoll grafted over in 2015, and a small proportion of Doña Blanca. All of Alvar’s village and single-vineyard wines spend one year in barrel followed by a further year in concrete —amphora, in the case of Yavallo— before release, and none are fined or filtered.
In total, Alvar manages 12 hectares of organically farmed vineyards spread across the three villages where he works. As the winery is located in El Pego, within DO Toro, he is unable to produce his Arribes del Duero wines there under their respective appellation, which is why he has chosen to market all his wines under the broader Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León designation. Each label also carries the exact coordinates of the wine’s village of origin.