Raul Perez

Raul Perez

Raul Perez Pereira is universally considered to be one of the world’s most visionary winemakers. Since he produced his first vintage for his family’s winery in 1994 at the age 22, he has been in the forefront about“The New Spain”.

In 2005, he left his family business to strike out on his own, creating Bodegas y Viñedos Raul Pérez, which quickly became the point of reference for the Bierzo appellation. In addition to numerous other accolades, Raul was named “Winemaker of the Year” by German publication Der Feinschmecker in 2014 and “Best Winemaker in the World” for 2015 by the French publication Bettane+Desseauve.

In the February 2018 Decanter, Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros wrote, “Raul Pérez is the archetype of the intuitive winemaking genius.” A picture of Raul in that same article is captioned, “Is this the best winemaker in the world?” Raul would certainly not self-apply any of these superlatives. In fact, his genius is far exceeded by his humility and generosity of spirit. That humility comes through in his wines. These are not “winemaker” wines so much as they are unadulterated expressions of the villages and vineyards from which they hail.