Alvaro Palacios has spent decades pioneering a new order of fine wine across Spain. He has created some of the country’s most iconic wines by championing terroir and native grapes whose potential had been long overlooked and untapped. Palacios Remondo is his family’s Rioja estate, tucked in the far eastern corner of the Oriental district. For Alvaro, the story in this rugged, high-altitude scrubland is about Garnacha. But Plácet is pure Viura—and it is the only white wine Alvaro makes. (The wine’s name is a play off the word for “approval,” a nod to his father, who had an affinity for white wines). Red or white, by focusing on elevating the native varieties that are expressive of and authentic to this stunning side of Rioja, Alvaro is continuing to reshape the future of Spanish fine wine.