Raúl Moreno

Rául Moreno-Yague, is a native of Sevilla with an extraordinary multifaceted experience. After most of his professional career outside of Spain, he relocated back in Andalusia in order to be closer to his parents and, at the same time, create one of the most dynamic an unique
project coming out of the region of Jerez.

Raúl´s wines symbolize very well his eclectic and fascinating professional career which began as a chef in Spain, then moving overseas before turning 18 to work with Marco Pierre White in the UK or stagging at Thomas Keller´s Bouchon. Despite of a promising cooking career, Raúl change sides and trained as a Sommelier, building a very successful career as such. Raúl developed his job as a sommelier around the globe until his late 20s when he decided to change his lifestyle once again and studied viticulture in his adopted home at the time: Australia. Upon completing viticultural studies, he became a kind of ‘harvest junkie’ and spent several years working 3 to 4 harvest per year across Europe, South Africa & Australia. The places that inspired him the most were Bourgogne, South Africa, Portugal, Georgia & Australia. During these four years Raúl work alongside outstanding producers including Domaine Dujac in Morey-St-Denis.

Raúl started to make wine in Jerez in 2017 yet did not fully relocated with his own little family back to Andalusia untill 2020. Today Raúl owns two small vineyards in the Sherry district although he also leases several small plots from the different villages of the district such as: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Puerto de Santa Maria, Trebujena & Jerez de la Frontera. His approach to viticulture is to follow organic and biodynamic practices and to promote biodiversity. Soil fertility is the priority of all his operations.

Raúl does work mainly with old vineyards of ‘Massale selections’ of cultivars. He has two viticultural projects, one of them focused on the recovery of traditional Andalusian cultivars such as Jaen Blanco, Vigiriego, Mantuo Castellano, Melonera amongst others & another project focused in the grafting of Portuguese cultivars over old Palomino vineyards to mitigate climate change. The Portuguese cultivars he works mainly with are those with a lower hydric stress and greater acid retention such as Arinto, Encruzado & Baga. In the Sherry district he mainly woks with Palomino, Moscatel & Tintilla de Rota although he also crafts Chardonnay & Pinot Noir.

Furthermore, as you can start noticing that Raúl has an extraordinary drive, he also has a winemaking project in Granja-Amareleja, Alentejo called ‘V’ sin Fronteiras in conjunction with Tiago Macena & David Morgado where they craft alternative expressions of ‘Vinho de Talha’ and they also make cross country wine blends of Alentejo & Jerez.

His approach to winemaking is minimalist but always striking for the best possible quality to be delivered. He is always aiming to make wines that are driven by freshness, fruit purity & terroir. All the wines he produce experience skin macerations, as little as 24 hours or as long as 3 months. All the wines are unfiltered and Sulphur additions are minimal.