Pablo Álvarez is the man who changed Vega Sicilia from top to bottom in order to ensure that everything remained the same. A newcomer to the world of wine when his family took over the winery in 1982, he has gone on to become one of the most respected figures in the trade.

He has been working for more than twenty years now to ensure that the winery – which, while enjoying a mythical status, had become secretive, inward looking and very much anchored to the past – remains every bit the icon and legend it has been for many decades, and a byword for great Spanish wine.

Right from the beginning, Pablo Álvarez’s commitment was strong and deep-rooted. He set out to learn as much as he could: he travelled; he sampled the world’s greatest wines; he studied how they were made; and he took much of what he gained from these experiences back to the austere old winery by the Duero.

This may not be the kind of life he had in mind – a life of too much excitement for this shy, reserved man who otherwise might have preferred to stay out of the limelight. But Pablo Álvarez may well be exactly what was needed at Vega Sicilia: a simple, modest man who likes to see things done right, hates mediocrity and can appreciate creative work and craftsmanship of all kinds. “Cooking,” he says, “is another art form that I’m starting to appreciate more and more because, as in the wine world, personality and character are disappearing.”

Above all, he has cultivated the unique character of this red wine, which today is produced in a completely refurbished winery, with spotless vats for fermentation, lovingly tended casks, absolute cleanliness everywhere – and the most extensive vineyards of recent years. Only the austere brick façade remains unchanged.

“The decision I’m proudest of,” he says, “is that we have preserved the personality of the wines we produce here. I think we have risen above mere fashion and kept our eye on where we’re going. In any case, as the years go by, things always fall into their rightful place.”

Vega Sicilia has never been so sound. Indeed, this is a wine that has outlived all its owners. The Lecanda family, who in the 19th century brought the original French stock to the estate, were more interested in brandy. The Herrero family with their high society connections, who created the legend of Vega Sicilia as a wine that must be given as a gift and cannot be bought, ended up losing everything and were forced to sell. Prodes, the seed company, sought to improve the estate’s yield by other means, although it did allow wine production to survive. Finally, Hans Neumann, a wealthy Venezuelan, wished to add the legendary name to his list of possessions but rarely visited the winery during all his years of ownership; hardly the best way to run a mythical brand during a time when the world wine trade was in the midst of a revolution.

And then came the Álvarez family, with a large industrial group behind them (security, cleaning services) but somewhat lacking in glamour. Clearly, they were looking for a “jewel” – and they found one by the Duero.

Their greatest achievements, embodied in Pablo Álvarez himself, have been to keep the spirit of Vega Sicilia alive and to produce as large a number of bottles as possible of a top quality wine. Among the latest vintages to be released, for instance, there are more than 96,000 bottles of Vega Sicilia Único 1994 and 186,500 of Valbuena 5º 2000.

Vega Sicilia is now a powerful group that also owns another successful winery in Ribera del Duero, Alión, where they produce a modern red wine that has shown remarkable consistency since it was launched in the early nineties. They also own Oremus in the mythical Hungarian region of Tokaji and less than two years ago they successfully launched their Toro wine, Pintia.

How would Pablo Álvarez like to see Vega Sicilia in a hundred years’ time? “Even bigger. Over our 140 years of history many people have put in a lot of hard work and a lot of love to make it all possible,” he replied.

For now, they certainly seem to be on the right track.