Sandra Bravo started Sierra de Toloño in Rioja Alavesa with a clear mission: take tiny high-altitude plots, farm them biodynamically, and get out of the way. Her vineyards sit at 650 metres on calcareous soils in Villabuena de Álava, where she works with some of the oldest vines in the region, harvested by hand into small 15kg crates so nothing gets crushed before it should. 

Before coming back to Rioja, she spent time working in Bordeaux, Tuscany, New Zealand, and California, then seven years in Priorat, which gave her an unusually wide lens for someone making wines this rooted in a single place. We love that she is making Rioja that feels alive and honest rather than polished to the point of anonymity.