Vivian Liang | May 26, 2020
Born and raised in Cognac, France, it was not until Olivier Rivière set foot in Spain that he dreamt of building his very own domaine. His first job in the country was to transition farming practices of several vineyards in the famed Rioja region to biodynamics. During this time, he saw great potential in the region’s old vines, diverse soil types, and native varieties. So, it was here in Spain that he decided to kick off his own adventure, rather than France where vineyards are increasingly costly and young boutique producers like himself have difficulty acquiring great sites.
Olivier started by buying grapes, before he managed to buy and rent 25 ha of vineyards scattered across the well-known Rioja appellation and emerging Arlanza region, where Olivier found high-altitude vineyards producing vibrant wines with bright fruit character. With a Burgundian mindset, arising from his past work experience at Domaine Leroy, nearly all of Olivier’s vineyards are farmed biodynamically. Minimal intervention is his key philosophy, such as the use of indigenous yeasts and minimum addition of sulfur dioxide. Olivier is a strong believer in the concept of terroir, therefore, unlike your usual Rioja wines that are categorized by time in barrel, his wines are bottled based on terroir.
Having tasted through Olivier’s hauntingly beautiful wines, I can assure you these are not your conventional Rioja or Tempranillo-based reds. They belong with a new generation of young and talented producers that are trying to revolutionize your wine drinking experience.
We have a small allocation of Olivier’s wines and I urge you to check them out.
