The Programmer & the Dreamwine
Álvaro González Marcos is the creator of Somiavins — dreamwine — a one-man biodynamic estate in the heart of the Alt Penedès, Catalonia's largest wine region, just a short drive from Barcelona. His story is not the typical vigneron's inheritance; it is a radical career change. After years as a successful software developer, Álvaro left his IT career in 2017 to follow his first and true love: wine. He had gazed at vineyards from his window since childhood, and the call of the vine eventually became irresistible. His first vintage was a mere 500 bottles, but from that tiny beginning, he embraced the natural wine philosophy with absolute conviction: vins vius amb raves sanes — lively wines from healthy grapes. Today, he farms 50-year-old bush-trained vines on chalky, calcareous, lightly alkaline soils at two sites — Sant Joan Samora at 150 metres and Piera at 500 metres — certified organic since 2016 and farmed biodynamically with preparations 500 and 501, Maria Thun compost, and herbal additions. All work is done by hand. Grass grows between the rows for biodiversity and against erosion. The cellar is a historic Catalan Masia — Can Raimundet — where wine has been made for over 400 years. Spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, no filtering, no fining, and no added sulfur. The Mediterranean climate and the proximity to the sea inform every bottle. Álvaro is not merely making wine; he is proving that a life in code can be rewritten in vines, and that the Penedès — long associated with industrial Cava — can produce wines of startling individuality, energy, and honest expression.
Álvaro & the Career Change
The story of Álvaro González Marcos is the story of a man who listened to the vineyard calling from his childhood window and, after decades of successful work in another world, finally answered. Born with a passion for wine that predates any professional ambition, Álvaro spent his early years gazing at the vineyards of the Penedès from his home, absorbing the rhythms of pruning, flowering, harvest, and dormancy without yet knowing that they would become his life's work. He pursued a career in information technology — a successful software developer, immersed in the logic and precision of code — but the vineyard never stopped whispering. In 2017, at an age when most professionals are consolidating their careers, Álvaro made the radical decision to leave IT behind and return to his first love. His first vintage was a modest 500 bottles — a proof of concept, a dream made liquid — but it was enough to confirm what he had always known: that his future lay among the vines, not the screens.
The transition was not merely professional but philosophical. Álvaro studied oenology and worked as a sommelier — a period he describes as life-changing — before founding his own project. He named it Somiavins, Catalan for dreamwine, a name that captures both the romantic impulse behind his career change and the quality he seeks in every bottle: wine that feels like a dream — lively, energetic, vivid, and true. He set up in Masia Can Raimundet, a traditional Catalan country house in Sant Joan Samora, where wine has been produced for more than four centuries. The building itself is a presence — thick stone walls, cool cellars, and the accumulated patience of generations of farmers who pressed grapes in the same space long before Álvaro arrived. He did not build a modern winery; he inherited a working monument, and he has honoured it by continuing the tradition of hand-crafted, low-intervention wine in the same stone rooms where his predecessors worked.
Álvaro is a one-man operation in the truest sense. He farms the vineyards himself, harvests by hand into small boxes, ferments in the Masia cellar, and bottles with his own hands. There is no large team, no marketing department, no export manager — just a man who left one life to build another, and who now spends his days pruning 50-year-old bush vines, watching indigenous yeasts ferment, and tasting wines that settle by gravity rather than force. His story is a reminder that the wine world is not closed to late arrivals; that a software developer can become a biodynamic vigneron; that the Penedès can produce natural wine as honest as anything from the Jura or the Loire; and that the most important qualification for making wine is not a diploma but a conviction.
"I am an artisan wine producer. My goal is to create lively wines with healthy grapes. My philosophy is manual work in the vineyard and low intervention in the cellar. My work in the cellar is precisely to create the conditions for the grapes to become wine naturally."
— Álvaro González Marcos
Sant Joan Samora & the Alt Penedès
Sant Joan Samora sits in the Alt Penedès — the high Penedès — the inland, elevated sector of Catalonia's largest wine region, away from the flat coastal plains and up in the foothills where altitude, limestone, and Mediterranean sunshine create the conditions for wines of freshness, minerality, and energy. The Penedès is widely known as the home of Cava — the Spanish sparkling wine made by the traditional method — and for decades the region's reputation has been dominated by large producers, industrial scale, and the standardised blending of Macabeo, Xarel·lo, and Parellada into millions of bottles of fizz. But the Alt Penedès is a different world: smaller, steeper, more individual, and increasingly the source of some of Catalonia's most exciting still wines. Álvaro's vines lie at approximately 300 metres above sea level, in a landscape of rolling hills, scattered farmhouses, and the kind of rural quiet that is only an hour from Barcelona but feels like another century.
The estate spans two hectares across two sites — though some sources suggest he works up to six hectares total across multiple small plots. At Sant Joan Samora, 50-year-old Xarel·lo bush vines grow on chalky, limestone, lightly alkaline soil at 150 metres altitude. At Piera, Parellada is planted on limestone, sandy, alkaline ground at 500 metres altitude. The soils are fine-textured, draining, and poor in organic matter — classic Mediterranean viticultural soils that force the vines to struggle, producing small berries with thick skins and concentrated flavours. The calcareous component is crucial: it provides the mineral backbone, the chalky freshness, and the structural tension that distinguishes the best Penedès whites from their more generic counterparts. The altitude difference between the two sites — 150 metres versus 500 metres — creates a natural range of ripeness and acidity, allowing Álvaro to craft wines of different weights and characters from the same varieties.
The farming is certified organic since 2016 and conducted biodynamically — preparations 500 and 501, Maria Thun compost, and herbal additions are all part of the annual rhythm. All work is done by hand: pruning, canopy management, harvesting into small boxes. Grass is left to grow between the rows to support biodiversity, prevent erosion, and maintain soil moisture. The aim is not merely to farm sustainably but to regenerate living soils — to move away from the sterilised, chemically dependent viticulture that has dominated the Penedès toward a model where the soil microbiome is as important as the vine itself. Álvaro also respects the plants and trees around his plots, keeping fruit trees and century-old olive trees in the vineyards, avoiding monoculture, and dividing his farm into small parcels that mirror the landscape's natural diversity. This is not a vineyard designed for tractor efficiency; it is a vineyard designed for ecological resilience and wine quality.
The varieties are all indigenous to Catalonia — a deliberate rejection of the international varieties that have colonised so much of Spanish viticulture. Xarel·lo — the great white grape of the Penedès, historically relegated to Cava blending but now recognised as a world-class still-wine variety — is the estate's signature. It produces wines of intense aroma, high acidity, and a distinctive texture that can range from crisp and mineral to rich and waxy depending on the site and the vinification. Parellada — the highest-altitude variety of the three Cava grapes, delicate, floral, and fresh — provides elegance and aromatic lift. Malvasia de Sitges — an aromatic white with a long history in the coastal towns south of Barcelona — adds exotic floral and honeyed notes. Ull de Llebre — the Catalan name for Tempranillo — provides the estate's red wines with dark fruit, spice, and the savoury depth that only old-vine Tempranillo can achieve. And Garnacha — both red and possibly white — rounds out the portfolio with warmth, generosity, and Mediterranean sun. This is not a monoculture; it is a Catalan garden.
Álvaro González Marcos is located at Masia Can Raimundet, Sant Joan Samora, 08791 Sant Llorenç d'Hortons, in the Alt Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. A one-man biodynamic estate founded in 2017 after a career change from software development. Certified organic since 2016. Total production ~8,000 bottles/year. A benchmark for natural, zero-sulfur, indigenous-varietal wine in the Penedès.
The vineyards sit on chalky, limestone, lightly alkaline soils at two sites: Sant Joan Samora (150m altitude, Xarel·lo) and Piera (500m altitude, Parellada). Fine-textured, draining, poor in organic matter — classic Mediterranean viticultural soils that force vines to struggle, producing small berries with thick skins and concentrated flavours. The calcareous component provides mineral backbone and chalky freshness.
Certified organic since 2016, farmed biodynamically with preparations 500 and 501, Maria Thun compost, and herbal additions. All work done by hand. Grass left between rows for biodiversity and erosion prevention. Fruit trees and century-old olive trees maintained in the vineyards. Small parcels to avoid monoculture. The goal is regenerative viticulture — living soils, not sterilised dirt.
The cellar is a historic Catalan Masia — Can Raimundet — where wine has been produced for over 400 years. Thick stone walls, cool natural cellars, and the accumulated patience of generations. Álvaro did not build a modern winery; he inherited a working monument and honours it by continuing the tradition of hand-crafted, low-intervention wine in the same stone rooms where his predecessors pressed grapes centuries ago.
Lively Wines & the Gravity of Time
The cellar philosophy at Somiavins is governed by Álvaro's own words: my work in the cellar is precisely to create the conditions for the grapes to become wine naturally. This is not a rejection of technique but a refinement of it — an understanding that the winemaker's role is not to impose but to protect, not to manipulate but to accompany. The grapes are hand-harvested into small boxes to preserve the fruit, then brought to the 400-year-old Masia cellar for gentle destemming and spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts. There are no commercial inoculations, no enzymatic corrections, no chaptalisation, no acidification. The wines settle and stabilise by gravity rather than fining or filtration, and they age in a combination of old oak barrels, chestnut barrels, concrete tanks, and stainless steel — depending on the cuvée's intended character. No sulfur is added. No aggressive manipulations damage the structure or apply cosmetic makeup to pretend a specific style. The goal is to express the natural personality and potential of the wine — its origin, its vintage, its variety — without disguise.
The portfolio is divided into Regular Wines — the core cuvées that define the estate's identity — and Single Vintage Wines — limited, often experimental cuvées that capture a specific moment, a specific idea, or a specific playful impulse. The A Temps is the flagship white: 100% Xarel·lo from Sant Joan Samora, hand-harvested, destemmed, given three days' maceration, fermented in stainless steel, aged in concrete and stainless steel, unfiltered, with no added sulfites or other enological products. It is a wine of citrus, minerality, and the chalky freshness that defines the best Xarel·lo. The Fins Ara is its high-altitude counterpart: 100% Parellada from Piera at 500 metres, with the same three-day maceration and stainless steel ageing, but expressing a different temperament — more floral, more delicate, more aerial. The Com Mai — Like Never Before — is the estate's orange wine: 100% Xarel·lo with 15 days of skin maceration and 30% whole-cluster inclusion, aged 50% in oak barrels and 50% in stainless steel. It is a textural, characterful wine that pushes the boundaries of what Xarel·lo can do when handled with skin-contact ambition.
The Can Raimundet is another Xarel·lo expression — hand-harvested, destemmed, three days' maceration with skins, fermented in oak and chestnut barrels, then aged in stainless steel. It is a wine that honours the Masia itself, capturing the woody, spicy, earthy character that only fermentation in the estate's own historic wood can provide. The MS — a single-vintage cuvée of Malvasia de Sitges and Parellada — is a field-blend-style white with ten days of skin maceration, capturing the exotic floral intensity of Malvasia and the fresh elegance of Parellada in a single, hazy, aromatic bottle. The ULL is the estate's red: 100% Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo), hand-harvested, destemmed, three days' maceration, fermented in stainless steel — a wine of dark cherry, spice, and the savoury depth that only old-vine Tempranillo can achieve. The GN is a single-vintage Garnacha Noir from 700 metres altitude, with five days' maceration and five months' ageing in chestnut barrels — a wine of mountain warmth, wild herbs, and the kind of grainy tannin that distinguishes high-altitude Garnacha.
The experimental and sparkling cuvées reveal Álvaro's playful side. Wineksy — the name itself a playful twist — is a pet-nat of Xarel·lo and Cabernet Sauvignon, hand-harvested, destemmed, two days' maceration, fermented in stainless steel, bottled with a crown cap to preserve the natural fizziness from residual sugars. It is a wine of joy, bubbles, and the irreverent spirit that defines the natural wine movement at its best. Hungry Heart and Strangelove are both 100% Parellada sparkling wines — hand-harvested, destemmed, three days' maceration, fermented in stainless steel, bottled before the end of fermentation, then disgorged after 20 months of lees ageing. They are wines of patience, complexity, and the kind of yeasty, bready depth that only extended lees contact can provide. The difference between them lies in the vintage, the parcel, or the specific moment of bottling — each is a snapshot of a specific Parellada expression, captured in bubbles. The cellar is not a factory; it is a 400-year-old stone room where time, gravity, and indigenous yeast do the work, and where Álvaro's role is to watch, wait, and protect.
Spontaneous, Unfiltered & Zero Sulfur
The guiding principle of Álvaro's winemaking is that the wine should be a pure reflection of the grape, the soil, and the vintage — not a product of the laboratory or a cosmetic imitation of a commercial style. His approach — hand-harvesting into small boxes, destemming, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, gravity settling, no fining, no filtration, and zero added sulfur — is not a rejection of his technical background but a deeper application of it. He knows enough about oenology to know when to do nothing. The regular wines prove that Xarel·lo and Parellada can achieve world-class expression when farmed biodynamically and vinified with honesty. The single-vintage wines prove that the same varieties can be playful, experimental, and surprising. Each wine is distinct, but all share a common origin: the chalky, calcareous soils of the Alt Penedès, and a common destination: the glass, where liveliness, energy, and the dream of a man who left code for vines meet.
The Regular Line & the Single Vintages
Álvaro González Marcos produces a focused and authentic portfolio from his biodynamically farmed vineyards in the Alt Penedès, divided into Regular Wines — the core cuvées that define the estate's identity — and Single Vintage Wines — limited, often experimental cuvées that capture a specific moment or playful impulse. All wines are hand-harvested into small boxes, spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered, unfined, and bottled with zero added sulfur or other enological products. The regular line offers pure, precise expressions of Xarel·lo and Parellada — the two great white varieties of the Penedès — along with an orange wine and a red that demonstrate the full range of the estate's capabilities. The single-vintage line offers experimental blends, high-altitude Garnacha, and sparkling wines that capture Álvaro's creative restlessness and his refusal to take himself too seriously. The portfolio spans white, orange, red, and sparkling — all united by a common character of biodynamic purity, spontaneous fermentation, and the unmistakable signature of a man who creates the conditions for grapes to become wine naturally. The following represents the core cuvées as they have emerged from Álvaro's years of passionate, conviction-driven winemaking in the 400-year-old Masia Can Raimundet.
"I am an artisan wine producer. My goal is to create lively wines with healthy grapes. My philosophy is manual work in the vineyard and low intervention in the cellar. My work in the cellar is precisely to create the conditions for the grapes to become wine naturally."
— Álvaro González Marcos
The Dreamwine & the 400-Year Masia
To understand Álvaro González Marcos, one must understand that he is not merely a winemaker who changed careers; he is a man who listened to a calling that most people ignore. He left a successful life in software development — a world of logic, screens, and virtual spaces — to return to the vineyards he had watched from his childhood window. The name Somiavins — dreamwine — is not a marketing invention; it is an autobiography. Álvaro is living a dream that he deferred for decades, and every bottle is a chapter of that dream made liquid. The 400-year-old Masia Can Raimundet is not merely a cellar; it is the physical proof that his dream is rooted in something older and deeper than his own life — a continuity of farmers and winemakers who pressed grapes in the same stone rooms long before he arrived, and who will continue to do so long after he is gone.
The identity is also defined by the one-man operation. Álvaro farms, harvests, ferments, and bottles alone. There is no large team to dilute his vision, no marketing consultant to shape his story, no export manager to standardise his output. The result is a portfolio that is unmistakably personal: the Regular Wines express his core philosophy — Xarel·lo and Parellada as they should be, pure, lively, mineral, and true. The Single Vintage Wines express his creative restlessness — the MS blend, the high-altitude GN, the playful Wineksy, the patient Hungry Heart and Strangelove. Each wine carries the same signature: biodynamic farming, spontaneous fermentation, zero sulfur, and the kind of honest expression that only a man who answers to himself can achieve. The labels themselves — clean, modern, with the distinctive circular motif on the regular wines and the bold letterforms on the single vintages — reflect a mind trained in design logic but liberated by artistic impulse.
The future of Somiavins is tied to the continued health of Álvaro's biodynamic vineyards, the deepening of his relationship with the 400-year-old Masia, and the gradual evolution of a portfolio that now speaks to both the natural wine enthusiast and the curious drinker who has never heard of the Alt Penedès. The A Temps and Fins Ara will continue to be the white flagships — wines that prove Xarel·lo and Parellada can achieve world-class expression when farmed with care and vinified with honesty. The Com Mai will continue to push the boundaries of what Xarel·lo can do with skin contact. The ULL and GN will continue to prove that the Penedès can produce reds of character and depth. And the sparkling wines — Wineksy, Hungry Heart, Strangelove — will continue to capture the joyful, celebratory side of a project that is serious about its craft but refuses to take itself too seriously. The grass will continue to grow between the rows, the fruit trees will continue to provide shade and biodiversity, and the indigenous yeasts will continue to ferment in the cool darkness of Can Raimundet.
In an age of increasing industrialisation in wine — of global varieties, engineered yeasts, and corporate consolidation — Álvaro González Marcos stands as a compelling alternative, not because he rejects modernity but because he has embraced a deeper modernity: one that values a career change over a stagnant career, a 400-year-old Masia over a stainless steel tank farm, biodynamic farming over chemical dependence, indigenous varieties over international imports, hand-harvesting into small boxes over mechanical harvesting, spontaneous fermentation over inoculation, gravity settling over fining and filtration, zero sulfur over standardised stability, the one-man operation over the corporate team, the dream over the business plan, the Regular Wine over the luxury cuvée, the Single Vintage over the mass-market blend, and the specific voice of Sant Joan Samora's chalky limestone over the standardised replication of a global style. Álvaro is not merely making wine; he is proving that a software developer can become a biodynamic vigneron, that 500 bottles can become 8,000 without losing their soul, that the Penedès can produce natural wine as honest as anything from the Jura or the Loire, and that the simplest philosophy — create the conditions for the grapes to become wine naturally — is often the most profound. From the IT office to the vineyard, from the childhood window to the Masia cellar, from the first vintage to the twentieth: all united in one bottle, one dream, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, biodynamic, hand-made, zero-sulfur, passionately honest wine from the Alt Penedès.
Álvaro left a successful career in software development to follow the vineyard calling he had heard since childhood. Somiavins — dreamwine — is not a marketing name but an autobiography. The 400-year-old Masia Can Raimundet is the physical proof that his dream is rooted in continuity older than his own life. This is not a winery; it is a dream made stone, vine, and liquid.
Álvaro farms, harvests, ferments, and bottles alone. There is no team to dilute his vision, no consultant to shape his story, no export manager to standardise his output. The result is a portfolio that is unmistakably personal — from the precise Regular Wines to the playful Single Vintages. Total authorship means total intimacy with every bottle, and the wine carries the quiet signature of a man who answers only to himself and his vines.