Some ventures simply introduce you to wine, and then there are those rare undertakings that draw you into its very soul. CLOS CIEN belongs unmistakably to the latter. It presents not a club, nor a fleeting membership, but an enduring bond with a landscape, a lineage, and a craft that has shaped cultures for centuries. Here, the vineyard is a tangible, GPS-mapped parcel (your own corner of Rioja Alavesa) rooted in mature vines between thirty-five and sixty years of age. These wines will bear your family name just as they will bear fruit for your children and grandchildren. What CLOS CIEN proposes is nothing short of stewardship: an inheritance of earth and expertise rather than the fleeting privileges so common in the world of wine.
This sense of permanence finds its counterpart in the extraordinary guidance offered to every member. Spain’s most revered winemakers, the very minds behind multiple ninety-five to one-hundred-point masterpieces, lend their insight to the creation of each wine, shaping decisions from harvest timing to fermentation, from barrel selection to final blending. Their signatures stand beside your own, not as distant consultants but as collaborators in a deeply personal journey. It is a rare opportunity: to co-create with the architects of Spain’s finest bottles, not as an observer but as a genuine participant.
The journey itself unfolds over four years, echoing the rhythm of the vineyard and the patient architecture of great wines. Members receive a rigorous, beautifully structured education in viticulture, fermentation, cooperage, and sensory analysis, crafted to elevate enthusiasts into confident, informed winemakers. Fortnightly technical briefings sustain a continuous conversation with the evolving wines; immersive harvest participation draws you into the pulse of the year; blending sessions and barrel tastings during élevage refine your palate and deepen your understanding. It is professional-level training, yet shaped with an elegance and accessibility that honour passion as much as precision.
This all takes place within a region experiencing a renaissance of global significance. Rioja, long revered, is now standing in the glare of international acclaim, multiple one-hundred-point wines, surging enotourism, and a broad recognition that it stands among the world’s elite viticultural landscapes. Yet vineyard prices remain strikingly below those of Bordeaux and Napa. To join CLOS CIEN now is to enter at a moment of transformation, just before global markets recalibrate to match what critics already proclaim. It is a rare alignment: prestige ascending, values still grounded, and the future unmistakably luminous.
Within this context, members enjoy the freedom to create wines of true personal expression. Every stage is a canvas: the fermentation vessel you favour, concrete, stainless steel, or oak; the toast level of barrels, the duration of ageing, the blend drawn from different parcels. No two bottles need to resemble each other, and indeed many do not. For Singular members, expert branding support elevates each creation further, crafting bespoke labels and presentation worthy of private cellars, gifting, or even commercial presence. The wine becomes a pure reflection of identity, thoughtful, distinctive, and profoundly individual.
CLOS CIEN is a cultural sphere. The elegant Winter Ball unites members, winemakers, and industry figures in an atmosphere where fine cuisine meets thoughtful conversation. The Harvest Festival, alive with the energy of the year’s labour, celebrates tradition with warmth and conviviality. These gatherings transcend the typical wine event; they are expressions of community, international, refined, and bonded by shared purpose.
That sense of community extends even further through the Wine Exchange, a private global network where members may trade up to half of their annual production. A Tempranillo-forward expression swapped for a Garnacha-led cuvée; a cellar broadened not through commerce but through connection. The exchange nurtures friendships and builds a worldwide tapestry of palates and perspectives, enriching both the cellar and the spirit.
At the heart of the project lies a vision for a future winery shaped by its own members. Once the membership reaches a critical scale, a purpose-built facility will rise, designed collectively, with every detail carefully considered: the orientation of the barrel hall, the balance of private suites and tasting rooms, and the vistas overlooking each vineyard parcel. For now, production takes place in a modern vanguard winery near the medieval town of Laguardia. Still, the future estate promises to be a physical embodiment of the community’s shared imagination and custodianship. It will be a place not inherited from others but crafted by the very people who will fill it with life.
Scarcity here is neither a marketing strategy nor a contrivance. The project is capped at one hundred hectares, forever. Membership is finite, not as an artifice but as a structural safeguard for intimacy and quality. The early Singular members, limited to the first fifteen to twenty families, shape the very identity of the venture, gaining preferential terms and a place on the Advisory Board. Their role is foundational, their legacy inscribed into the architecture of the project in ways that future participants will recognise but never replicate.
Presiding over this vision is founder Brian James Thompson, whose roots run deep in the world of Rioja’s winemaking. His wife´s family history involves growers, producers, and professionals woven into the region’s fabric, combined with three decades of personal devotion to wine, which gives an authenticity that cannot be manufactured. It is not an external venture imposed upon a region, but an expression of that region’s own continuity, shared now with those who seek not ownership alone but belonging.
This exclusive world offers an experience far beyond acquisition. It is a dialogue with land and legacy, a creative collaboration with masters of the craft, a passage into the cultural heart of Rioja, and ultimately a gift, one that transcends a lifetime. For those who cherish wine as an inheritance of knowledge, passion, and place, CLOS CIEN invite you to create something enduring, noble, and deeply personal.
Discover more @ https://closcien.com
Article edited by Massimo Basile
Editor & Founder
