He took his first steps in the world of wine in La Rioja, where he helped his family’s winery Remelluri produce one of the D.O.’s first vinos de pago, a high quality wine made with grapes from a specific vineyard. This was a radical step forward in a D.O. so fond of mixing and matching varieties, and Telmo went on to reinvigorate the winery and turn it into one of the most important names in Spanish wine in the eighties and early nineties.