CWO Society • Online
Your invitation to become a winemaker with Chief Wine Officer and CLOS CIEN
Join Chief Wine Officer and CLOS CIEN founder Brian Thompson for an exclusive online experience and discover how to own, create, and craft your very own vintage wine.
When
Thursday 23rd April
14:00 – 15:00 GMT
Where
Zoom webinar
Hosted by
What to expect
Most wine lovers spend a lifetime buying wine. A select few get to make it.
The idea of owning a vineyard has always felt like a fantasy reserved for the ultra-wealthy, tangled up in Spanish property law, agricultural red tape, and a calendar that revolves around harvest season. But Brian Thompson has spent 30 years in La Rioja quietly building a solution to that problem.
In a relaxed, hosted format on Zoom, Brian will walk you through the CLOS CIEN concept — how it works, what membership looks like, and how you can have your own plot of premium La Rioja terroir, producing wine under your name, without the complexity that’s kept most people on the sidelines.
Key discussion points
- The story behind CLOS CIEN and the Rioja dream that shaped it
- How private vineyard membership works — and what makes it different from traditional ownership
- The process from first consultation to first vintage, including wine profiling and plot selection
- The two membership tiers and what they include
- Time for your questions, answered live by Brian
The agenda
Welcome and introduction from Chief Wine Officer
14:00 - 14:05
Brian Thompson: The Rioja Dream
14:05 - 14:25
Q&A
14:25 - 14:35
Brian Thompson: How It Works — From Consultation to First Vintage
14:35 - 14:45
Q&A
14:45 - 14:55
Next Steps and Close
14:55 - 15:00
Speakers & hosts
Brian Thompson
Founder of Clos Cien
Craig McCartney
Managing Director, Chief Wine Officer
La Rioja
La Rioja is Spain’s most revered wine region, and for good reason. Nestled in the north of the country, sheltered by the Sierra de Cantabria mountain range and shaped by the Ebro River, it produces some of the most age-worthy and celebrated red wines in the world.
The region’s DOCa status — the highest classification in Spanish wine — is shared with just one other region in the country. Its combination of Atlantic and Mediterranean climates, diverse soils, and centuries of winemaking tradition has made it the heartland of Spanish viticulture.
RSVP
000 days 00 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds
About CLOS CIEN
CLOS CIEN is a private members’ club with a simple and powerful idea at its heart: that the joy of making your own wine should be available to more than just the privileged few.
Each member is matched with their own individual vineyard plot in La Rioja DOCa, not a share of a shared estate, but a plot selected specifically for them, based on the wine they want to produce. The process starts with a personal tasting and consultation. The vineyard comes second, chosen to fit the wine, not the other way around.
From there, CLOS CIEN handles the paperwork, the day-to-day management, and the operational complexity. Members make the decisions that matter — and receive their own bottles, bearing their own label, from their own vines.
Membership is limited to 250 individuals at the Estate level. It’s designed to be exclusive by nature, not just by name.
