I had the pleasure of attending the 100th anniversary celebration of the winery, Ramón Bilbao in Rioja this past week.
Given that 100th anniversaries don’t come along all that often, they pulled out all the stops, inviting a huge array of people who have collaborated with them in the past whether that be as press, sales, consultants or many other interactions. I met a few people in those two fast days that I’d only known online previously.
We were gathered at their premises in Haro for a series of events that had their Gala Dinner as the height of the spectacle. It included a mix of live performance, meal, and opening an array of vintages for those in attendance to enjoy. It was immersive on all counts.
On top of this were various smaller events including a talk with other centenary wineries from around the world, followed by a tasting of their wines. This included: Ramón Bilbao, Château Palmer from Bordeaux, Catena Zapata from Medoza, Argentina, Niepoort from Douro, Portugal, and Frescobaldo from Brunello di Montalcino, Italy.
Overall a very fine tasting, the likes of which you don’t often see in Spain given access to these wines from outside the country. Paid subscribers can view the tasting notes and scores below.
But what was most likely the most important event was the finals of the, Spanish Wine Master.
This is a brilliant award the winery came up with in order to give more protagonism to Spanish wines by offering a very competitive prize of 15,000€ to the winner.
When the initial country competitions were announced last year, for a split second I was tempted to enter, but glad that I didn’t in the end as I do quite terrible on exams and ultimately, I saw that it was a very fierce competition which started out with 3,000 applicants and was eventually slimmed down to just six.
These six were brought to Rioja to compete in the last portion of the event via what were very difficult questions as well as in front of a live audience. It was easy to see that nerves were on the line for the blind tasting portion and even more so for having to make a wine blend, live.
Ultimately, it was the Spanish contender, Alberto Ruffoni who went on to win the competition.
It was an admirable competition and Ruffoni worked hard to win his prize. But more than anything I have to compliment Ramón Bilbao in creating the event in the first place as while it has their brand attached to it, the focus is in creating a greater awareness of Spanish wines in general and this, continues to be something that is much needed.
Many thanks to the organizers for inviting me and facilitating the trip.
