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Ramón Bilbao launches trade competition on Spanish wine knowledge
Rioja’s Ramón Bilbao is calling on the trade to enter its global, professional competition on Spanish wine, due to be held across the spring and summer.
The competition, launched in the UK this month, will see entrants take a timed online qualifying quiz before moving onto a possible in-person final in front of judges this summer – through an online tasting challenge.
The overall winner will take home a cash prize and the opportunity to make their own wine in partnership with the Ramón Bilbao technical team.
Through its Spanish Wine Academy platform, the brand has been holding in-person and online events since its launch in 2018. This new competition, called Spanish Wine Master, is open to anyone who works in the UK Trade – independent merchants, sommeliers, consultants, bartenders, educators, writers – and will be pitched at the equivalent, or above, of WSET Level 3 knowledge.
The competition contents have been designed by the team of The Wine Studio, led by experts Elisa Errea and Nygil Murrell.
Head judge will be Rodolfo Bastida, who has led the team at Ramón Bilbao since 1999, and will take his place alongside fellow winemaker Rosana Lisa as well as Spanish wine experts and Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans & Pedro Ballesteros. They will sit in on the at-home semi-final, which will see contestants tested on five different wines from leading Spanish producers, and come to London this summer for the UK leg of the finals.
Head Winemaker Rodolfo Bastida said: “Our mission is to help our industry discover the distinctive, excellent styles from the different DOs of Spain so we take people on a detailed journey into the viticultural and vinification techniques, plus the geography and topography, behind some of our country’s top wines,”
“If you know even a bit about Spanish wine, and want to know more, this is the competition for you.”
“We’re looking at people’s knowledge of facts and figures about Spanish wines, but also how they taste them. The more you take part, the more you’ll learn – that’s at the heart of what we are trying to achieve.”