New Wave Spanish Wine Awards 2010 - Wines from Spain

From http://www.winesfromspain.com:

‘New Wave Spanish Wine Awards 2010’ ceremony held at Spanish Embassy in UK

09/30/2010

The award ceremony for the ‘New Wave Spanish Wine Awards 2010’ was held at the Spanish Embassy in London on 22nd September. The Spanish Ambassador in London, D. Carles Casajuana, presided over the event, which brings the competition-cum-tasting in which the jury selected the 119 best Spanish wines available in the UK market, to a close.

A jury of 17 experts from the world of wine came together on 16th and 17th June to taste more than 900 wines that had been entered for the competition by hundreds of wineries. Master of Wine Tim Atkin, who writes for The Times, chaired the tasting panel, which comprised the buyers from the UK’s leading supermarkets and specialist retailers (including Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco amongst others) along with wine writers of the standing of Anthony Rose of The Independent and John Radford. Rounding out this list of famous names were those of highly respected sommeliers such as Bruno Marciano and Christine Parkinson of the British capital’s renowned Hakkasan restaurant.

Following the tasting the results were published, identifying the winning wines, in the 9th July issue of Off License News (OLN) and on the Wines from Spain UK website, www.winesfromspainuk.com. The 119 winning wines were later tasted by wine trade professionals at a special promotional event attended by over 100 people including journalists, buyers, importers, consultants and sommeliers.

To mark the occasion of the award ceremony at the Embassy a special supplement has been published in this month’s (September’s) issue of OLN, featuring the names of all the winners along with full details including the contact details for their distributors.

The award ceremony at the Spanish Embassy in London brought the ‘New Wave Spanish Wines 2010’ competition to a close. His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador gave a speech during the event in which he highlighted the considerable number of regions, grape varieties and D.O.s (25) that were represented in the competition. He also underscored the high quality of Spanish wines, which was reflected in the increased number (70% more than last year) of wines entered priced at over £20. D.Carles Casajuana congratulated the wineries too, especially the 15 winners that were awarded a Special Trophy.

This annual competition is an initiative driven by Wines from Spain in collaboration with ‘Off License News’, one of the industry’s leading specialist magazines. The competition aims to boost the presence of Spanish wine in the United Kingdom and offer a selection of Spanish wines best suited to the British consumer’s taste in terms of both quality and price.

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