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Pagos de la Sonsierra 2015 and Sonsierra Gran Reserva 2014 received the gold medal in this latest edition, in which a jury made up of 140 experts from around the world has evaluated more than 4,300 wines from around the world submitted to the competition.
It is therefore great news for our winery, both, the quality of our wines and the variety of the grape, Tempranillo from San Vicente de la Sonsierra, are recognized in the Asian continent where we have important clients and loyal buyers of our wines and where culture and knowledge about the world of wine among consumers does not stop growing.
This North American journalist has become one of the most important wine critics in the sector. The former director of the bible of specialized publications in the US, Wine Spectator, and now in charge of his own digital magazine www.JamesSucking.com, has given excellent scores to our most emblematic wines. For him, a good wine “should move, like a good book or a great love”. It seems that Sonsierra has managed to get a little hole in his heart.
GUIA PEÑÍN
The most complete national wine guide in the world www.guiapenin.com was founded by José Peñín in 1990, and since then, it has become the most consulted internationally when it comes to Spanish wines. In all his years of experience tasting wines, José Peñín discovered that “the fundamental thing in a wine was balance”. Although the team of tasters now formed by Carlos González, Javier Luengo and Boris Oliva is no longer in charge of the guide, they keep their spirit alive in each edition.
Once again, two prestigious competitions recognize the quality and authenticity of Bodegas Sonsierra wines with important awards.
The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2020, in which more than 8,500 wines from all over the world have been tasted from September 4 to 6 under strict security measures, has awarded in its XXVII edition a gold medal to Sonsierra Gran Reserva 2013 and two of silver for Perfume de Sonsierra 2014 and Sonsierra Reserva 2014.
For its part, Sonsierra Selección Rosado 2020 has been ranked first in the ‘Rosé Wines’ category of the 27th Wine Contest with DOC Rioja ‘Vendimia Awards’, traditionally held together with the Rioja Alavesa Harvest Festival, which this year has been postponed until September 2021 on the occasion of COVID-19.
Good news for the winery and all Sonsierra wine fans, especially in a year that has put us all to the test. These types of awards inject us with a good dose of optimism and positive energy to face the next harvest campaign, which is presented with a very good prognosis for both the quality and the quantity of the harvest.
Pagos de la Sonsierra 2015, Sonsierra Reserva 2015 and Sonsierra Gran Reserva 2014 are made in the last call of Mundus Vini with three Gold Medals while Sonsierra Blanco Fermentado en Barrica 2019 takes a Silver Medal.
The MUNDUS VINI competition, one of the classics of the international wine scene, was founded by the Meininger Verlag publishing house and has been one of the most important wine competitions in the world. The importance of this competition both in Germany and in the rest of the world is demonstrated by the more than 11,000 wines presented each year. All over the world, wines are found in commerce and gastronomy, which have been awarded by MUNDUS VINI.
A professional jury made up of oenologists, wine producers and distributors, sommeliers and specialized journalists from around the world are responsible for blind tasting the wines.
The awarded Sonsierra vintages correspond to wines that are not yet on the market but that will soon go on sale so that they can be enjoyed by all wine fans and lovers.
Our winery has about 1,500 parcels with vines ranging from 20 years to 130 years on average and which have been owned by our winery partners for several generations. Around 40% of our vineyard is made up of old vines, 30 years and older. A treasure inherited from our ancestors that we pamper and protect.
The Sierra de Cantabria to the North and the Ebro River to the South create a unique microclimate for vine growing here:
– Mild temperatures throughout the year and moderate rainfall.
– Daytime/night-time temperature differential.
– Winds are present 80% of the time, ensuring excellent aeration of the vines and preventing the development of diseases.
– The south-facing aspect and the mild slope of the vineyards expose the vines to plenty of sunlight.
The plots are divided into three different areas, and each one has characteristics that make it special.
La Sierra: the highest vineyards (525- 770 m) and the freshest, wettest region.
La Comarca: intermediate zone (485- 525 m), with moderate temperatures and rainfall.
La Ribera: the lowest area (420-485 m) and also the hottest and driest.
The different altitudes behave differently when faced with rains and temperatures, which guarantees us a magnificent maturation in at least two-thirds of the vineyards, even in years of extreme climatic conditions, thus offering vintage after vintage a constancy in quality and personality of the wines very difficult to obtain.
Sonsierra Selección Blanco
The freshness of this wine, coupled with its fruity, apple and pear aromas, tropical notes and balanced acidity, make it the ideal companion to enhance the flavours of all types of grilled vegetables (e.g. peppers, eggplants, courgettes, tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms) and even certain lean fish, as well as soft white meats such as chicken or turkey.
Sonsierra Tempranillo Blanco
Forms the perfect tandem with grilled fish and seafood. A fruity wine with pleasant citrus notes, great volume and freshness coupled with an intense acidity, making it the perfect counterpoint to true grilled fish delicacies such as certain blue fish, e.g. sardines, red mullet, mackerel or horse mackerel, and other fish that, when cooked on the grill, are a real delicacy, such as turbot, snapper, sea bass or sea bream. Another great pairing option are grilled prawns or king prawns and scallops or other bivalves such as mussels or oysters and also octopus.
Sonsierra Vendimia Seleccionada
When it comes to grilled meat, Sonsierra Vendimia Seleccionada is a sure bet. The most typical cuts for barbecues such as ribs, hamburgers, typical Rioja-style chops, fresh “chorizo” (spicy sausage) and salami-type sausage, bacon … or even more select cuts like pork “secreto” (skirt steak) or “presa” (shoulder eye steak) are ideal companions when paired with this wine, which will confer structure and intensity, offering a perfect balance between ripe red fruit, typical of old vineyards, and Tempranillo licorice, together with vanilla and a fine toasted bouquet achieved by ageing in American oak barrels.
Sonsierra Reserva
We recommend this wine for barbecues with special beef cuts, highly coveted by meat-loving gourmets and true barbecue professionals: T-bone, entrecôte, sirloin, tomahawk, or the acclaimed ribeye steak, always a hit if grilled properly. Sonsierra Reserva will enhance the flavour of any of these meat cuts, accompanying them with a pleasant complexity of nuances and a balance between ripe fruit and vanilla and balsamic notes, creating a memorable pairing.
You can buy any of these wines from our online store with free home delivery. Visit the store and choose the wine you want to uncork at your next barbecue.
Here we would like to propose three online options to increase your wine knowledge during this period:
1. Rioja Wine Academy
Rioja Wine Academy offers several 100% free online courses on its website, open to all those who fancy increasing their knowledge.
Specifically, three courses are currently available: Diploma in Rioja Wines, Diploma in Wine Tourism and Diploma in the Trading and Distribution of Rioja Wines.
Each course has a duration of between 15 and 20 hours and at the end you will have to pass an exam to obtain your diploma.
It is undoubtedly a wonderful opportunity to enhance your knowledge on Rioja, one of the most prestigious and oldest winemaking regions in Spain, or delve into the world of wine tourism or wine marketing.
2 – Vinoselección online tasting course
Vinoselección” is one of the oldest and most prestigious online wine stores in the country. It is present in 7 countries and has more than 160,000 customers. Its website contains an interesting section called “Saber de Vinos” where you can find a lot of information about the fascinating world of wine: history, production, wine terminology or vocabulary.
The website also offers an interesting and totally free online tasting course in which you can discover the secrets of professional wine tasting and also learn to better distinguish wine tasting notes in the future.
3 – Open Wine University
The free courses platform www.fun-mooc.frv includes a course offered by the University of Burgundy: the MOOC Open Wine University. Version 1 was created in 2015 and the most recent version is Open Wine University 2. This new edition includes new content and activities, all fully available in four languages: French, English, Spanish and Chinese.
For five weeks, participants will discover the different facets of wine in this multidisciplinary course.
Although all archived content can be accessed during the coronavirus crisis, there is no follow-up by the teachers and the discussion forum is closed. Even so, it is a fairly interesting option if you would like to broaden your knowledge of the exciting world of wine through such a prestigious academic institution as the University of Burgundy.
Have you already decided on any of these proposals?
“I’m as excited about Rioja as I’ve ever been. It hasn’t realised its full potential, to be sure, but it’s getting there with every vintage. There are more bodegas striving for excellence than ever, sometimes against the odds created by a market that does not yet regard Rioja as a fine wine. Wine by wine, vineyard by vineyard, we are slowly moving towards a point where Rioja is recognised as a region that can finally rub shoulders with the great appellations of the world.”
These are the words with which Tim Atkin introduces the 2020 report on his website. Atkin is an award-winning specialist wine journalist, a Master of Wine and a lover of Rioja: for a number of years, he has produced his own winery ranking, and in 2019 he named Sonsierra the Best Cooperative of the Year.
In the 2020 edition, six of our wines have broken the 90-point mark: Perfume de Sonsierra 2014 with 93 points, Pagos de la Sonsierra 2014 with 92 points, Sonsierra Vendimia Seleccionada 2014 and Sonsierra Gran Reserva 2013 with 91 points, and Sonsierra Reserva 2014 and Sonsierra Selección Rosado 2018 with 90 points.
A major investment was made in this innovative space, which measures more than 2000 m2 and has completely customised equipment for preparing various wines, as well as the latest developments in oenology. All of these features will lead to winemaking that meets the highest of standards.
The selection table where grapes are individually selected using artificial vision, and the OresteO system, which manages and utilizes the CO2 produced in fermentation for the betterment of the winemaking and for the sake of environmental sustainability, are two clear examples of the qualitative leaps the Viñedos Singulares project has taken for the winery.
But the latest technology is not only found in the winery. Over the years, Sonsierra, true to its commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, has also focused on precision winegrowing and introduced vineyard management systems that allow Sonsierra to harvest each plot at precisely the right time.
By taking multispectral images from a manned plane, the winery is able to control the vigour index of the vineyard and by using sensors with fluorescent optical technology, the winery can control the anthocyanin potential of the vineyard.
The first Viñedo Singular wines prepared by the winery, harvested in October 2017, are expected to be available in March 2020.
These wines will be highly limited editions, given the small size and low yield of the plots certified as Viñedos Singulares.