DO León whites and rosés shine again at major international wine competitions

Gold and silver medals for ‘Esencia 33’ from Albarín and Prieto Picudo de Meóriga at Cinve, following the success of Lyon, and Gran Oro for ‘Gurdos’, from Gordonzello, in Madrid.

The International Wine and Spirits Competition (Cinve), which this year reached its 20th edition as one of the two major international competitions held in Spain, awarded a gold medal to Esencia 33, a white Albarín variety, and a silver medal to Esencia 33 rosé Prieto Picudo, both from the Meóriga winery (Mayorga de Campos), which competed on behalf of and under the certification of the León Designation of Origin. The second award-winning wine repeats the success achieved recently at the Concours International de Lyon. This is the third such award for the first of these wines, while the second has now won eight awards in recognition of the high quality of the company’s production, which is based in Tierra de Campos.

On the other hand, the 2023 rosé Gurdos, also from the Gordonzello winery (Gordoncillo), has just added to its extensive list of awards and recognised commercial prestige a Grand Gold at the Madrid Casino Competition, which was devised and directed for years by the late winemaker María Isabel Mijares. This means that this reference will represent the León Designation of Origin for a year on the wine list of this historic social institution, one of the great wine temples of the country.

Finally, the Negro de Viña from the Petra Merino winery (Grajal de Campos), a long-aged Mencía red wine presented in magnum format, made its debut in prestigious competitions with a gold medal at the International Virtus de Lisboa, a competition in which another still experimental wine, the Soplo Suave, a multi-varietal white wine, also obtained the highest award.

These very important distinctions come in addition to the eleven medals -five gold, three silver and three bronze- for the Albarín whites and Prieto Picudo rosés and reds won in the first two competitions of the year, Atlantic and Vinespaña, and the two gold and three silver medals in the monographic session for rosés at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. These twenty high international recognitions in the first major competitions of the year reaffirm the excellent organoleptic qualities of the wines made from the native varieties of reference of the León DO.

Cinve was held from 11 to 14 April, this time in Cáceres, a World Heritage City. During these four days, and in a rigorous blind tasting, a professional panel, with members coming from the most diverse countries, including above all oenologists, but also biologists, university professors, managers of wine associations, purchasing managers, distributors, sommeliers and other experts in the sector, rated each of the samples entered.