In his speech of thanks, Carlos said that despite Santiago Ruiz having a man's name, he wanted to dedicate this prize to the two women who make the wine possible: Luisa Freire, winemaker at Santiago Ruiz and Rosa Ruiz, daughter of Santiago Ruiz and winery ambassador.
After the prize-giving ceremony, a tasting entitled "Spain, land of white wines," was led by M. José Huertas, sommelier at Maxi Bao, and the president of Verema, Juan Such, in which our colleague Carlos presented and explained the characteristics of the 2016 vintage of Santiago Ruiz.
Finally, the day finished with a closing dinner in Valencia's Entrevins restaurant, where the guests could partner their dishes with this edition's winning wines.
Premios Verema
With more than 74 registered users, Verema is the most visited online community of food and wine lovers in the Spanish speaking world. The Verema Awards 2018, with 14 categories, beat previous records for participation with more than 11,600 votes, through which the winners were selected. A prize that would not have been possible without your votes, for which we'd like to express our greatest thanks.
Verema's editorial and tasting team made the first selection, taking into account the comments and tasting notes published by users on Verema.com over the past year, as well as the history and presence that the wines have had on Verema.
Santiago Ruiz, the father of Albariño
Considered the "father of Albariño", Santiago Ruiz's family had been making their own wine to enjoy at home since 1860. After his retirement, Santiago Ruiz could at last dedicate himself to his true passion: wine. Convinced of the virtues of native varieties, he became the Rias Baixas's first ambassador, making its wines known all over the world. Santiago Ruiz is a faithful reflection of his spirit, a blend of varieties from our estate vineyards in O Rosal.
This recognition as the best white wine is in addition to other recent prizes, last July, it was awarded the D.O. Rías Baixas "Acio de Oro", a gold medal presented at the XXX Edition of the Vinos de Galicia tasting.