For twenty-five years, the Valencian wine platform VEREMA, through its forum, website, and events, has been a bridge between wineries, producers and wine enthusiasts. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, from February 9 to 11, at the Hotel Las Arenas, Verema prepared a very special program, which brought together prestigious wineries and great winemakers. During these three days, participants were able to enjoy exclusive tastings, presentations and round tables. In particular, I attended two exceptional tastings.
In the first one, “Round table and commented tasting: Rioja: past, present and future”, the speakers and wines tasted were:
- Agustín Santolaya (Bodegas Roda): Roda I 2019 y Roda I Blanco 2021
- Guillermo de Aranzábal (La Rioja Alta SA): Finca Martelo 2019 y Viña Arana GR 201
- Isaac Muga (Bodegas Muga): Muga Selección Especial 2020 y Flor de Muga Blanco 2021
- Javier Bañales (Bodegas Martínez Lacuesta): Hinia Blanco Reserva 2020 y Colección Familia 2012 Gran Reserva.
A very didactic tasting on the different types of Rioja wines, through four great wineries. Two of them centenarians, such as La Rioja Alta, SA, and Martínez Lacuesta, and two others with a great winemaking tradition, such as Roda and Muga. Two different ways of winemaking, but in both cases with high quality results.
The second tasting, “Plenary Tasting – Winemakers for History”, was a unique experience, thanks to the presence, especially, of Antonio Flores and Mariano García, two of the most influential people in the wine history of our country. The speakers and wines tasted were:
- Montse Molina: Manzanilla Pasada en Rama Pastora. The passion for manzanilla.
- José Hidalgo Togores: A Dream in the Heights 2021. A wine of great freshness from Pago de los Capellanes.
- Mariano García: Baynos 2021. Mauro’s project in La Rioja.
- Agustín Santolaya: Roda II 2000. A wine twenty-five years old that paid tribute to Verema’s anniversary.
- Antonio Flores: Tío Pepe Amontillado Cuatro Palmas Colección 2022. Who delighted us with his words, always exciting about the wines of Jerez.
During these twenty-five years, Verema has been a vehicle for sharing experiences and creating connections around wine. This anniversary showed, once again, that the world of wine is a way of looking at life. Thank you for all these years! Here’s to another twenty-five years!