For the second consecutive year, Puerto Rico selected its 10 favorite wines from Spain’s Ribera del Duero denomination of origin as part of the Best of Ribera del Duero project, which brings together industry professionals and local consumers in a blind tasting. Mónica Cabrera, president of Stratos and head of the campaign in Puerto Rico, said reaching a second edition allows the campaign to keep listening to consumers and gauging their response to the diversity of Ribera del Duero wines.
The selection happened in two phases: first, 14 industry professionals, including sommeliers and buyers from the hotel, gastronomy and commerce sectors, blindly evaluated 63 wines, choosing 20 references by score. Then 30 Puerto Rican consumers blindly tasted those 20 wines and determined the highest scorers, judging visual, olfactory and taste aspects such as aroma intensity and quality, structure, persistence and harmony.
The 10 selected wines are Abadía de San Quirce Crianza (Bodegas Abadía San Quirce), Malabrigo 2022 (Bodegas Cepa 21), Solideo 2021 (Bodega Dehesa de los Canónigos), Torrepingón 2021 (Bodegas Carramimbre), Acón Reserva 2019 (Abadía de Acón), Alto del Cura Reserva 2020 (Dominio Basconcillos), Protos '27 2022 (Bodegas Protos), Rento 2018 (Bodega Renacimiento de Olivares), Resalte Expresión 2019 (Bodegas Resalte de Peñafiel) and Torre Albéniz Reserva 2020 (Bodegas Peñalba López). Sommelier and Ribera del Duero and Rueda brand ambassador in Puerto Rico Amber Rivera said the wines reflect consumer preferences and which ones connect with the Puerto Rican palate. The project also runs in Mexico.