"They are amazing wines, we are going to have a vintage to enjoy", Antonio Raluy

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On February 22, the Sociocultural Center of Paradela hosted the Wine Tasting of the 2018 harvest. These tastings, which have an annual nature, aim to establish an average valuation of the last harvest, so that the consumer knows how the wines will be. You will find yourself in the market.   
The score of the 2018 vintage was 8.1, which gives the final result, EXCELLENT. The same valuation that had obtained the 2017 harvest and 1999. The rest of the harvest of the Denomination obtained the rating of VERY GOOD, with the exception of the first year that wine Tasting was held, in 1996, where the harvest of 95 was rated as GOOD.

Mateo Seoane Corral, from the Association Sommeliers of Gallaecia, and member of the tasting panel pointed out, "These tastings serve as reference for the consumer, they are a guarantee and mark the level of demand of the wineries so that little by little they improve and obtain better ratings. So the developers also have a feedback that allows them to know a little taste of the tasters, which in the end represent the taste of the market and the consumer. It is a second opinion, which I think adds value to the Denomination of Origin, to the variety and to the processors ". On the wines tasted stood out, "It appreciates the variety, the freshness, the potential that has the Denomination of Origin. A quality, that if we go back 10 years ago, we can see that the evolution is very positive. All the wines of Ribeira Sacra have that fruit and that freshness of the soil where they are born, the orography, the climatology ... They are wines that are not passed of alcoholic degree, they have that point of acidity that differentiates them from the rest of wines of the national panorama. "Another member of the tasting panel, Xesús Verao Pérez, member, in addition, of the tasting panel of C.R.D.O.R.S. highlighted "They are wines, which at this time of the year are very balanced, with a tannin that is maturing and on the nose you can see freshness, pleasant, in line with the Denomination, lately."

The tasting panel rated 10 references in a blind tasting. 2 references were tasted for each of the 5 subzones of the Denomination (Amandi, Chantada, Quiroga-Bibei, Ribeiras do Miño and Ribeiras do Sil). In each sub-zone a representative sample of one of the wineries with more production and another one with less is tasted. 80% of the samples belong to "branch wines", collected in storage and the rest are wines that are already on the market.
In this regard, Antonio Raluy, of the Galician Association of Tasters, talked about how pleasant it is to be able to taste wines in February and explained the good evolution of the wines of the Denomination. About to start the Wine Fairs, which in Ribeira Sacra open the second weekend of March with the celebration of the 37 Feira do Viño de Chantada, Raluy suggested that "They are a good opportunity to try some wines with the label in front to see what we have, we still have some negative surprises, but most will be positive. "On the wines tasted in the Tasting Tasting, he pointed out" They are surprising wines, in the sense that you noticed a structure and a freshness, at this point year, very interesting. It gives the impression that it will take us to a vintage to enjoy. That freshness brings us a hopeful future. "
For his part, another of the tasters and an expert in Sensory Analysis of Wines, Alfonso Losada, pointed out, "It was a year in which there were cryptogamic diseases in the vineyard, but the harvest that was preserved matured very well in the last stages and makes give this score of EXCELLENT ".
On the evolution that the Denomination of Origin is having, it stood out "Throughout the years that I have been tasting, I have been in this for a long time, it is an always positive assessment. The elaborations have been improving, it is very difficult to find a wine that has some defect, something rare. They are wines that are always very good and that the consumer likes.

The tasting panel was completed:

• Jesús Rodríguez Carreiras, miembro de la Asociación Vitislucus, Expertos en Análisis Sensorial y Enoturismo y Profesor de Servicios en Restauración en la Escuela de Hostelería de Lugo "IES Sanxiallo"

• Argimiro Levoso Touceda, miembro de la Asociación Galega de Enólogos

• Francisco Javier Rodríguez Medela, miembro del panel de cata del C.R.D.O.R.S.

• José María Martínez Alonso, miembro del panel de cata del C.R.D.O.R.S.

• José María Martínez Matos, miembro del panel de cata del C.R.D.O.R.S.

• Juan Angel Martínez, miembro del panel de cata del C.R.D.O.R.S.