The famous Peñin Guide—a Spanish wine tasting and classification benchmark—recently held the twenty-first edition of its Best Wines in Spain Exhibition at Madrid’s IFEMA fairground. The event, which ran for two frenetic days, exhibited 2,100 labels from 380 wineries and gathered up to 7,000 industry professionals, including La Melonera, the heart and soul of The Wine & Country Club.
The event brought together high-quality wines that won the guide’s discerning tasting team’s heart, bearing in mind a number of factors: iconic wines, modern wines, minority wines, or revolutionary wines.
The Peñin Guide includes a total of 10,500 wines tasted by their professional team, albeit the event only showcased those wines that achieved a record score – i.e. 90 points or more. These included labels from 66 different national production areas, including wines with a protected designation of origin, local wines and estate wines (vinos de pago). In terms of the type of wine, red wines have once again been the most outstanding, followed by white, sparkling and rosé wines.
La Melonera, which ranked among the 98 wineries that finished with a record score, had its own display stand at the event and showcased its history and native grape varieties via its three most outstanding labels.
Three Labels From La Melonera At The Peñin Guide Fair
The 2021 Best Wines in Spain Exhibition was the best showcase for La Melonera winery’s outstanding labels. La Melonera is an essential element of The Wine & Country Club project. Not for nothing, the Club’s residential scheme, comprising 28 wine estates with private hobby vineyard, springs from a firm commitment and strong desire to develop a hallmark project that pays homage to its natural surroundings.
La Melonera embarked on a path to recover a 3,000-year-old wine tradition in the Serrania de Ronda. La Melonera winery was set up for the purpose of recovering the 3,000-year-old grapevines to create a wine-growing culture of excellence that would enrich the current monotonous wine scene.
Today, with its wines, it has turned that desire into reality. Proof of this is its involvement in Peñin Guide’s 2021 Best Wines in Spain Exhibition.
La Encina del Ingles
This is the greatest representation of Ronda’s essence—from where the wine originates. This elegant crianza red is a tribute to those Englishmen and Englishwomen who, based on their love and respect for the landscapes of Ronda, gave this beautiful Andalusian city a universal character.
The 2018 red vintage got 93 points in the Peñin Guide classification. For its part, the 2019 red vintage scored 91 points, whereas the 2020 white vintage won 90 points. All three have been exhibited at the 2021 Best Wines in Spain Exhibition.
Payoya Negra
This is the winery’s emblem and the result of an enormous effort to recover Ronda’s native grape variety. An ageing period of 12 months is all this genuinely fine wine packed full of character requires to achieve utter perfection, resulting in a flawless cherry red colour with a tint of violet, a good nose of black wild fruit aromas, and a character marked by the land and the native varieties.
This label won 93 points in the Peñin Guide classification and was showcased at the 2021 Best Wines in Spain Exhibition.
Yo Solo
This wine is named after the fact that it is only made with native Andalusian grape varieties recovered by La Melonera. By the same token, its exclusivity is also due to the fact that only 350 bottles are produced. Yo Solo is a timeless, proudly and deeply-rooted Andalusian wine.
This wine won 94 points, earned an excellent rating in Peñin Guide’s tasting, and was showcased along with its peer wines from La Melonera winery.
This goes to show that La Melonera ranks among the top players in the wine-making arena. After taking part at Peñin Guide’s 2021 Best Wines in Spain Exhibition, the winery will continue its endeavours to take all recovered native grape varieties beyond our borders.