We had a great time in Lavinia yesterday surrounded by 25 of our favourite producers and a wonderful crowd of wine lovers. It was a great pleasure to greet many of our readers over a glass of wine to mark the fourth anniversary of our website! Heartfelt thanks to all of you for coming and sharing your time with us.
You will find a selection of pictures taken at the party on the slider above and a few others further below. Most of them were taken by photographer Abel Valdenebro. We hope he doesn’t mind our adding some casual, fun shots taken with our phones!
Many thanks to Lavinia for coming up with such a fun idea and their flawless organisation. A special mention to director Juan Manuel Bellver, who has generously given exposure to Spanish Wine Lover in this spacious, central wine store located in the elegant Salamanca district and to event coordinator Pilar de Haya for her enthusiasm and ability to liaise with producers and partygoers.
As well as being two great professionals, Juan Manuel and Pilar are also great music lovers, accomplished DJs and members of the band The Wine Drinkers. Check the playlist that they put together with songs chosen by the producers themselves.
Big congrats to José Ramón Alonso the winner of two fabulous bottles made by terroir-driven producers Willy Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez in the Sherry region and one of the 60 signed wooden boxes filled with samples of albariza that they gave away at a memorable tasting in Vinoble in June.
There was another prize for the best photo shared on social media. The winner was wine journalist Raquel Pardo with this original shot of wine producer Xurxo Alba from Albamar.
We are particularly grateful to the 25 producers who took a break from harvest to pour their wines in Madrid. All of them are part of the new generation of wine growers who have been shaping the future of Spanish wine over the last two decades: Albamar, Alta Alella, Alvar de Dios, Bodegas Alvear, Javier Arizcuren, Borja Perez Viticultor, Callejuela, Camino del Norte, Celler del Roure, Cillar de Silos, Comando G Viticultores, De La Riva (Willy Pérez y Ramiro Ibáñez), Dominio del Bendito, Norrel Robertson, Emilio Hidalgo, Envínate, Fedellos Do Couto, Microbio Wines, Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola, Ponce, Ronsel Do Sil, Sabinares, Sedella, Valenciso and Viña Zorzal.
May we introduce the men who stand by us? Mikel (on the left) is Yolanda’s husband and José María (on the right) is mine. Both have to endure wine travels and countless tastings and weekends in front of our laptops. In exchange for their patience, they also get to taste many great wines, some bad ones and a bunch of weird and off-beat bottles.
We would finally want to thank all the people who make SWL possible: writers, photographers, IT professionals, designers… In this website, like others, collaboration is essential. The photo below was taken by Beatriz Duran, who designed our website logo.
