7 renowned sommeliers and expert consultants met on April 5th to celebrate a new day of the External Committee of Expert Tasters of Grandes Pagos de España. Chaired by Juancho Asenjo and composed of María José Huertas, Cristina de la Calle, Luis García de la Navarra, Paco del Castillo, Álex Pardo and Alberto Ruffoni, this committee meets several times a year. In 2023, 174 wines were tasted in 5 sessions held at the Madrid Chamber of Commerce.
The External Committee of Expert Tasters is responsible for rigorously and transparently evaluating all the wines belonging to Grandes Pagos de España.
This initiative, launched under the presidency of Toni Sarrión, “has increased the quality of the wines” he commented in an interview last June when he stepped down as president of the association. Luis García de la Navarra, owner of the Vinoteca García de la Navarra Restaurant, and a member of the External Committee of Expert Tasters since its inception, speaks of “a gigantic evolution” since the creation of this forum. “The only objective is the search for quality, as there is no interest on the part of any of the members of the tasting committee in damaging or extolling a product, you simply want to show your sensations at the moment of the tasting, and in this way, with the descriptions and scores to the winery, collaborate so that they can continue or modify details of work with their technical team,” explains the sommelier from Madrid.
María del Yerro, new president since June 2023, is deeply involved with this committee and declares that it is “a fundamental pillar for GPE, which maintains a very demanding standard and watches over the excellence of all the wines of the Association”.
For more objectivity, the committee tastes all the wines blind, a fundamental methodology in the eyes of the association and García de la Navarra, as it allows “to abstain from judging influenced by the results that you have historically given to a wine or brand, friendship, affection, or others that can benefit or harm”.
Grandes Pagos de España was born out of the desire of producers who decided to group together to defend the personality and distinction of their wines and extend that culture, based on the expression of terroir.
Understanding the importance of reflecting these terroirs in the tasting of GPE wines, a fundamental criterion to be part of the association, the expert tasters assumed in 2023 the additional responsibility of evaluating how each winery describes it.
García de la Navarra comments on why it is fundamental to take it into account in the tasting: “Climates, soils, are determinant, since they indicate a message typical of an environment without taking into account the human factor that is particular to each individual, and that could in some cases lead to a style taking precedence over that territory.”
The External Committee of Expert Tasters, together with the annual meeting of winemakers: The Knowledge Network, reflect the commitment to the two main objectives of Grandes Pagos de España, which are set out in its statutes:
- The elaboration and promotion of high quality pago wines, with a strong personality, respecting the terroir from which they are born.
- The constant exchange among its associates of their experiences in viticulture and winemaking to promote the continuous improvement of their work, also organizing regular tastings of their wines.
