JAY MILLER COMPLETES HIS FIRST VISIT TO SPAIN BY TASTING 500 WINES FROM THE DOCA RIOJA

May 10, 2010

The critic, a member of Robert Parker’s team, was accompanied by Pancho Campo MW, who organised the North American’s visit and his sessions for scoring the wines

Marbella (Málaga), 10th May 2010 – An important part of Robert Parker’s team, Jay Miller, has completed his first trip to Spain where he tasted wines from various wine regions with the goal of scoring Spanish wines using the Parker system, for the prestigious magazine, The Wine Advocate. Rioja was the region chosen to end the Californian critic’s ‘tour’ of Spain with a tasting of five hundred wines from this Denomination of Origin.

Throughout this week, Miller, accompanied by Pancho Campo MW who has coordinated the visits to the wineries since the middle of April, has tasted and scored 500 wines from various vintages in the tasting room of the Consejo Regulador, and visited 15 Rioja wineries: Antión, Baigorri, Contador, Contino, Cvne, Dinastía Vivanco, Finca Allende, Juan Alcorta, La Rioja Alta, López de Heredia, Marqués de Murrieta, Marqués de Riscal, Muga, Pujanza, Remírez de Ganuza and Roda.

The DOCA of Rioja was the third and last destination for Miller in his first trip to Spain sponsored by The Wine Advocate. Miller, a specialist in Spanish wines, has highlighted many times his preference for Rioja wines, especially with regards to their excellent quality-price ratio and also for the endless possibilities for future investors from all over the world in this region: “Fundamentally, this official visit from The Wine Advocate is a response to the interest of Robert Parker of coming to Spain thanks to his visit to Winefuture – Rioja ’09. The steps taken by Pancho Campo were decisive in further sparking Parker’s interest in Spanish wines and especially in those from Rioja, which are also receiving fantastic promotion abroad thanks to The Wine Academy of Spain”, explained Miller.

The critic’s stay in the most traditional Spanish wine making region has proven to be very fruitful: “Even though I have already been to La Rioja”, he says, “I have never spent so much time here, so that I have been able to enjoy the neighbourhood of Haro Station, something barely managed in other cities. Without doubt, the wines from Rioja need to be taken into account in the global scene; they are 100 or close to 100 point wines at a very reasonable price, which in other parts of the world might cost two or three times more”.

For his part and in relation to this trip, the President of the DOCa Rioja, Víctor Pascual, praised Jay Miller’s work in spreading the word of Riojan wines in the USA while grateful for his presence in this region thanks to the participation of the famed wine critic Robert Parker in Winefuture – Rioja ’09.

Prior to his current stay in Rioja, Miller tasted wines from the Denominations of Toro (100 wines), and of Ribera del Duero (350 wines) which, together with 500 from La Rioja, “implies a very strong boost for these three Denominations of Origin. It is very important that small and medium sized wineries without distribution in the United States start to become recognised thanks to the scores awarded them by Parker’s team”, adds Pancho Campo MW.

Jay Miller will return to Spain, again with the collaboration of The Wine Academy of Spain, for a second visit in the coming September where he will score wines from Catalonia. Later on, around the start of 2011, The Wine Advocate has arranged a third trip of two weeks, to taste and score Andalusian wines with a special emphasis on the wines of Jerez.

The Wine Academy of Spain

The Wine Academy of Spain is a private organisation founded in 2003 by Pancho Campo MW, the only Spaniard to hold the title of Master of Wine. It focuses its activities on the education of wine professionals and aficionados; the international promotion of Spanish wine, through its Spanish Wine Education Programme; the promotion of Spain as a destination for wine tourism; the analysis of the impact of climate change on the industry; and study trips to wine producing regions, with the collaboration of the University of California Davis (USA). It is also an approved programme provider for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), which it imparts throughout Spain, and has organised the global conferences Climate Change and Wine and Winefuture – Rioja ’09. the Wine Academy is the organising entity of Vinoble, which will take place in Jerez de la Frontera from the 30th May until the 2nd June 2010.

For more information:
Marta Olea / Alberto García
Prensa
The Wine Academy of Spain
Tel. +34 636 466 179
Email: media@thewineacademy.es