Ramón Bilbao Winery Announces its 2023 Spanish Wine Master UK

This year, prestigious winery Ramón Bilbao, in La Rioja, announced a new professional competition to find its “Spanish Wine Master.” According to the winery, “This competition was devised as another way of teaching the trade everything Spain has to offer and celebrating how much people know.”

Following the grand final of the competition organized by the Spanish Wine Academy, a winner was announced. Kristy Woodgate has officially been named the 2023 Spanish Wine Master UK.

There was stiff competition for this title, as there were almost 200 entries and eventually 10 finalists went head-to-head before Kristy was chosen. She said, " I am honored to have won against some very talented competitors, and it is a privilege to be acknowledged by such well respected judges. I am thrilled to have been given the title UK Spanish Wine Master 2023, and I can't wait to make my own wine with the experts at Ramon Bilbao." 

As the winner, Kristy will take home a cash prize and the chance to make her own wine in partnership with the Ramón Bilbao technical team.

The panel of judges included some of the winemaking sector’s most important professionals, such as Pedro Ballesteros and Sarah Jane Evans MW, among others.

Some of the challenges they faced as part of the competition were to identify soils, provide the judges with technical descriptions of different wines, and analyze wines that they tasted blind.