Spain Food Nation

London, United Kingdom

Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino

Foods and Wines from Spain has announced the three new members of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino for 2022. The Caballeros were announced as Basque-born chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho; Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, general manager of winery Marqués de Murrieta; and Catriona Felstead MW, senior wine buyer for fine wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd, and were welcomed into the organisation at the 37th Investiture Dinner, held at The Savoy Hotel in London.

Organised by ICEX, in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture under the Spain Food Nation campaign, the annual Investiture Dinner celebrates the continuing work of the organisation and its members in promoting Spanish wines in the UK. Each year’s event officially welcomes three new Caballeros to the Gran Orden, which is made up of wine professionals across the spectrum, from winemakers and winery owners in Spain to wine importers and retailers in the UK, as well as chefs, restaurateurs, journalists, educators and many more besides.

On the night, guests enjoyed a curated selection of spectacular wines from Spanish producers to toast the new members, chosen for the dinner and matched to a bespoke food menu, with Spanish ambassador to the UK H.E. José Pascual Marco Martínez in attendance, alongside the Gran Orden’s acting Chancellor, Ms. Elisa Carbonell (Director General, ICEX) and Chairman, Mrs. Sarah Jane Evans MW.

Elisa Carbonell said, “We are delighted to gather today to welcome these three distinguished Caballeros to the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino. Together we celebrate the successes of the Spanish wine industry, as the love that British people have for Spanish wines goes from strength-to-strength.”

More information on the three new Caballeros can be found below.

Nieves Barragán Mohacho

A highly influential and much-loved chef and restaurateur, Nieves has been flying the flag for Spanish food and wine in London and the UK for more than two decades. Having grown up in Bilbao in Spain’s Basque region, she became passionate from an early age about the region’s produce and cuisine and in the late 1990s came to London to work at restaurants including Simply Nico and the Spanish restaurants Fino and Barrafina. During her ten years as executive chef for both Fino and Barrafina, she oversaw the opening of two further Barrafina restaurants and gained a Michelin star for the original site on Frith Street. She left in 2018 to open Sabor in Mayfair with business partner José Etura. The restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star eight months after opening and remains among the very best restaurants in the country for those looking to discover authentic takes on Spanish food, and a personally selected list featuring some of the best wines to be found in Spain.

Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga

One of four children born in Tarragona, Catalonia, to Vicente Cebrián Sagarriga and María Jesús Suárez- Llanos, Counts of Creixell, Vicente spent much of his childhood in a family property in Pazo de Barrantes, where his love for wine and the countryside of Spain began in earnest. After studying in Madrid at the British Council School with degrees in Economics, Business Studies and Law at the University of Navarra, he began a career in the wine industry. In 1989, he had started work as head of exports for acclaimed winemaker Marqués de Murrieta, and in the 1990s, he took over management of the family winery with the aim of revolutionising the business and the winery site. Throughout his career leading Marqués de Murrieta, both he and the business have won a huge number of awards and accolades, including the Cross of the "Order of May 2" of the Community of Madrid, the Conde Nast Award for Best Entrepreneur of the Year, the Gentleman Award, Best Winery of the Year 2015, and the prize for the best wine in the world for Castillo Ygay 2010 awarded by the prestigious publication Wine Spectator in 2020.

Catriona Felstead MW

Catriona Felstead MW is senior wine buyer at fine wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd with many years’ experience working with exciting winemakers in Spain and a passion for Spanish wine that goes back to her youth. She discovered the world of wine a few years after graduating from university with a degree in Spanish and French and joined Berry Bros. in 2007 after having worked for Oddbins. She then won the WSET Vintners' Cup and Vintners' Scholarship and passed the Master of Wine exam in 2012, becoming the company’s first female MW. She was appointed as a buyer at Berry Bros. & Rudd in 2013, before being promoted to senior buyer and working across regions including Spain and South Africa. In her personal and professional lives, she has always shown an affinity for Spanish wines – something that has been augmented by taking responsibility for the region from the brand’s previous buyer and member of the Gran Orden Simon Field MW, in 2017.

Created by Wines from Spain in 1985, Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino, or GOCV aims to shine a light on members of the wine trade leading the way in the UK market, and has become an integral part of the fabric of the Spanish wine scene in the UK. The organisation plays a key role in how Spanish wines continue to find favour with British drinkers, providing a curated selection of broadcasters, educators, importers, journalists retailers, restaurateurs, winemakers and winery owners, whose contributions have been pivotal.