I´m so thrilled!! Two of our wines were awarded with medals at the “Concours Mondial de Bruxelles” 2010, a very important and one of the most prestigious wine contests in Europe. Every year the contest changes location, and this one was celebrated in Palermo, Italy.
Our Osborne Pedro Ximenez (PX) 1827 was awarded the Great Gold Medal, as well as other 16 wines from Spain. This is the highest award in this contest, and one of our sherries was a winner. Awesome!!
Also our Rioja Montecillo Gran Reserva 2003 won a Gold Medal. This is great news as we just released this vintage and so it’s a guarantee of the consistent quality Montecillo offers vintage after vintage.
The jury was formed by 275 people from more than 40 different countries, and they tasted 6.264 wines from around the world. Incredible!
Congratulations to the winners!!
–Rocio
Starting today, the Rioja region will launch a campaign in the USA to promote Rioja wines. The campaign will focus mostly in NY, Florida and Chicago, as these are the states where Rioja is better known.
Today wine journalist Leslie Sbrocco, will conduct a tasting in Chicago´s Ivy Room of 12 Rioja Wines, priced in two different price ranges: less than 15$ and less than 30$. The same kind of seminar-tasting will take place in NYC, at the Puck Building on May 6th. These events are directed to journalists and wine trade, but after both, there will be a campaign for consumers under the name of “Rioja Restaurant Week.” From the 13–27th of May, 33 restaurants in Chicago and 25 in NYC, will offer special menus paired with Rioja wines at very special prices. If you are around any of these cities, check the list out and find out where you can enjoy a nice lunch or dinner accompanied with an outstanding Spanish wine: http://tastingtable.com/multipart_article/chicago/9/Rioja_Restaurant_Week.htm
Spain still has a long way to go in the wine market as our wines are still quite unknown, but this is a challenge I´m willing to take on, and make Spanish wines better known by consumers.
In case you don´t know, Rioja is recognized as one of the wine regions with better quality/price ratio. You can find an extraordinary wine for less than 15$, and as most renowned wine critics have stated time after time, Rioja wines satisfy consistently as no other wine category does.
Having said that, I will recommend you to taste any of the Montecillo wines, the wines my family make in Rioja that represent completely the Rioja spirit: made with Tempranillo, long periods in oak barrels to smooth the tannins from the Tempranillo grape and get its particular bouquet, released right when they’re ready to drink, and amazing value for money.
Go to your grocery shop, buy a Rioja wine, better if it´s Montecillo, and get to know what is Spain about!!
–Rocio
Last week the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards were presented, and even though the rumors were true and el Bulli lost their 4th consecutive #1 spot, they are still #2. The top prize went to Danish restaurant noma that is led by chef Rene Redzepi, who worked previously at el Bulli! The menu looks very interesting with dishes like “Ox cheek and endive with Pickled pear and verbena,” and “Carrots with Buttermilk and anis.”
Here are the top 15 winners, click on the picture to see the rest:
So excited to see 5 restaurants from Spain make the list!! It’d be such a dream come true to visit all 50 restaurants! Have you had the chance to visit any??
–Rocio
April 30, 2010 @ 10:17 am
Today is a day of excitement in Osborne, as we kick off of our Toro on-line shop http://www.torodeosborne.com/index.php
The Osborne bull has become an icon in Spain, and what started as an advertising billboard for brandy and later the logo of our company, has turned into a celebrity itself. Since 1956, the Bull has been part of our countryside and also a part of the memories of Spaniards and tourists as they travel through Spain with the bull billboards looking over them as a witness, like a silent watchtower.
Nowadays there are still 90 “bullboards” in the Spanish roads and motorways, a silhouette of a 14 meter black bull (45 feet high) that weigh around 4.000 kg/9.000 pounds.
Tons of cars have the bull sticker on the back, Spanish flags reproduced illegally with the bull on them, T-shirts with the bull, and a lot of other stuff are signs of how much people love our bull.
Osborne Bull decorated by American Pop artst Keith Haring
To avoid illegal reproductions of our much loved trade mark, and to control the quality of the products that have the bull on it, we decided one year ago to give licenses to reproduce the bull by chosen companies.
Since then, we have signed lots of contracts, and now we have a big family of products with the Osborne bull; helmets, notebooks, decorating figures, silk ties, wine sets, watches, etc.
Starting today, people across Spain can buy different products with the original Osborne Bull, and very soon we´ll launch the site in English and send your purchases wherever you are.
Click on the link, it´s time to get bullish!!
Enjoy your weekend!
–Rocio
