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• The Arautava Blanco Dulce Gran Reserva 2002 wine, from the Designation of Origin ‘Valle de La Orotava’, has scored highly among more than 1,800 brands entered for the award.

Local Canarian products are winning international awards again. This time a wine produced in the Canary Islands has been recognised with the 2016 Bacchus Grand Gold medal in the latest edition of the international wine contest organised by the Spanish Association of Wine Tasters (‘UEC’ in Spanish) which included more than 1,800 brands from 21 countries.

The selected label was ‘Arautava Blanco Dulce Gran Reserva 2002’, a sweet wine from the Designation of Origin ‘Valle de La Orotava’, which has been deserving of a score of over 93 points out of 100 during a blind tasting carried out by 80 experts from different countries who spent four days in Madrid choosing the best wines of the year.

The contest, held between 17-21 March in the Spanish capital, awarded thirteen wines with this honour, seven of which were produced in Spain. The six remaining medals went to varieties from France, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Although a wine from the Canary Islands has won the Bacchus Grand Gold medal, another four were awarded the distinction of Bacchus Gold: ‘Testamento Malvasía Aromática Barrica’, from the Designation of Origin Abona, in Tenerife; and ‘Malvasía Seco Colección’, ‘Vulcano Dolce’ and ‘Moscatel de Ana’, all three belonging to the Designation of Origin Vinos de Lanzarote.

Two Bacchus Silver medals were also awarded to Canarian wines ‘Malvasía Fermentado en Barrica’ and ‘La Grieta (Malvasía Volcánica)’, from the Designation of Origin Vinos Lanzarote. Several awards in this category also went to Tenerife, specifically the wines ‘Brumas de Ayosa Blanco Afrutado’ and ‘Momentos’, both from the Designation of Origin Valle de Güímar; ‘Tableros Tinto’ from the Designation of Origin Abona; ‘Marba Tinto Barrica’ and ‘Ainhoa Dulce’, from the Designation of Origin Tacoronte-Acentejo; and ‘Arautava Blanco Seco’, from the Designation of Origin Valle de La Orotava.

Finally, the Canary Islands Protected Designation of Origin also received three Bacchus Silver medals for its wines ‘Tajinaste Tinto Roble’, ‘Caldera V Siglos’ and ‘Paisaje de las Islas’.

The latest edition of the Bacchus International Wine Awards brought together tasters, sommeliers and winemakers of great domestic and international repute, including a dozen Masters of Wine and two Masters of Sommelier, who during a blind tasting assessed and recognised the quality of the wines to select the best brands and award them with a medal. Purchasing managers from some of the leading international supplier chains also participated, as well as specialist journalists and representatives from the main winegrowing institutions worldwide.