The publication www.jancisrobinson.com is considered the most influential and decisive in the wine sector in the UK – perhaps beside Decanter- and between the most worldwide (next to Wine Spectator, Parker, Wine Enthusiast, Tanzer, Weinwirstchaft …). Its leader, Jancis Robinson, was described by Decanter magazine as ‘the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world’.
Therefore, that our wines could be evaluated by this publication became one of our goals, but at the same time we could not avoid to be a “little scared” taking into account that the opinions of this publication have decisive influence on the perception of quality and the making purchasing decisions of the trade and consumers, especially in the UK.
With the previous approval of the publication, we sent the requested samples (only from wines available for sale in the UK), and, after a month of waiting, this is what happened:
Our 4 winestastedwere12 Linajes Reserva 2009, Catania Crianza 2012 (both Ribera del Duero), Valdelacierva Rioja Crianza 2012 and Rueda Verdejo Señorío de Garci Grande 2014 .
All wines got 16.5 POINTS!, which in the glossary of the magazine correspond with the SUPERIOR category, equivalent to have obtained 91-92 points in a system based on 100-point scale (used by publications like Parker, Wine Spectator or the Peñin Guide, among others).
These scores get enhance the value of our wines in the worldwide wine sector, especially in the UK, and still more if we establish comparisons with the rest of Spanish wines assessed during 2015: The criteria that jancisrobinson.com takes into account to decide the wines for evaluating do not include to rate wines massively, not even all samples they receive, but only wines choosen after a rigourous selection. The proof is that among the 391 Spanish wines tasted between January and August this year, the vast majority are High Level wines (“Reserva, Gran Reserva, “Selected vines”, “Author wines” etc.) and, in general, high-end pricing, well above those of Hispanobodegas, which in this sense are unbeatable in the list.