La Rioja Alta Winemaking and tasting course for JRE Sommeliers
JRE-Jeunes Restaurateurs sommeliers from across Europe gathered for a three-day Intensive Course in Viticulture, Winemaking, and Tasting, hosted by La Rioja Alta in Spain. This is one of the many activities planned between the two brands to promote joint actions related to gastronomy, haute cuisine, and the sommelier’s world.
La Rioja Alta hosted a winemaking and tasting course for six JRE Sommeliers in Haro, La Rioja, Spain. The course focused on the journey from vineyard to winery, the art of making exceptional wines, and refining tasting skills.
The participant sommeliers were:
Hannes Hannes Pretz from restaurant KRAINER in Austria
Katharina Röder from restaurant BURG FLAMERSHEIM* in Germany
Bianca van Bochove from restaurant VLASBLOEMEKEN* in the Netherlands
Saskia Gadola from restaurant CASA ALVA in Switzerland
Riccardo Moscardi from CASA ELODIA(bib) in Italy
Selina Hegarty from restaurant CHESTNUT* in the UK
"It is a tremendous pleasure for us to work with JRE and be present at their restaurants. We believe our DNA’s match perfectly and very much look forward to the experience and opportunity of pairing JRE dishes with our wines to bring joy and happiness to your customers."
Export Area Manager, La Rioja Alta
About the course:
The course consisted of three modules. The first one covers some theory about the characteristics of an optimal viticultural environment, grape varieties and technology used in viticulture. The second module focused on how to make great wines, winemaking techniques and barrel aging. The third module focused on the art of tasting, identifying defects in wines, and exploring aromas from barrel and bottle aging.
MODULE 1 - FROM THE FIELD TO THE WINERY Module 1 of the course focuses on the journey from the field to the winery, covering topics such as viticultural environment study and characterization methods, botany and physiology, plant material including traditional and new grape varieties, different viticulture approaches, threats to vineyards like Phylloxeras, and the use of precision viticulture technologies like satellites and drones.
MODULE 2 / HOW TO MAKE GREAT WINES Module 2 delves into the process of making great wines, discussing grapes and must as raw ingredients, the evolution of winemaking techniques from wood vats to Winery 4.0, and sensory analysis of varieties and barrel aging within the winery.
MODULE 3 / THE TASTING Module 3 focuses on the art of tasting, introducing an efficient and objective tasting system, identifying defects in wines, exploring aromas from barrel and bottle aging, and examining the evolution of great wines through tastings of renowned examples with long aging periods such as Barolo, Burgundy, Rioja, and South Australia.
