This week has witnessed the first edition of Spanish Wine Academy, held in Zurich in Switzerland, with the participation of important sommeliers and figures from the world of winemaking, tasting some of the best Spanish wines currently available on the Swiss market. 

The event was held at the luxurious Widder Hotel in Zurich and was attended by around 30 sommeliers from the best restaurants and hotels in the country, all of whom enjoyed a training session by top-level speakers, and got to sample some prestigious enological treasures. 

After the opening session led by Alberto Saldón, Director of Ramón Bilbao's Spanish Wine Academy Project, Rodolfo Bastida and Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans were the stars of the first main session of the event, entitled "Spanish Terroir Revolution", where they gave a presentation on the best Spanish varieties and regions, which they completed with a grand tasting of 10 wines from 10 different wineries, including Mar de Frades, Cruz de Alba, Ramón Bilbao, Marqués de Murrieta, Osborne, Teso La Monja, Vega Sicilia and Lalomba. This enological tour of the best Spanish wineries was received with applause and admiration from the audience.

Two local figures stood out among the speakers: Amanda Wassmer Bulgin, sommelier of the Memories restaurant at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz hotel (2 Michelin stars) and named sommelier of the year 2021 by Falstaff magazine; and Lisa Bader, sommelier of "The Restaurant" (also 2 Michelin stars) and who was named best young sommelier in Germany and best sommelier in Switzerland in 2019. In their presentations, they reviewed sommelier trends in Switzerland and opportunities for Spanish wine in the local service sector. 

The session ended with a historical tasting, led by Rodolfo Bastida and Sarah Jane Evans, entitled "A Journey through the vintages of Rioja", in which Ramón Bilbao Gran Reserva wines from the 1976, 1982, 1998, 2004 and 2010 vintages were tasted. An impeccable enological journey through the many great hidden gems of Ramón Bilbao.

About Spanish Wine Academy

Spanish Wine Academy, the Spanish wine training platform.

Bodegas Ramón Bilbao aims to promote, disseminate and add value to the knowledge and consumption of Spanish wine with its Spanish Wine Academy project, a program whose objective is to provide education about wine culture at consumer and expert level, showing the quality and diversity of Spanish wines, in a global and transversal way, through different activities, programs and tools both in Spain and internationally.

The Spanish Wine Academy project was born in 2018 and, since then, face-to-face and online training sessions have taken place in more than 10 countries, with the presentation of over 200 Spanish wines on International markets, reaching more than 5,000 wine professionals.