The sommelier of the Rincón de España family restaurant in Burgos, Fernando Mayoral Santamaría, has today been proclaimed the new Spanish sommelier champion. In the grand final, the Galician Tomás Ucha Altamirano, the wine director of the Berria Wine Bar in Madrid, and the Catalan Anna Casabona París, commercial delegate of the Juvé cavas, won.
Fernando Mayoral, 59, had taken a two-year “break” from his profession. Last year he decided to return to the world of competition, and already reached second place in the Spanish Wine Master competition organized by the Ramón Bilbao winery from La Rioja. And he saw that perhaps he had possibilities to achieve new successes, as he has.
Last February, this sommelier from Burgos was already proclaimed winner of the XXV Regional Sommelier Championship 2024 held in Burgos, which he had not participated in for two years. This victory gave him the ticket to participate in the Spanish championship. Mayoral had already been proclaimed the best sommelier in Castilla y León in 2017 and 2018, runner-up in 2019 and was classified among the top ten candidates in all these editions of the National Sommelier Championship.
Mayoral assures in statements to the Comer channel of La Vanguardia that the 29th edition of the Spanish Sommeliers Championship held at the IFEMA fairgrounds in Madrid, within the framework of the Gourmets Show, has been “super difficult.” In fact, they were asked about the classification of Rutherglen Muscat wines from Australia, about Chinese teas, about the subzones of the Finger Lakes of New York, about the meaning of Virgil’s phrase Bachus amat colles (Bacchus likes hills) or where Tumbarumba is (an Australian city in New South Wales) and what grapes are produced in the area. Some questions have had to be answered in English.
The new champion of Spanish sommeliers claims to feel very happy and excited “for having been able to be with very important people in my profession.” He has also revealed that “I have felt loved by people who have supported and pushed me,” although he wants to emphasize that “an individual achievement in my case is never individual, since there is a long list of people to whom I have to thank for their help.” I received”. For his part, Tomás Ucha assures that “the level of the contest has risen, which is good news for the future.”
Anna Casabona, who two years ago became the third best Spanish sommelier, considers that “being a sommelier who works for a winery and getting this far is a great source of pride.” She says that it has been a surprise for her to reach the final, and that her goal for today was only to qualify among the top ten.
The Galician Marta Cortizas, from the El Celler de Can Roca restaurant in Girona and best sommelier in Catalunya 2024, and Toni Albiol, from the Divins winery in Martorell and best sommelier in Catalunya 2023, have managed to qualify among the ten best sommeliers in a competition that It had 51 participants. Completing the Catalan representation, Christian Betoret, from Mas de la Sala de Sallent, and Ton Colet, best sommelier of Catalunya 2022 and member of Sensacions de Sant Cugat del Vallès, also participated.
The Spanish championship, sponsored by Tierra de Sabor and co-sponsored by Bodegas Protos, has had two eliminatory rounds. In yesterday’s semi-final, Wednesday, the contestants faced a written questionnaire, with multiple choice questions and questions to be developed, and a written wine tasting. The best went to today’s final, in which they had to pass a quick test, an oral wine tasting, an incorrect menu, the identification of distillates, liqueurs and drinks and, finally, the decanting and serving of a bottle of wine before the jury.
