Celeste Reserva 2019 from Pago del Cielo winery in Ribera del Duero, owned by Familia Torres, was awarded a coveted platinum medal and scored 97 points out of 100 at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards 2024, held in the United Kingdom. Only 117 wines achieved this distinction, of which 17 are Spanish. With more than 18,000 entries blind-tasted in a rigorous, multi-stage judging process, “Platinum award winners demonstrate truly exceptional quality” and can be considered “the very best expressions of classics alongside premium, under-the-radar wines that underline the wine world’s rich diversity”, according to Decanter.
The jury’s tasting notes for Celeste Reserva 2019 highlight its intense fruity aromas, “rapturous acidity and smart, earthy tannins” and conclude that the wine is “extremely well crafted with a long savoury finish”.
This is a small-production wine, 100% tinto fino (tempranillo) mainly from 40-year-old own vineyards on limestone soils, located at the highest points of the denomination of origin, at about 900 metres above sea level. The selected plots can be found in inlets or small valleys carved into the rock, a location that provides good exposure and thermal amplitude that favour the optimal ripening of the grapes. On the other hand, the limestone soils bring finesse and elegance to the wine.
The work of winemaker Juan Ramón García, the wine is produced with the utmost delicacy and aged for a minimum of 16 months in partially new French and American oak barrels. 2019 was an atypical year in terms of precipitation, with long periods of drought and summer storms, and mild temperatures in winter and warmer throughout the rest of the year.
Celeste Reserva 2019 was also crowned this year Best in Show in its category at the international competition Mundus Vini, held in March in Germany, as the wine obtained gold medal and was the highest-rated wine in Ribera del Duero Reserva category.
The Decanter World Wine Awards, organised by the British magazine Decanter, is one of the world’s most influential wine competitions, which has celebrated its 21st edition this year. The panel of 243 leading wine experts included 20 Master Sommeliers and 61 Masters of Wine from 33 countries, who blind-tasted and evaluated a total of 18,143 wines from 57 countries.
