The Spanish Foreign Trade Agency (ICEX) was awarded the Gaucelmo 2007 trophy by DO Bierzo’s Regulating Council. This acknowledgment is the maximum accolade the regulating body presents once a year to “individuals or institutions that have made an outstanding effort in marketing, dissemination, support and defence of this appellation’s wines, endorsed vine-growers and bodegas”. The award will be presented on 2nd May, as a prelude to the Bierzo Wine Fair, BierzoVino, held yearly in Cacabelos.

In recent years, DO Bierzo wine production and sales have undergone an important increase in volume and value. Foreign prescriptor and consumer interest for these wines, made mostly from the Mencía variety, has also increased. In fact, the appellation’s wine exports increased by 127 percent in 2007, in comparison with the previous year’s figures, representing 95 percent of all exported red wines made from this variety, the appellation’s basic range. Sales figures are published on a regular basis and can be found here.

Bodegas endorsed by DO Bierzo also play an active role in the different activities organised by ICEX and Wines from Spain on the world’s most important markets.

The prize takes its name from a 12th century hermit monk, who is said to have received a vine graft from the Bierzo town of Valdecañana. Guacelmo devoted his life to helping pilgrims along the Route of Santiago de Compostela.