Next Friday, August 9 will be the act of medal-awarding of the Monterrei Wine Guild, in which five new members of it will be appointed: Domingo Rodríguez Villar, Floriano Barreira Santos, José Luis Suárez Conde, Alfonso Villarino Rodríguez and Alvaro Bueno Eléxpuru.
Domingo Rodríguez Villar, linked to the world of agriculture and president of the association of wine tasters ‘Tintores’. Founded in 2013, with the aim of giving wine courses to its members, and thus acquire maximum knowledge about wine.
Floriano Barreira Santos was part of the defunct Monterrei winery. After the closure of the vineyard, he opted for viticulture, restructuring the vineyard and planting the four plots of which he had. In 2002, together with other winegrowers, they created the cooperative winery Terras do Cigarrón, which is still a partner today.
José Luis Suárez Conde, who has been involved in viticulture since his birth, was a founding partner of the Monterrei winery. He started his professional work as a carpenter, and for family reasons left this job to take over the family business, being also responsible for the care of his sick father and younger brothers. After emigrating to France and the Netherlands, he returns to Vilaza (Monterrei) where he starts a business of distribution of drinks with his brother Mariano, in which he worked until 1999. Since 1979 he has been combining his professional activities with political life. He started as a member of the UCD council in the Monterrei County, and in 1981 after the resignation of Manuel Carballal he was mayor until 2015. From his position as mayor he promoted the creation of the denomination, encouraging the participation of winegrowers and even contributing financially together with the Concello de Oímbra to the maintenance of the Consello Regulador, in its beginnings.
Alfonso Villarino Rodríguez began his professional life working in the family’s tailoring, shop and bar, as well as on the land they cultivated for home use. He learned the trade of tailor with his father, which he perfected in a specialized centre in Barcelona and to which he devoted part of his professional life. Full of projects and concerns, he opened new horizons, and in the late seventies combines the profession of tailor with that of director of Caixa Ourense (later Caixanova) in Oímbra, which he inaugurated and directed until his retirement. Villarino was for 36 years (between 1979 and 2015) the mayor of Oímbra. During that term of office, he promoted not only the organization of the Feira do Pemento de Oímbra but also the creation of the Monterrei Designation of Origin and its Consello Regulador.
Álvaro Bueno Eléxpuru studied Oenology at the School of Viticulture and Oenology in Requena and also completed a Master’s degree in Viticulture, Oenology and Wine Marketing at the “International Social Science Council”. Named as Best Winemaker of Galicia by the Association of Sumilleres Gallaecia in 2007, he started his career in the world of Galician wine under the tutelage of great winemakers of the time such as José Vicente Guillen Ruiz or Federico Ponce. He has been a member of the tasting committees for four of the five Designations of Origin in Galicia (Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra, Monterrei and Valdeorras) and also owns his own laboratory and wine consultancy, Catavinos, of which he is a founding partner since 1995. Currently, he advises wineries of four Galician denominations, among which are several of the D.O. Monterrei.
This event, which is held in conjunction with the celebration of the Monterrei Wine Fair, will be held at the Parish Church of Verín, from 18.30 (free admission until capacity is full). The Monterrei Wine Guild was created in 2013, and currently has 54 members (some of them posthumously appointed).
Crier
On the other hand, in this edition the figure of the peacock will fall to José Paz Paz, vice president of the Official College of Technical Engineers and Agricultural Graduates of Ourense, agricultural technical engineer and linked to the wine sector of the region of Monterrei.
