Wine Tasting – Unique Perspectives from Verum and Ulterior

Difficult weather is a hazard in the wine industry, it turns out this is not limited to wine production but also for wine dinners! Despite hoisting of typhoon #8 and black rainstorm signal in Hong Kong, it did not dampen the enthusiasm of our 30+ guests to taste some award winning Spanish wines from the relatively unknown region of Castilla – La Mancha!

It was a pleasure to work with Elias Lopez Muntero, wine director of Verum Wines and Ulterior to showcase his wines and share the attributes of Castilla – La Mancha which is often overlooked for the production of bulk brandy.

Under the visionary leadership of Elias, after numerous trials and experiments to understand the inate qualities of the terroir and wine making history of the region, he started making quality dry white and red wines more than ten years ago.

His vision and efforts were realized when he was recognized as one of the top ten youngest Spanish winemaker to watch by Decanter in 2017. Jancis Robinson MW tried his wines in 2019 and reported his white wine made from airen was the best she had ever tasted! His Graciano, single variety had earnt Ulterior the highest score for this grape in Decanter Awards, and has become the highest score ever achieved by a wine from the region. Amongst organic wines, it ranks amongst the top three wines in Spain and one of the 50 world best.

Bravo Elias, keep up the good work in your home wine region. I look forward to showing your wines in the next wine region you put on the world map!