(TDB) - One of Spain’s leading winemakers has declared that his fruit this year was as good as any he could remember, raising the potential of this year’s vintage.

Antonio Sarrion, who makes one of only 15 vinos de pagos in Spain, the country’s self-styled Grands Crus, said that weather conditions could hardly have been any better on his vineyards in two DOs, Utiel-Requena and Valencia.

The highly respected Sarrion, a former civil engineer, is optimistic that he can produce the same quality of wine from this year’s harvest as his award-winning 2014 vintage.

That year, his El Terrerazo 2011, made from Bobal grapes in a high altitude parcel in the Valencia DO, beat off rivals that included three heavyweight Riojas and a Ribera del Duero to triumph in the Spanish single varietals over £15 class.

“Despite the heat we had this year, the large diurnal range of the high El Terrerazo vineyards helped preserve acidity,” Sarrion said.