Sergio Rodríguez was responsible for giving the starting signal to the new spaces of Bodegas Protos. The prestigious Peñafiel house has inaugurated its new recognition and medal space as well as its barrel room for high-end wines, managed by one of the best Spanish leaders in history.
The former Real Madrid player represents the values that Bodegas Protos wishes to transmit to society and which are based on effort, discipline, perseverance and improvement, as well as on the motto that has accompanied Protos during its almost 100 years of history: Be First.
“El Chacho” toured the winery facilities, starting with the underground rooms where Circle of Firstsof which he was also a part, to continue towards the new Trophy roomwhere, together with Edmundo Bayón, president of Bodegas Protos, he lifted the curtain that hid some of the most important awards that the Valladolid winery has received.
Edmundo Bayón emphasized that “with this renewal, Protos looks resolutely towards the future with quality and differentiation as a flag, remaining faithful to our motto Being First: Improve and innovate as the only path to excellence” and added that “Being First is the entire human team that makes up Protos. Sergio El Chacho Rodriguez is the first. “No one better than him to inaugurate our room of trophies, medals and recognition.”
For his part, Sergio Rodriguez He added that what he has realized throughout his career is that “it is very difficult to become first, but it is more difficult to stay. This requires a greater sacrifice, because when you arrive, everything is new, You can get close to success, but once you achieve it, the essence you need to accumulate to stay in that state takes a lot of dedication.
Furthermore, the former NBA player added that “I had the chance to devote myself to my passion, which is basketball. There were many things that I loved about what I did, but there were others that required effort, and when I was able to assimilate that to make an effort was to be in good condition and to be devoting myself to what I loved, that’s when I really noticed a change in my performance and in the way I saw things.
With 26 titles behind him, he said it was clear, given his decision to retire, that the bar was high and he did not want to lower it. “I had the obsession in recent years to finish well, to enjoy, to have a good time while playing and it was so. My dream has always been to end my career winning.
The trophy room houses more than 200 awards, including the most emblematic that the winery has received since its beginnings in 1927. For example, the first award that the winery obtained with the Grand Gold Medal of 1929 during the first 2 vintages from the national wine competition held at the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exhibition; Winery of the Year by Wine & Spirits; 2013 Agri-Food Company of the Year Award awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture; Civic Trust Award for Architecture of the Richard Rogers Building, which recognizes the best designs and installations in construction, planning, urban vista and infrastructure or inclusion in the list of the 50 most admired wineries in the world by Drinks International since 2022, among others.
Sergio Rodríguez and a special discussion
After the inauguration of the new trophy room, they went to the high-end Wine Barrel Room, where Chacho Rodríguez and the sports journalist Antonio Daimiel held a symposium where they spoke about the values of sport and this conjunction with the world of wine. .
“I think the grape – in my case – is the passion for what I do. The ingredients of basketball are very similar to my personality: working as a team, having a good atmosphere, enjoying and the sport itself, which I have always carried deeply within me,” says Sergio Rodríguez.
The former player also highlighted other aspects, such as the fact that he always liked to share what he did with his teammates, with the people around him. “It must be understood that when the group comes together, the objective is achieved in a simpler way and it is appreciated more; and that was my sporting career, to integrate myself more into the groups in which I belonged, to make people feel comfortable, because in this way I understood that what we had in common would come true more easily.
Finally, he commented that the routines helped him a lot in his career, training every day of the season, even if it was not for the immediate future, for the match that was going to be played. “I realized how useful working every day was to me. When I went to practice, I thought about doing work that would help me later; When I removed the idea that these sessions would help me in the immediate future, it felt better and I got better. And all this gave me confidence, it helped me take the pressure off for the most important day.”
The high-end wine cellar has a capacity of 1,500 Bordeaux barrels, as well as 5 French and Austrian oak tuns; 8 French oak vats and 6 concrete eggs. The most emblematic and prestigious wines from the cellar will pass through the room: Protos 5º Año, Protos’27, Protos Gran Reserva and Protos Grajo Viejo, in addition to new productions in progress. On the other hand, the new space has a special area that houses historic vintages from 1964 to the present day, presenting emblematic labels of the Peñafiel, Ribera Duero and Protos brands.
