A ‘really juicy, joyful and approachable’ style, began Mike Best of the WSET in his praise of this worthy Gold recipient, enjoying its ‘wonderful juicy aromatics and bright, very ripe fruit aromas, medium-bodied style with soft tannins and freshness on the finish’. Julien Sahut of Sexy Fish meanwhile highlighted its ‘violets and red cherries, inky mineral character, lots of tannin with chalky texture on the palate and lively acidity at the end, with more berries and spicy soft fruit’. Best served with black pudding, thought team leader Jade Koch.

£9.35 Liberty Wines

‘Perfectly balanced,’ was team leader Jade Koch’s estimation of this Gold winner, adding: ‘Delicious and ripe, with cherries and strawberries. A warm and rich wine.’ ‘Powerful yet balanced, with spiced dark fruits, and in need of decanting if drinking now,’ began Dan Cohen of Cépages Wine Bistro, while Mike Best of the WSET mused: ‘It has bright, ripe, pure fruit, white pepper and complexity, soft and supple yet powerful tannins, a heroic length and phenomenal integration and depth.’

£131.72 Mitolo Wines

‘Floral notes on the nose, hyacinth and roses, herbal notes of oregano mixed with deep, dark bramble fruits,’ began Robert Mason of Cheese at Leadenhall in his praise of this well-priced Gold Lister, charmed by its ‘smooth palate with juicy fruit, ripe and smooth tannins, warming alcohol and fresh acidity, leading to a long, luscious finish, providing good all-round value’. ‘Peppery, earthy, dried herb aromas, grippy and muscular with spiced plum and bitter chocolate notes,’ added Olivier Gasselin of Hakkasan Group. Team leader Simon Woods thought it perfectly suited to a rib-eye steak.

£7.49 Frederic Robinson

The judges had nothing but praise, and both a Gold medal and a Food Match Trophy, for Langmeil’s Shiraz. ‘Heavy black fruits are backed by impressive acidity, very fine, ripe tannins and good, judicious use of oak,’ began Sumi Sarma of Sumilier, impressed with its ‘great structure and mid-palate weight, smoke and sweet spice notes, green and black pepper, cinnamon, vanilla oak and body well integrated, all with a long finesse and a herbal, minty note at the end’. ‘Crunchy fruit, very fresh with lots of blueberry,’ added Adam Michocki of Chez Bruce. ‘With white pepper, vanilla and a touch of coconut, this would make a good match with a rib-eye steak with thyme butter,’ suggested The Don Restaurant’s Arnaud Fiol.

£12.83 Berkmann Wine Cellars

There was plenty going on here, ultimately resulting in a generous, significant wine that was undoubtedly worthy of Gold. ‘With its spiced dark plums, this is a tight and muscular style with ripe fruit on the palate and crunchy tannin. Broad and powerful,’ began Olivier Gasselin of Hakkasan Group, with Cheese at Leadenhall’s Robert Mason finding it ‘earthy, smoky and meaty on the nose, with brooding red and dark fruits, toasty notes and fine structure, making it a complex and food-friendly wine’. Specifically, thought New Street Grill’s Mauro Pirovano, this would shine alongside a rib-eye steak.

£16.64 Boutinot

The judges didn’t hold back in their praise as they handed over the Gold. ‘Smoked meat and earthy aromas with cooked bramble fruit on the nose, pleasant and juicy, fresh red fruits on the palate with hints of sweet spices and a peppery edge,’ said Robert Mason of Cheese at Leadenhall, also noting ‘ripe and grippy tannins and a good finish’. Team leader Laurent Richet MS found ‘lovely use of oak, balanced with spices, minty freshness and perfumed red rose notes, followed by inky, lovely ripe-textured fruit – a delicious and juicy wine with great structure’. ‘Wild raspberry aromas and a little baked bread, leading to chunky, fresh red fruit flavours. Drink with medium-rare lamb rump,’ recommended Vinoteca’s Charlie Young.

£10.78 Berkmann Wine Cellars

‘This is very complex on the nose, giving the impression of some age,’ began Carlos Ferreira of The Sign of the Don as this Aussie blend took Gold. He enjoyed its ‘leather, tobacco and spice notes on the palate, great balance and beautiful finish, showing it still has a lot of potential to improve in the bottle’, while Sumi Sarma of Sumilier was impressed with its ‘terrific body and structure, crisp and grainy, very fine tannins and uplifting, long finish’. A match for roast beef, thought Cavalry & Guards Club’s Andre Luis Martins, describing ‘gentle, smoked, ripe cherry notes with fresh tobacco leaf, too, leading to complex red berries and dark spices, culminating in a rich, elegant finish’.

£17.93 Majestic Commercial

There was nothing shy about this Gold winner, with ‘plenty of oak but well integrated’ thought J Corey Evans of St Swithins Wine Shippers, who found ‘spices coming through, riding on a wave of warming alcohol, along with great chocolate and cigar character balanced by smoke notes and baking spices’. Meanwhile, Hakkasan Group’s Diana Rollan felt it was ‘perfect for a steak, with its plum, cherry and sweet spices on a toasty, meaty nose, long and bold palate with high, ripe tannins, good full-bodied balance and concentration’.

£19.57 Matthew Clark

This Gold winner was a ‘concentrated and expressive wine that would be useful for introducing the style to the uninitiated’, began Adam Michocki of Chez Bruce, who enjoyed its ‘easy-drinking style, with firm but dusty tannins, dark fruit and spices on a long finish’. ‘Fresh and spicy with eucalyptus and mint leaf on the nose, a very well-balanced palate with a clean, long finish, hints of tobacco, leather and mushroom,’ added Carlos Ferreira of The Sign of the Don. ‘Complex aromas of fruit, spice and floral notes, leading to roasted coffee beans on the long finish. Pair with beef bourguignon,’ concluded team leader Lionel Periner.

£16.35 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Complex and mineral, this couldn’t take any less than Gold, thought our judges. Charles Pashby-Taylor of Dabbous enjoyed its ‘black pepper, holly and apple wood nose, quince and capsicum with red and black fruit and more pepper on the palate, with nice wood integration and velvety tannins’, while team leader Olivier Marie remarked on its ‘leafy, stemmy character with herbal tones, a fresh palate with well-managed tannins and oak, high alcohol but in balance – a rustic style with pronounced minerality’. ‘Guilty-pleasure steak sandwiches on a Sunday,’ mused WineEd’s Matthew Cocks.

£19.16 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Team leader Sam Caporn MW noted developed characters of ‘figs and prunes with coffee mocha and spice’, while Xabier Alvarez of Trangallán found it ‘agile on the palate, with black olive character and lots of concentration’, and for Tobias Brauweiler MS of Sake No Hana it was ‘well balanced with rich fruit of cherry and plum, thyme herbal notes and great length’.

£19.04 Liberty Wines

‘Full of juicy black fruit on the nose, packed with black berries and cherry, dry with plenty of tannin that’s well integrated, and it’s long with a spicy finish, perfect for a roast dinner,’ said Julien Sahut of Sexy Fish, with WSET’s Mike Best liking its ‘inky, structured, medium-weight, fun style with really good berry fruit’.

£9.72 Matthew Clark

‘Spicy black fruit aromas, leathery coffee hints and eucalyptus, leafy and elegant, then a weighty palate with bramble and tobacco notes, a fine style,’ said Luciana Girotto-Beckett of Macellaio RC, with Hakkasan Group’s Olivier Gasselin impressed by its ‘good balance, juicy fruit and Provençal herb aromas, bitter chocolate with undergrowth notes on the palate, crunchy tannins and soft, bitter-sweet finish’.

£12.99 Frederic Robinson

Excellent value here for team leader Olivier Marie, who was impressed with its ‘rich, ripe fruit, not confected though very precise in the aromatics, with a fleshy palate and good freshness’, concluding that it was ‘a well-made wine, elegant in style with aristocratic, pronounced minerality’.

£13.75 Hatch Mansfield

‘Fruit-forward, ripe and cooked raspberry and strawberry with vanilla and black spices, toasty wood, smoke and leather notes, then a palate that’s rich and ripe with supple tannins,’ said Sumi Sarma of Sumilier, also noting it was ‘good complexity given the price, and good value for money’.

£7.18 Boutinot

Team leader Laurent Richet MS picked up ‘bacon and savoury aromas, notes of salted pork belly and lentils with prunes on a complex, textured palate’, and Robert Mason of Cheese at Leadenhall was impressed with its ‘juicy, aromatic, vibrant red and black berries on the nose, prune and fig with lots of anise notes and sweet plums’, rating it ‘versatile with red meats’.

£9.93 Enotria&Coe

Charles Pashby-Taylor of Dabbous highlighted its prominent ‘cassis and blueberry fruit with firm tannins’, and Neil Tabraham of Paris House noted ‘crunchy fruit and menthol aromas, plums and blueberry, with a complex palate, cassis and chewy texture giving it great and versatile food potential’.

£17.93 Majestic Commercial

‘Cherry and plum fruit, elegant with fine acidity on the palate, ripe and firm tannins, spicy cinnamon notes with floral berry fruit on the finish,’ said Tobias Brauweiler MS of Sake No Hana, with team leader Sam Caporn MW highlighting its ‘light cranberry and raspberry, balanced tannin and freshness with a red cherry finish’.

£11.00 Boutinot

Adam Michocki of Chez Bruce felt this ‘will need a little more time to show its best, but is already drinking nicely, very fresh with a warm character of prunes, crème de cassis and black pepper’, and team leader Tom Forrest picked up on its ‘smoky, spicy aromas, some floral notes and black fruits, toasty oak and eucalyptus with soft berry fruit and black pepper’.

£11.31 Berkmann Wine Cellars

Dario Barbato of Individual Restaurants found ‘toasty aromas with black pepper and black fruits, intensity of flavour on the palate and on a lingering finish, offering a great wine to enjoy with fatty foods’, while for Neil Tabraham of Paris House there was ‘cinnamon, spicy cassis and prunes, a long, juicy palate with complexity, great balance and poise’.

£41.40 Bibendum

‘Very aromatic in character; spicy with concentrated fruit and a smoky cedar finish, nicely structured,’ said Neil Tabraham of Paris House, with team leader Olivier Marie finding it ‘sweet, richly textured but elegantly made, with earthy, chalky tannins and a rustic edge, warm and generous alcohol’.

£8.62 Enotria&Coe

‘Generous and silky in the mouth, this delivers jammy and ripe raspberry and cherry fruit, superb freshness across the palate and finishes with a touch of spice,’ said Damien Trinckquel of Galvin Brasserie de Luxe Edinburgh, with Trangallán’s Xabier Alvarez noting that it was ‘just developing, with a great, subtle nose and good concentration’.

£9.00 Liberty Wines

‘Complex, classy and elegant,’ began Robert Mason of Cheese at Leadenhall, enjoying its ‘powerful yet silky and smooth character, with lots of typicity: spice and earthy notes, dark fruits finishing with a sweet anise tang’. ‘Big structure but fine, with well-managed oak treatment,’ agreed Olivier Gasselin of Hakkasan Group.

£26.00 Liberty Wines

Damien Trinckquel of Galvin Brasserie de Luxe Edinburgh was impressed with this wine’s ‘savoury style with purity of fruit, soft cured meats and yellow flavours on the palate, well-ripened berries and a vibrant character, good tannins with mint and eucalyptus on the finish, great freshness, too’, while team leader Sam Caporn MW found a ‘tight nose but nice floral lift, with soft blackberry and blueberry fruit’.

£17.98 Liberty Wines

‘Red berries and a splash of cassis, herbs and spices on the nose,’ began team leader Angela Reddin, who highlighted its ‘lifted, rich and fruity palate with high-key notes of red fruit, all extending gracefully into an amazing finish’.

£15.00 Liberty Wines

Team leader Olivier Marie liked its style, praising a ‘textbook Shiraz from Australia, showing some grippy tannic character, granite/quartzite minerality, and fresh and concise on the palate’, and Neil Tabraham of Paris House was keen on its ‘vanilla and spice with herbaceous menthol, cassis and mocha palate, and clean, structured finish’.

£10.24 Enotria&Coe

Julien Sahut of Sexy Fish found ‘plum, cherry, olive and herbal aromas, then a lot of black fruit and plum dominating the palate with a spicy finish’, and Mike Best of the WSET felt you should ‘be decadent and have this wine with an awesome burger!’

£11.20 Liberty Wines

A ‘big, show-off steak wine’, said WSET’s Mike Best, noting its ‘deep, concentrated fruit, white pepper and chocolate notes with hints of tobacco, mixed with ripe bramble fruits, impressive structure with full, fine-grained tannins and good length’.

£18.95 Liberty Wines

Carlos Ferreira of The Sign of the Don found ‘cherry jam and spicy chocolate character with gentle tobacco and leather notes, good acidity and balance’, with team leader Tom Forrest noting ‘some age on the nose and quite medicinal dried herbs and flowers, red and black fruit with mineral notes and some spicy oak elegance’.

£9.86 Berkmann Wine Cellars

‘A medium colour with light, spicy oak aromas, nice freshness on the palate, even with the oak currently dominating the fruit slightly, but it’s classy, long and spicy,’ said team leader Sam Caporn MW.

£17.51 Direct Wines Production

‘Great purity with new oak and a voluptuous, richly textured palate,’ said team leader Olivier Marie, who was taken with its ‘sweet ripe blackberries with blackcurrants on the nose, warm baking spices, cinnamon and nutmeg, and lifting menthol character’.

£8.18 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

‘Toasted bread and smoky charred notes on the nose, with a salty mineral edge, lovely ripe prune and plum fruit on the palate, with a classy touch,’ said team leader Laurent Richet MS, while Hakkasan Group’s Olivier Gasselin found it ‘peppery, juicy, crunchy and a touch ferrous’.

£10.44 Enotria&Coe

£9.35 Liberty Wines

£9.60 Liberty Wines

£8.73 Boutinot

£19.95 Indigo Wine

£17.93 Majestic Commercial

£7.77 Direct Wines Production

£8.44 Hatch Mansfield

£17.56 Enotria&Coe

£13.84 Liberty Wines

£13.84 Liberty Wines

£6.25 Berkmann Wine Cellars

£14.26 Boutinot

£13.92 Enotria&Coe

£12.09 Liberty Wines

£19.06 Liberty Wines

£17.52 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

£15.25 Bibendum

£15.39 Bibendum

£10.08 Matthew Clark

£9.86 Matthew Clark

£9.78 Boutinot

£10.78 Bibendum

£15.00 Liberty Wines

£12.50 Fuller's

£12.98 Waverley Hills Organic Wines

£8.50 Fuller's

£11.64 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

£19.73 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

£17.52 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

£9.08 Liberty Wines

£10.20 Berkmann Wine Cellars

£4.99 Frederic Robinson

£16.97 Matthew Clark

£12.75 Bibendum

£17.44 Enotria&Coe