A beautiful balance between fruit and savoury notes easily earned this Gold. ‘Bright and dynamic’ for Typing Room’s Fred Marti, it was ‘highly aromatic yet rustic on the nose, fresh and very engaging on the palate’, according to team leader Martin Lam. Team leader Lionel Periner described ‘an aroma full of red fruit, leading to velvet tannin on a well-balanced palate, with nice acidity’, while Quentin Loisel of Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms found ‘umami notes – a great accompaniment for rabbit with wild garrigue herbs’.

£19.82 Eurowines

A unanimous favourite for our judging panel, and ultimately worthy of Gold, team leader Laurent Richet MS praised its ‘beautiful cherries on the nose with roses, lovely intensity on the palate with more cherry, blackberry, strawberry jam and notes of tapenade, cedar and truffle’. And from Bovey Castle’s Francisco Macedo, it earned a simple ‘wow!’ ‘A match for wild boar ravioli,’ added team leader Simon Woods.

£39.78 Boutinot

‘Supple, with very generous red fruits, complex and long with plenty of life,’ was team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW’s praise for this Gold winner, while Andre Luis Martins of the Cavalry & Guards Club highlighted ‘fresh cherry and light, sweet floral aromas, rich fresh cherry on the palate with great spice notes and fresh cigar tobacco characters’. ‘Very classy, with good spice, grip and length, making this a match for boeuf en daube,’ thought team leader Simon Woods.

£46.29 Liberty Wines

‘A big wine,’ began Richard Brooks of Caroline Catering in his description of this Gold winner, ‘showing an earthy note and huge warmth on the palate, with big intensity. Great for big flavoured meat dishes, especially game, and a star at this price point.’ ‘Broad, rustic and earthy, with some chocolate notes,’ said Hakkasan Group’s Olivier Gasselin, also praising ‘a chunky and juicy palate’. ‘Lovely and juicy, with an intense, leathery character,’ concluded Caroline Catering’s Richard Brooks.

£18.00 GIV UK

Decorated with both Gold and a Food Match Trophy, this juicy Italian red was deemed ‘floral and soft, with supple texture and sweet cherry notes’, by team leader Olivier Marie, while Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot was impressed by its ‘very pleasant nose, enticing fruit medley and rounded palate’. The Sign of the Don’s Carlos Ferreira said: ‘Fruity and fresh, with good acidity on the palate, and strawberries and red-cherry jam, making this perfect for a barbecue.’

£6.16 Boutinot

Federico Forte of Plateau enjoyed its ‘very balanced palate, with bushberry flavours and a hint of herbal, balsamic aftertaste’, adding that it showed ‘good ageing potential’, while Andre Luis Martins of the Cavalry & Guards Club picked out notes of ‘wild strawberry with gentle violet aromas’.

£28.50 Enotria&Coe

Team leader Laurent Richet MS said this would be ‘worth ageing, with its cedar and cherries, olive tapenade undercurrent, high tannin and acidity with grippy tannins’, while The Sign of the Don’s Carlos Ferreira found more ‘red fruits, cherry and strawberry, with leather notes and youthful tannins’.

£51.89 Liberty Wines

A ‘restrained’ style, said team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW, noting ‘delicate, elegant red fruits with well-controlled tannin’, while Andre Luis Martins of the Cavalry & Guards Club found it ‘rich, punchy with baked red fruit and cherry aromas, black spices and a lightly meaty character’.

£25.19 Liberty Wines

‘Dusty and oak-tinged on the nose, medium bodied and quite complex with a savoury character,’ began team leader Martin Lam, with Jacopo Armenio of Vinarius finding ‘dark fruits, blueberry on the palate high tannins but a deep, long finish’.

£13.95 Eurowines

Showing ‘great character with intensity’, according to Andre Luis Martins of the Cavalry & Guards Club, this had ‘dark cherry fruit and smoked spices with notes of pine on a good, lengthy finish’. ‘Intensely flavoured, but delicate body with herbal, leafy touches,’ said team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW.

£34.37 Bava Azienda Vitivinicola

Team leader Laurent Richet MS found this a ‘lovely perfumed style with ripe fruit on nose and palate, high tannin but good acidity’, while for The Vineyard Group’s James Hocking it was an ‘elegant wine, with earthy aromas and tarry character’.

£24.23 Alivini

Our tasting panel highlighted this wine’s notes of kirsch, Morello cherry and some stewed red fruit elements on the nose, with a range of black and red fruit flavours and sour cherry notes on a medium-bodied palate, complemented by fresh acidity.

£11.35 Boutinot

A wine whose ‘good tannin structure and balance’ was filled out by ‘raisin, Christmas pudding, clove and sweet spices’, for consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates, with team leader Olivier Marie finding it ‘unctuous, showing complex, oxidative aromatics with dark cocoa bean and roast coffee notes’.

£19.95 Boutinot

Immacolata Cannavo of Hakkasan Dubai found it ‘very perfumed with plenty of cherry and tar and high tannins’, while Bovey Castle’s Francisco Macedo added that it was ‘integrated, with high acidity and good fruit, cherry, cedar and tobacco with great depth, and showing signs of maturity’.

£51.04 Boutinot

Giancarlo Cuccuru of The Ned Hotel found this a ‘luscious wine, with good fruity aromas, big tannins and strong, dark fruits on the palate’, while team leader Martin Lam noted its ‘mature fruit nose and big, robust style’, adding: ‘Braised meat required.’

£40.00 GIV UK

Best to allow this a bit of air before serving, as Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot pointed out: ‘Initially closed on the nose with a lot of grip, but it opened up nicely on second tasting.’ And consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates enjoyed its ‘perfumed, floral elegance with balance on the palate and polished tannins’.

£11.61 VinumTerra

Like ‘warm cherry pie and vanilla custard’, said Charles Pashby-Taylor of Dabbous, who enjoyed its contrasting ‘good green notes with balanced tannins’, while team leader Martin Lam noted its ‘tight, cherry fruit nose and black fruit on the palate, savoury and sweet, and big!’

£14.90 Eurowines

This was ‘farmyard and smoked meats’ for consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates, who also highlighted its ‘leathery complexity, brett characters and concentration’, with team leader Olivier Marie finding it a ‘lovely wine with enticing aromatics, if high on the alcohol’.

£29.90 Bava Azienda Vitivinicola

Team leader Laurent Richet MS highlighted ‘cedar, raspberry eau-de-vie and tar’ notes, while James Hocking of The Vineyard Group was very keen on its ‘earthy, forest-floor aromas, and opulent, full-bodied, powerful palate with great acidity and minerality’.

£26.51 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

‘Fresh, with strawberry notes and red fruit on the palate, really enjoyable and a versatile wine,’ said Giancarlo Cuccuru of The Ned Hotel, with team leader Martin Lam describing it as ‘fresh and Pinot-like’ in style.

£11.00 Alivini

A ‘savoury, textured wine, very light body with echoes of tar’, according to team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW, while Richard Brooks of Caroline Catering found it ‘big and earthy, with a real mouthful of intense savoury flavours, such a good match for full-on dishes’.

£23.23 Boutinot

Francisco Macedo of Bovey Castle was impressed with its ‘leather and tobacco, raspberry and cedar complexity, showing ripe fruit but good tannins and acidity’, while The Sign of the Don’s Carlos Ferreira noted ‘a nice bit of age, and smooth, leathery black pepper and mushroom palate’.

£16.98 Alivini

£27.80 Enotria&Coe

£11.99 Enotria&Coe

£10.45 Alivini

£32.45 Eurowines

£32.74 Bibendum

£15.39 Liberty Wines

£21.71 Boutinot

£10.91 Ester Wines

A wine with a difference. Antonio Cuadros of The Don Restaurant loved its 'rustic, black olive' style, and team leader Olivier Marie found it a 'lovely, complex wine with rose petal, pot pourri, dried red flowers on the nose and a creamy texture with spicy incense on a sweet, ripe, jammy palate'.

£16.59 Alivini

£11.05 Viticoltori Associati di Vinchio Vaglio Serra

£17.55 Eurowines

£12.33 Davy's Wine Merchants

£10.92 Davy's Wine Merchants