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Found 13 wines
With generous praise from judges including team leader Charlie Young, who found this ‘endlessly complex, unconventional and delicious’, it’s no surprise that a Critics’ Choice award followed its elevation to Gold. Young described ‘sweet spice and fennel, with ground nuts and sherry notes, as well as cloves and citrus’, while Hakkasan Hanway Place’s Oliver Nagy enjoyed its ‘oxidative style, with crisp apple and citrus, and quite a rich palate, with good acidity and length’.
£13.34 Enotria&Coe
Taking home not only Gold but a Critics’ Choice award, this drew praise from judges for its ‘cheerful blueberry fruit and a drying lick of spice’, began team leader Jade Koch, who thought it ‘generous without being over the top, with a balanced, considered and thoughtful palate, great minerality and inky length’. Hide Above’s Alonso Abed found it ‘herbal, savoury and full bodied, with some star anise’, while New Street Warehouse’s Tanguy Martin described ‘an explosion of fruit and spices, mixed with the right amount of tannins – great value!’.
£12.49 Enotria&Coe
Deserving of a place on the Gold List for, according to team leader Nigel Lister, ‘a pretty nose, elegant and floral, with gentle, silky tannins – a wine for a summer’s day’. Julien Sahut of Sexy Fish praised its ‘complexity on the palate, with cherry, black fruit and hints of spice, as well as good acidity’, while The River Cafe’s Mattia Mazzi thought it ‘vibrant, elegant and charming’, and an ideal match for ‘terrine or a cheese board’.
£16.00 Boutinot
‘Initially showing some balsamic development on the nose, this has great complexity and balance on the palate,’ began Street XO’s Raphael Thierry on encountering this clear Gold winner, before describing ‘red and dark fruit, some chocolate, and dark spice from the oak, along with good tannic structure and a long finish’. For team leader Andres Ituarte there were also some ‘oregano, pepper and vanilla notes, and big, balanced tannins’.
£22.67 Kedem Europe
With team leader Laura Rhys MS describing this Amarone as ‘rich, bold, meaty and complex, with black fruit and tar’, and declaring that ‘this wine has everything’, it’s unsurprising that it was awarded not only a Gold medal but a Critics’ Choice award, too. An impressed Heesoo Kang of Flat Three Restaurant found it ‘fresh and vibrant, with liquorice, chocolate, prune and tobacco’, while consultant Anja Breit described ‘smoke, raisins and dried fruit, with some marzipan and cherries, too’.
£35.15 Eurowines
Unsurprisingly taking home a handful of awards, including a Gold medal, this Chardonnay drew praise from judges for its complex notes of ‘apricot and lemon verbena’, according to team leader Jan Konetzki, who enjoyed its ‘grip, and a touch of elegant bitterness’. For Roberto Sanchez of Sexy Fish it was ‘light and easy drinking, but with good balance, and some grassy, green notes – all at a remarkable price. A good by-the-glass option.’
£7.38 Berkmann Wine Cellars
As this took its place on the Gold List, team leader Jade Koch described ‘tea and purple fruit notes, as well as some chocolate liqueur’, and found it to be ‘elegant and lingering, sweet and taut’, while The Gilbert Scott’s Juan Manuel Marcos Perez noted its ‘intense flavours, with ripe tannins and fruit well integrated with the oak’. ‘A juicy palate of cherries, cedar and tobacco’ all led team leader Laurent Richet MS to picture this alongside a ‘peppered steak with morel mushrooms and green asparagus’.
£15.89 Wine Traders
Awarding Gold for this bottle, team leader Angela Reddin said: ‘This is lusciously ripe with fantastic balance,’ adding, ‘there’s a note of pink gooseberry among the rich bramble fruits and a sustained, evolving finish.’ Meanwhile Christopher Delalonde MS of The Dorchester noted: ‘The nose is ripe with stone fruit and berries and there are notes of black olive and minerals; the palate is elegant and interlaced with minerality plus there’s a nice lift of acidity and ripe tannin to balance the sweet fruit finish.’
£21.36 Bibendum
Clearly a gastronomic wine, this Gold Lister had the panel excited about its food-matching potential. For consultant Emanuel Pesqueira it was ‘a great fish wine’, because it was both ‘very juicy’ and had ‘steely acidity’. Daniel Loughlin of 20 Stories agreed, feeling it would pair well with ‘rich sauces and seafood’. All agreed there was a light hand on the oak, with team leader Charlie Young describing ‘lifted, citrus aromas; a lemony palate and very well-integrated background oak’. Summing up, he said it was simply ‘super-fresh and drinkable’.
£18.40 Bibendum
‘A very complex nose filled with toasted almonds and dried figs, along with some spicy orange and leather notes’ secured this white port’s Gold medal, according to team leader Carlos Ferreira, who found the palate to be ‘fresh and elegant, with a long finish’. Fellow team leader Tom Forrest noted ‘warm, cooked, honeyed apples with orange peel notes over a medium sweet, peppery spiced palate’, adding that its ‘good acidity keeps the toffee apple finish in check’.
£11.39 Size: 75cl Hallgarten & Novum Wines
With judges like The Gilbert Scott’s Juan Manuel Marcos Perez describing this as ‘outstanding and very complex’, it’s no surprise that this took home not only a Gold medal, but a Critic’s Choice award too. Daniel Nuttall of Adam’s Restaurant described it as ‘juicy and floral, with a good backbone of soft tannin’, while Dario Barbato of Individual Restaurants praised its ‘good structure, with fresh dark fruits’. For Sunaina Sethi of JKS Restaurants, this added up to a perfect match for ‘slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with mash, mushroom and red-wine jus’.
£23.24 Enotria&Coe
‘Very special. A beautiful wine,’ began Corina Stanila of La Dame de Pic at Ten Trinity Square as this Slovenian Pinot Blanc was awarded a Critics’ Choice award to go with its Gold medal. Michael Fiducia of The Royal Automobile Club described an ‘unctuous nose of quince, pear and caramelised puff pastry, and a palate that explodes with layer upon layer of mango, iced tea and more, and with superb length’, while team leader Andres Ituarte found it ‘super-interesting, with apricot pie, cinnamon, clove and herbaceous menthol’.
£82.32 Puklavec Family Wines d.o.o.
‘A gorgeous wine!’ was Jim Bass of Scarlet Hotel’s first reaction on encountering this impressive Gold winner. He went on to speak highly of its ‘balsamic sweetness with singing black cherry fruit – a richer, interesting style with incredible spicy, peppery fruit’. ‘An interesting style that would need some food,’ echoed Manor House Hotel’s Anita Vighova, describing ‘an intense nose with rosemary and basil, with a eucalyptus and tar element that follows on to the palate, and with some plum notes, too’.
£18.04 Liberty Wines