Sommelier Wine Awards 2018 atribui 83 medalhas a vinhos portugueses

As this snapped up Gold, team leader Jade Koch found ‘Earl Grey tea aromas, with warm, juicy elegance with sweet tea notes on the palate’, while Vinoteca’s Charlie Young complimented ‘a lovely stoniness to balance the sugar’, following ‘celery and dark plum on the nose, powerful with lovely definition of fruit, and a scented and pure finish’. ‘Very well balanced and fruit forward,’ thought The Don’s Carlos Ferreira, particularly liking ‘spicy cherry, jasmine and mint’.

£18.04 Atlantico UK , Top Selection

A hit with our judging panel, with team leader Jade Koch saying she ‘could sit with this for hours’, to explore its ‘lighter, hotter fruit and spice and great texture, with delicious sweet tea, honey and oily putty character, fruit and chocolate notes – very moreish’, while for Vinoteca’s Charlie Young it was ‘a quality act, with touches of marzipan, candied red fruit and lovely development of fruit, with the spices beginning to show on the palate’.

£35.45 Atlantico UK , Top Selection

This keenly priced Gold medallist was ‘ripe, gentle and juicy with ripe pear fruit – precise and dry with a slight hint of pumice on the finish’, said an appreciative team leader Simon Woods, while Andre Luis Martins of Cavalry & Guards Club praised its ‘white flower perfume with light tomato leaf aromas, gentle stone fruit and delicate finish’. The Don’s Carlos Ferreira found the palate ‘fresh and full of fruit, with a touch of salt’, making this ‘the perfect wine for grilled salmon’.

£6.27 Boutinot

This Gold winner ticked all the boxes for a house red, with The Don’s Carlos Ferreira describing aromas of ‘strawberry and cherry jam’, and finding it ‘a bit spicy and oaky on a palate that’s very fresh, with an elegant, long finish’, while Manuel Ribeiro of The Bybrook at The Manor House Hotel also found ‘hints of spice, as well as plums and chocolate’. Team leader Martin Lam added his praise for ‘sweet and savoury balance on the palate, with some soft tannins’, and suggested a pairing with lamb.

£4.95 Atlantico UK

Flying the flag for the Alentejo on the Gold List, this had a ‘smoky nose and palate, with a touch of pine and mushroomy oak’, began The Don’s Carlos Ferreira, who enjoyed its ‘full body with good presence of dark fruits and good balance and finish’, while the WSET’s Mike Best found it ‘really complex, with wonderful floral and spicy notes, and amazing oak integration’. Le Cordon Bleu London’s Matthieu Longuère MS thought the combination was perfect for serving alongside ‘roast pigeon with Morello cherries’.

£7.50 Please contact winery for further information

Hakkasan’s Olivier Gasselin was among the impressed team of judges that singled this out for Gold, finding it ‘complex, with earthy, leafy, chunky and quite smoky aromas’ and ‘peppery, ripe and juicy on the palate with chocolatey spiced plum notes’. ‘A nice interplay of juicy fruit with delicate oak,’ said team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW, while fellow team leader Jade Koch saw it pairing beautifully with a rack of lamb.

£7.25 Please contact winery for further information

As this was elevated to Gold, team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW described it as showing ‘black fruit and tarry aromas, with a palate that is surprisingly delicate’, adding that it was ‘fresh and well balanced, with good layers of fruit and bitter chocolate notes – long and memorable’. Diana Rollan of More than Wines Academy was similarly taken by it, finding ‘nice concentration and aromatics’, and pronouncing it ‘perfect for pulled pork’.

£11.52 Please contact winery for further information

‘Expressive nose of vanilla, buttery notes and sweet pastry,’ said Coq d’Argent’s Lazaros Engonopoulos of this impressive Gold winner, going on to describe a ‘generous, toasty palate, baked ripe white fruits and creamy texture with a good finish’. ‘There’s depth and power here, and lots of interest in a great food-matching wine,’ thought Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, while Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte thought it ‘delicate and pretty, with floral and peach notes, and light woody spices, too’.

£12.27 Matthew Clark

‘A true gem,’ praised team leader Angela Reddin as this Madeira picked up its Gold medal, describing ‘walnuts, figs, prunes and raisins, and a palate with amazing balance and length’. ‘A fuller style, rich and spicy with big character – good, and very yummy,’ said Andrés Ituarte of Coq d’Argent, while team leader Lionel Periner picked up ‘light toffee and an elegant palate finishing with dates, figs and a note of spice’.

£26.61 Liberty Wines

This was a clear Gold winner made in a ‘rich and full-bodied style, really delicious’, said Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte, who was impressed by its ‘coffee, caramel and spice characters’, with Edgaras Kazokaitis of Roka Aldwych also highlighting ‘bruised caramelised apple and coffee notes’. Petri Pentikainen of Three Chimneys Restaurant added appreciation for ‘raisin, prune and walnut notes, with high acidity making the palate very fresh, with more dried fruit on the long finish’.

£24.11 Liberty Wines

This outstanding tawny, judges agreed, deserved nothing less than Gold. ‘Beyond complex,’ began Cheese at Leadenhall’s Robert Mason, finding it ‘eternal and astounding, with woody orange peel, caramel, ginger, raisins, toffee – a good rum profile – and smooth, silky, elegant and rounded’. Team leader Lionel Periner couldn’t resist its ‘full, rich, orange peel and Christmas cake, balsamic’ aromas, declaring the palate ‘elegant and perfumed, lighter in style but with beautiful integration: a violin playing quietly, but with feeling’.

£261.11 Please contact winery for further information

A well-deserved Gold medal for Quinta Das Arcas to go with its Silver in the same category, this had ‘a very elegant nose, with an aromatic and complex palate with some creaminess, and a beautifully crisp and friendly finish’, said senior judge Carlos Ferreira. There was plenty going on here for Beaverbrook’s Euan McColm too, who noted ‘mandarin and pineapple, lots of fresh blossom and guava – the complexity of flowers and concentration making it a winner’, while team leader Simon Woods found it a ‘big, rounded, quite fleshy style, with an apple and pear edge and a stony bite’.

£10.58 Bibendum Wine

Earning its Gold medal in no small part for its excellent value for money, for Yohann Pinol of Wiltons this was ‘dark and dense’ in colour, leading to ‘pleasant notes of plum, blackberry and a rich texture with soft tannins – well balanced with very good length’. ‘Lovely, pure ripe fruit and a nice finish,’ added Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, while Leonie Loudon of Mediterroenean – Wines of the Mediterranean appreciated its ‘lively acidity, with nice balsamic notes and a touch of tarragon’.

£12.50 Oakley Wine Agencies

A favourite with our judges, this exceptional Douro wine’s Gold status was beyond question. Andre Luis Martins of Cavalry & Guards Club was impressed with its ‘fresh cassis perfumed with light spice notes’, followed by ‘powerful fruit with spicy richness, complex with a great long finish’, and team leader Simon Woods found it ‘big, deep and dense, polished with vanilla-tinged honey and berry-damson fruit and herbs’. ‘Delicious,’ said Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte, describing a ‘pepper, clove and cinnamon blend with a long brambly finish’.

£24.68 Please contact winery for further information

‘Bold oak and strong, tarry aromas’ were the hallmark of this full-bodied Gold Lister, said team leader Sarah Jane Evans MW, who also found ‘firm, dark plums balanced with savoury notes, making for a thumping, black fruit impression: a winter treat’. Similarly impressed fellow team leader Jade Koch spoke highly of its ‘intense plum and cherry nose’ and a balance of ‘oak, tannin, cherries and chocolate’ on the palate.

£9.79 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines

This Gold winner was made in a ‘friendly, fresh-fruit style’, praised team leader Martin Lam, with Le Gavroche’s Rémi Cousin finding it ‘really pleasant, with strawberries, raspberries and dark cherries, and a soft, velvety texture’. Tatiana Mann of The Vine Eno Gastro Pub described a ‘purple-black wine, with deep, rich, ripe fruits on the nose’, and ‘raisins and fig, appassimento style’, concluding that it was a ‘great by-the-glass option’.

£5.88 Please contact winery for further information

Effusive in their praise, judges didn’t hesitate in handing over the Gold here. Finding the nose ‘very spicy with dried fruits, leather, tobacco and cinnamon’, The Don’s Carlos Ferreira admired a palate that was ‘very beautiful, perfectly fresh and balanced’, with team leader Tom Forrest highlighting ‘soft raisin and fig aromas, dates and light caramel notes, smoky coffee and toffee on the finish’. ‘Pretty and balanced, with great fruit, tannin and balance,’ concluded team leader Jade Koch.

£35.42 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines

The Don’s Carlos Ferreira was absorbed in this Gold’s ‘caramel biscuit aromas, dried figs and cherry liqueur notes, and lots more of that caramel biscuit on the palate with cinnamon spice notes’, and further praising it for being ‘very well balanced and creamy in texture’. ‘Dry cherries, pastry and toasted almonds’ made Giuseppe Longobardi of The Cross Kenilworth and Simpsons Edgbaston think this the perfect partner for ‘chocolate, almond parfait and cherry sauce’.

£31.90 Hayward Bros

Voted a unanimous Gold by our judges, with Vinoteca’s Charlie Young describing aromas of ‘nuts, dried apricots, sweet spices, then good power and acidity on the palate with more finely ground nut notes, followed by loads of dried apricot flavour’. Suave Wine’s Joseph Lunn also admired its ‘long, subtle nose of bitter orange and baked plum pudding, earthy complexity on the palate with notes of ceps, saffron and juniper’, recommending it as ‘perfect with a spiced cherry pie’.

£27.50 Hayward Bros

Judges, unsurprisingly, had no shortage of praise for this Gold winner. For Manuel Ribeiro of The Bybrook at The Manor Hotel it stood out for its ‘elegant, clean style and complex oaky length’, while Christoph Hons of Park Chinois highlighted ‘a fine body, good balance of sweetness and smoky herbal flavours’. ‘Supple, with gentle, juicy spice, this is long and generous, with real depth and freshness,’ concluded team leader Simon Woods.

£92.11 Liberty Wines

Team leader Martin Lam described this as a wine showing ‘raspberry and blackberry fruit, chalky tannins and a good structure, not over-worked’, with Sue Jones of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn adding: ‘Vegetal and spicy, silky and perfumed, with restrained but decent oak flavours.’

£5.75 Boutinot

Team leader Tom Forrest picked out this wine’s ‘spicy French oak cinnamon and cedar spice with perfumed fruits’, while Debbie Warner of Wild Wine Club thought its ‘mouthwatering sour cherry, spice and blackcurrant with firm tannic structure’ would be a ‘great match for grilled meats’.

£27.59 Atlantico UK , Top Selection

Euan McColm of Beaverbrook found this an ‘elegant wine’, yet at the same time ‘chocolatey and unctuous’, adding: ‘There’s lots more to it, to give a great balance of oak, dried fruit, dried meats and dark forest fruits.’ ‘Rich and fleshy, smells expensive, is polished and fine-boned, relaxed and confident,’ thought team leader Simon Woods.

£37.62 Atlantico UK , Top Selection

Wild Wine Club’s Debbie Warner enjoyed this wine’s ‘dark, concentrated blackcurrant fruit with firm structure, black pepper spice and a fresh finish’, while Cosimo Di Totero of Chiltern Firehouse praised its ‘high concentration of fruit, good tannin structure, acidity and oak integration’.

£23.17 Atlantico UK , Top Selection

‘Pure, understated, but there’s something there,’ began Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, highlighting this wine’s ‘mineral palate with integrated oak, length, some austerity but with classy style’. ‘Excellent wine, very elegant with great balance,’ agreed Yohann Pinol of Wiltons.

£29.46 Enotria&Coe

‘Rich and rounded, woody with forest fruits, but soft and pleasing for the price, a real crowd-pleaser that would make a great house red,’ said The Harrow at Little Bedwyn’s Sue Jones.

£5.16 Atlantico UK

Street XO’s Raphael Thierry found the nose ‘meaty, with chocolate and blueberry fruit’, then a ‘complex and structured palate, giving a vibrant combination with a fresh finish’, while team leader Jade Koch felt it was ‘mid-weight and spicy, a good example of Portugal’.

£11.00 Character Wines

‘Good, aromatic spicy nose, and wow! What a wine for this price point, with ripeness and an oaky vanilla aftertaste,’ said an enthused Tatiana Mann of The Vine Eno Gastro Pub. Hakkasan Mayfair’s Jurijs Nemkovs also noted ‘lashings of dark fruits with some sweet spice’.

£6.33 Please contact winery for further information

The Don’s Carlos Ferreira found ‘red and black cherry aromas, gamey and meaty notes on the palate, but very juicy with good concentration and a clean finish, making it a good choice to go with grilled meats’.

£6.98 Please contact winery for further information

Team leader Annette Scarfe MW noted ‘sweet cinnamon oak on the nose with pure fruit of redcurrant and cranberries, a well-balanced and integrated palate with a spicy finish’.

£16.49 Matthew Clark

Hakkasan Mayfair’s Jurijs Nemkovs was impressed with this wine’s ‘complex nose and palate, full flavour and versatile character with dark fruits and vanilla on the finish’, while The Don’s Carlos Ferreira felt its ‘black olive nose, slightly horsey leather and mushroom, perfect tannin and acidity make it a good wine for a big steak’.

£9.87 Barwell & Jones

A ‘fresh and delicious’ style, began Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte, showing ‘baking spices, balanced acids and rich caramel’, while Edgaras Kazokaitis of Roka Aldwych also found ‘walnut, caramel and toffee notes with prominent acidity’.

£22.75 Liberty Wines

‘Cured meats and crunchy red fruits on the nose,’ said Beaverbrook’s Euan McColm, who found this wine ‘exciting, with a big dose of tannic structure, the palate mirroring the nose, with complexity and plenty of bang for the buck’.

£9.47 Berkmann Wine Cellars

‘A good introduction to the style,’ began team leader Jade Koch, noting its ‘warm, heady baked tomato aromas, soft tannins and warmth on the finish’, and finding it ‘rounded and mid-weight’.

£5.50 Fuller’s

Team leader Simon Woods felt this was ‘ripe and fresh’, with ‘honest, juicy apple and pear fruit, light but lacking acidity, though it has that seltzer freshness’, while Beaverbrook’s Euan McColm enjoyed notes of ‘macadamia, and a very clean and moreish finish with elderflower hints’.

£7.25 Bibendum Wine

Aurel Istrate of The Connaught found ‘fresh, red and black fruits, not too oaky’, while Wild Wine Club’s Debbie Warner admired the ‘rustic, brambly style with crunchy tannins, sensible use of oak and a juicy, crisp finish’.

£12.25 Clark Foyster Wines

Coworth Park Ascot’s Michael Fiducia was keen on this port’s ‘condensed Christmas cake and dried fruits with concentration and an opulent palate’, while team leader Tom Forrest indulged in ‘clean varnish aromas, toffee and caramelised beignet fritters, dried orange and fig on the palate with hints of pepper’.

£25.63 Enotria&Coe

Team leader Simon Woods enjoyed this wine’s ‘rich, clean, juicy aromas of plummy fruit, with blackcurrant on the palate and a tangy, earthy finish’, while Beaverbrook’s Euan McColm felt it showed ‘sour cherries with Lego brick tannins and very pure, ripe fruit’.

£13.28 Enotria&Coe

Plenty of fruit character, with ‘apricot, peas, peach, citrus and apple’ standing out for Markus Dilger of Dilger Sommelier Selection, while Vinoteca’s Charlie Young also found ‘citrus and clove, dry on the palate with great acidity, those spices really jumping out at the end, too’.

£13.54 Enotria&Coe

Bleeding Heart Group’s Chris Delalonde MS found ‘good complexity with plummy fruit and spice notes of clove and sweet ginger’, while Manuel Ribeiro of The Bybrook at The Manor Hotel highlighted its ‘chocolate toffee and roast nut aromas, fruity style with good balance’.

£18.17 Bibendum Wine

A combination of ‘floral notes, nuts, mixed dried fruits and orange peel’ on the nose, said team leader Lionel Periner, who found a ‘full palate, well balanced with cacao and delicate spice notes’, and Bleeding Heart Group’s Chris Delalonde MS liked its ‘gingerbread and clove spice, balsamic hints and savoury character’.

£37.16 Bibendum Wine

‘Soft and generous, creamy with that supple, lightly herbal, sweet apple flavour,’ began team leader Simon Woods, with Beaverbrook’s Euan McColm also picking up on notes of ‘hay and apricot, moving to red apple’, and thought it was ‘wide open on the finish with concentration and complexity’.

£14.53 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn’s Sue Jones enjoyed this wine’s ‘good fruit structure with some greenness’, and also thought it was ‘spicy and gamey, developing nicely and a great price for a rich, approachable red’. Royal Automobile Club’s Davide Dall’Amico picked up on its ‘deep black fruit core, hints of leather, tobacco and cedar wood, chubby palate and smooth tannins’.

£9.57 Please contact winery for further information

Team leader Annette Scarfe MW found a ‘restrained nose, warm and understated on the palate with ripe but studied tannins, well balanced with a dry finish’, while The Vine Eno Gastro Pub’s Tatiana Mann enjoyed its ‘value for money, pleasant style with a spicy and vibrant finish’.

£5.52 Amathus

This impressed Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot with its ‘lifted candied and dried fruits, great freshness on the nose, wonderfully rounded and soft palate with great concentration of flavours’, while team leader Tom Forrest declared it a ‘never-ending story of pepper and spice, bonfire toffee and treacle with notes of fig, date and dried pepper complexity’.

£75.62 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines

With a ‘light intensity and great balance’, this had ‘a lovely flavour of dried leaves and a long finish’, began team leader Lionel Periner, with Manuel Ribeiro of The Bybrook at The Manor House Hotel noting ‘raisins, Christmas fruit and nuts with honey and smooth balance’.

£16.30 Hayward Bros

A pleasing package, presenting ‘quite clean and well-defined black fruit aromas’, began Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, adding: ‘Pretty, and on top you have lovely fine tannins and a pure, clear, dry finish.’

£12.94 Liberty Wines

‘A clean and fresh style, with a mineral character and a lovely sweet-sour feel,’ said Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, also noting that it ‘finishes fresh and mineral-tinged, with pear and melon fruit’.

£8.04 Liberty Wines

Plenty of depth and character here, said Markus Dilger of Dilger Sommelier Selection, who found ‘dark chocolate, plum and black cherry with violet floral notes and cedar wood, fresh acidity and minerality on the palate, which finishes long with balanced oak, good potential’.

£28.95 Liberty Wines

Vinoteca’s Charlie Young liked the ‘warm, bready aromas’, finding the palate ‘good, dry, dark and chewy but underpinned by ripe, dark berry fruit’, while Coq d’Argent’s Lazaros Engonopoulos noted ‘bright red and black fruit, herbs and dried leaves, juicy and very easy drinking’.

£9.34 Liberty Wines

Despite its ‘purple and dark appearance, massive fruit and acid’, team leader Jade Koch found this port ‘juicy and warm, lean with good tannin and length’, while Vinoteca’s Charlie Young highlighted ‘pure, sweet red fruit and subtle spice, big power but there’s good balance here to be better over time’.

£29.70 Liberty Wines

‘Fresh pear and white flower aromas, rich minerality with pear and white spices, finishing with charming tropical notes,’ said Andre Luis Martins of Cavalry & Guards Club. ‘Fine-boned, with nectarine, lychee and apple, subtle yet persistent,’ added team leader Simon Woods.

£12.42 Please contact winery for further information

Andre Luis Martins of Cavalry & Guards Club liked this wine’s ‘ripe peach notes, complex spice and toffee apple aromas, gentle herbal and gingery finish’, while team leader Simon Woods found it ‘juicy, spicy, light on its feet but has cooked apple and quince, and a ripe but fresh finish’.

£17.58 Please contact winery for further information

‘Sweet, stewy fig and dark fruit aromas, hot spice notes and pepper on the palate with some treacle and toffee elements,’ said team leader Tom Forrest, with Typing Room’s Alex Pitt assessing it as a ‘great value for money, pub cheeseboard port’.

£13.50 Boutinot

Coworth Park Ascot’s Michael Fiducia found a ‘pleasantly concentrated, crunchy fruit palate’ on this ‘opulent fruit-bomb of mainly plum and Morello cherry, along with wood spice’, while team leader Angela Reddin described it as ‘deep, dark and youthful’.

£21.62 Please contact winery for further information

Coq d’Argent’s Lazaros Engonopoulos found ‘black berries and a chocolate biscuity character, with a touch of minerality on a powerful, complex wine with great potential’, while Vinoteca’s Charlie Young enjoyed a ‘blackcurrant hit on the nose, big tannins, purity and freshness, power, too, but it works very well!’

£21.00 Top Selection

Team leader Jade Koch found aromas of ‘ginger and candied fruit, a simple, sweet, grapey palate with crème caramel giving broad appeal’, and Manuel Ribeiro of The Bybrook at The Manor House Hotel enjoyed its ‘notes of baked apple, pear, quince and toffee with a hint of honey, then orange marmalade on a toasty, balanced palate’.

£7.31 Atlantico UK

‘A northern Rhône lookalike,’ began team leader Martin Lam, noting its ‘toasty oak, smoked bacon and sweet fruit, with good concentration’, with The Harrow at Little Bedwyn’s Sue Jones highlighting ‘fruity blackberries and loganberries, good length and richness’.

£7.25 Please contact winery for further information

Team leader Martin Lam highlighted ‘meaty aromas, overlaid with red berry fruit and spice, then very good ripe fruit on the palate with clove spice and very well-managed tannins’, while The Harrow at Little Bedwyn’s Sue Jones found it ‘velvety soft and luscious’.

£9.93 Atlantico UK

A ‘simple, fruity style’, said Royal Automobile Club’s Davide Dall’Amico, with ‘ripe raspberries and blackberries, a touch of graphite, quite long flavour with nicely balanced tannic structure’, while team leader Martin Lam found it ‘perfumed on the nose with red fruit, soft, rounded, generous, with warm clove spices’.

£6.53 Please contact winery for further information

Sue Jones of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn found this a ‘richer, gamier style with blackberry and boysenberry, meaty and savoury’, while team leader Martin Lam noted: ‘Dark red fruit, smoky nose, sweet oak a little dominant but overall a good glass at this level.’

£5.27 Atlantico UK

Andre Luis Martins of Cavalry & Guards Club picked this out for its ‘rich apple aromas with gentle herbal notes’, going on to describe a palate of ‘complex Cox apple fruit with rich mineral and lees development, then a long finish’.

£11.55 Fairview Wines

Team leader Jade Koch found ‘bloody red fruit on a very neat nose, sweet plum and cherry fruit, acidity but almost no tannin grip and plenty of sugar on the finish’.

£6.98 Please contact winery for further information

Team leader Lionel Periner highlighted its ‘nice dry style, grilled almonds and marzipan’, while for Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte it had ‘zippy acids, a good amount of caramel and cocoa making a great wine with good length’.

£26.53 Please contact winery for further information

‘Sweet, ripe floral notes, jammy fruit and oak on the nose,’ began team leader Tom Forrest, also noting its ‘overripe jammy fruit palate and attractive spicy pepper after’, with Cosimo Di Totero of Chiltern Firehouse highlighting a ‘big oak flavour, vanilla and toasty coconut’.

£15.28 Enotria&Coe

Cosimo Di Totero of Chiltern Firehouse enjoyed this wine’s ‘good citrus and pear with green apple on the finish’, while team leader Tom Forrest noted ‘creamy oak, ripe lemon and red apple, and a creamy palate with light vanilla spice’.

£9.59 Boutinot

‘A wine that shows good complexity for the price,’ said Street XO’s Raphael Thierry, who found ‘meaty, fruity, flowery characters and a smoky finish, with good vivacity’.

£7.80 Boutinot

Team leader Martin Lam found this a ‘very savoury’ style, with a ‘non-fruit nose and no oak visible – a serious wine with a lovely textured palate’. ‘Great length, sophisticated, with layers and complexity, and ageing potential,’ added The Harrow at Little Bedwyn’s Sue Jones.

£12.90 Raymond Reynolds

Alex Pitt of Typing Room enjoyed the ‘cinder toffee, dates and figs’, adding it would be a ‘lovely end to a meal, drinking so well but will have an extremely long life’. Meanwhile The Don’s Carlos Ferreira noted ‘spiced leather, pear and dried figs, a palate of creamy coffee and After Eight mints’ for a ‘classic, really good port’.

£23.48 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines

‘Perfumed and floral on the nose with violet and rose,’ said team leader Tom Forrest, who liked its ‘soft, ripe red fruit palate, then some tobacco notes on a finish that’s drying but not bitter’.

£8.25 Hayward Bros

Markus Dilger of Dilger Sommelier Selection enjoyed its ‘citrus, green apple, Conference pear with floral and apricot notes, fine acidity and light spiciness with medium body and length’, while Vinoteca’s Charlie Young thought this wine had ‘good aromatic lift, herbaceous and stony, almost smoky notes’.

£8.25 Hayward Bros

A ‘bit of a fruit bomb’ for team leader Annette Scarfe MW, with its ‘sweet cranberry on the nose and a lovely freshness to the palate’, and, while The Don’s Carlos Ferreira felt it needed a little time to open up, he found it ‘full and complex with black fruits and a good level of tannin’.

£9.84 Liberty Wines

‘A quirky LBV,’ thought Frédéric Billet of Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa, enjoying its ‘spicy, pungent nose with lots of depth, confit cherries and rounded tannins on the palate, black pepper notes and very long finish, showing good potential to age’.

£10.97 Liberty Wines