New World: Other Red Varietals & Blends
2015: Gold 3 Silver 17 Bronze 9 Commended 18
2014: Gold 4 Silver 6 Bronze 8 Commended 11
From Barberas to Cabernet/Carmenères and Petite Sirahs to Cab/Shiraz, this flight covers a lot of ground – not least in the way it hoovers up all the weird and wonderful multi-varietal blends that winemakers love to play around with so much.
In the past, this willingness to experiment has seen it get into trouble, with ambition often outstripping ability. But over the past two years, we’ve seen significant improvements here. That huge number of Silvers isn’t a misprint – there really were that many seriously good wines in this category, and the fact that only three made it on to the Gold List is down to reasons of space rather than quality.
The wines aren’t necessarily cheap – but our tasters didn’t mind that. If you’re up for something a bit different and don’t mind hand-selling, these should be on every sommelier’s radar.
From the Tasting Teams
‘My team’s disagreements were more about the alcohol than the oak. There were far fewer bad wines than in the past.’ Laura Rhys MS, team leader
‘There was definitely some intentional rusticity here. It was an inconsistent flight, but they seem to be moving in more of the right direction than 10 years ago.’ Laurent Richet MS, Restaurant Sat Bains
‘There are not necessarily any buzzwords – regions or varieties – on the label that are going to help the wine fly off the list, so the price and quality have to do it all.’ Rebecca Coates, Hakkasan London
‘When you see so much potential with other grapes, it’s a shame that so many people just work with international grape varieties. There are some stunning top-end wines here.’ Jeremie Guiraud, Lords of The Manor
‘If you put slightly unusual varieties on your wine list and they really have quality, you’re going to recommend them because you like them, because they’re obscure and off the beaten track.’ Gergely Barsi Szabó, Bread Street Kitchen
‘There was great character in all of these wines; they really made me think of food. Lots of brambly fruit, very honest, refreshing wines. Quite exciting.’ Jade Koch, team leader