This Gold-worthy blend was ‘a well-balanced wine, vibrant and complex’, began Francisco Macedo of Bovey Castle, continuing: ‘Vanilla, sweet spices and cedar with a vegetal note and great ripe black fruits on the palate, fresh and savoury on the finish.’ ‘Red fruit and smoke, with a hint of coffee, leading to a spicy palate with well-integrated oak. A match for slow-cooked beef,’ thought team leader Lionel Periner.

£22.00 Robert Rolls and Company Limited

This Cabernet offered a fruit-forward experience worthy of Gold, as team leader Laurent Richet MS described: ‘Vibrant and very ripe red fruit on the nose, followed by bright flavours of cassis and plum on the palate with darker notes of liquorice.’ Quentin Loisel of Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms liked its ‘jammy raspberry and menthol notes – a smooth and very well-balanced wine’, while The Sign of the Don’s Carlos Ferreira praised its ‘red cherry and fresh eucalyptus, with good acidity. A match for charcuterie and cheese.’

£8.77 Viña I Wines SpA

Adding a Gold to Apaltagua’s medal haul, this Cabernet was praised by Antonio Cuadros of The Don Restaurant for its ‘fresh aromas, with nicely ripe, fleshy fruit on the palate, chocolate richness and polished tannins’, while Coworth Park Ascot’s Michael Fiducia highlighted its ‘lovely smooth, silky palate’. Sumilier’s Sumi Sarma described ‘dried fruit and floral notes, as well as some coffee – a rather elegant and well-balanced wine, made in a restrained style, with a gentle, lingering finish’, and team leader Laurent Richet MS thought it ideally suited to either a Sunday roast or beef-cheek ragu.

£12.93 Anthony Byrne Fine Wines

Stefan Kobald of Jason Atherton Group found this Gold winner to have an abundance of red fruit, showing ‘juicy, ripe strawberry, raspberry, cranberry and pomegranate seeds’, all backed up with ‘herbaceous character and well-integrated tannin’. ‘Good quality, crowd-pleasing style,’ added Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte. Team leader Angela Reddin described a ‘meaty, rich nose, with compact, concentrated fruits and some good oak – a big wine that needs bloody meat’.

£10.49 Liberty Wines

Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot found this a ‘deep, brooding style’, adding: ‘Very classic, with a rich, pronounced nose and full body making it a great food wine’. ‘Complex, a lot going on, textbook expression,’ added team leader Olivier Marie.

£14.60 Eurowines

‘Blue and black fruits’ were prominent for Stefan Kobald of Jason Atherton Group, who enjoyed its ‘rich and creamy, dark chocolate character with luscious fruit, floral and minty notes with cooked fruit and a delicious, well-balanced finish’.

£7.65 Molson Coors

Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa’s Frédéric Billet was drawn by this wine’s ‘nice oaky nose with elegant blackcurrant fruit’, also finding ‘nice spices mixing with light eucalyptus, leather and white pepper notes, all very pleasant with a long finish’.

£9.99 Carson Wines

Coworth Park Ascot’s Michael Fiducia highlighted a ‘farmyardy, animal nose, with blueberry fruit notes on a well-balanced palate’, while consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates found that its ‘reductive character brings a different dimension’.

£17.30 Ellis of Richmond

Immacolata Cannavo of Hakkasan Dubai alighted on ‘earthy notes, green bell pepper, black pepper and dark cherry’, while Francisco Macedo of Bovey Castle enjoyed its ‘good, ripe black fruit characteristics, violet notes with vanilla and minty blackcurrant leaf with a savoury edge’.

£11.40 Bibendum

Antonio Cuadros of The Don Restaurant enjoyed its uncomplicated ‘concentrated but restrained, plummy, high-pitch style’, while consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates praised its ‘good, sound winemaking and balance of flavours’.

£18.58 Bibendum

‘Would be a good choice for a pub at this price,’ said Francisco Macedo of Bovey Castle, who enjoyed its ‘black fruits of cassis, plum and black cherry, medium-weight tannins and medium body’.

£6.95 Liberty Wines

‘An uber-concentrated style with powerful mint on nose and palate with slatey mineral notes,’ began team leader Laurent Richet MS, who also found it ‘slightly green, needing a little more time, and fairly tannic, but it’s well integrated’.

£7.78 Matthew Clark

Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte found that this wine’s ‘bright acids, balanced with bold fruit concentration’ resulted in a ‘nice easy-drinking style, revealing rose petal notes, violets and a tarry richness, with a long finish’.

£8.47 Matthew Clark, North South Wines

‘Smooth and spicy style with plenty of black fruit, cherry, blueberry and good balancing oak on the palate, long with a perfect finish,’ said The Sign of the Don’s Carlos Ferreira, with team leader Laurent Richet MS summing it up as: ‘Classic intensity of cassis and mint with oak – juicy, bright and delicious.’

£20.87 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

‘Classic, textbook style, ripe and fleshy,’ began team leader Olivier Marie, with Michael Fiducia of Coworth Park Ascot finding it ‘good for the price, with fresh cherry, eucalyptus and sandalwood notes, soft with a bit of development’.

£4.80 Kingsland

Well received by the whole panel, this showed ‘minty eucalyptus fruit with spearmint, high elegance and a balletic finesse with great length’, said team leader Olivier Marie. ‘Very pretty, expressive, ripe with lifted red fruit,’ added consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates.

£9.40 Viña I Wines SpA

This was ‘intense and pronounced’, said consultant sommelier Rebecca Coates, with its ‘youthful feel, juicy umami and drying tannin’, while team leader Olivier Marie found a ‘fresh capsicum character, dusty with soya sauce and a richness on the finish’.

£8.38 Boutinot

Tanya Mann of Linden House Stansted found this a ‘great value for money’ option, with its ‘raspberry fruit, minerality and graphite character with blackcurrant through to the finish’, while Andrés Ituarte of Coq d’Argent pointed to ‘lots of medicinal notes, spice and iodine, backing up an interesting, red jammy palate’.

£7.78 Matthew Clark

Tanya Mann of Linden House Stansted enjoyed its ‘driven, blackcurrant fruit, graphite and chocolate style’, while Frédéric Billet of Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa was impressed with its ‘animal nose, good black pepper and exciting spices’.

£11.43 Matthew Clark

‘Tiger balm-like aromas combining with bright red fruits,’ said Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Iterate, continuing: ‘It’s a touch reductive, but easy drinking in style, with darker notes of black tea.’

£5.21 Majestic Commercial

£38.81 Bibendum

£7.65 Molson Coors

£9.12 Cockburn & Campbell

£6.68 Carson Wines

£7.95 Louis Latour Agencies

£13.05 Louis Latour Agencies

£11.78 Berkmann Wine Cellars

£17.82 Enotria&Coe

£10.45 Hallgarten & Novum Wines