The first of a pair of Golds for Montalcino and Portland Restaurant’s Carolina Seibel was impressed with its ‘complexity, developing red and dark fruit and dried red berry aromas, leathery plushness on the palate with good structure, solid tannins and notes of orange with oak integration and a plummy finish’. ‘Textbook nose, with cigar box notes, great freshness and vibrancy,’ added team leader Andrea Briccarello, while Mathew Simmonds of Paul Kitching 21212 Restaurant, Edinburgh thought it perfect for lamb or boar dishes.

£25.72 Boutinot

‘Drink this with urgency!’ advised Street XO’s Raphael Thierry on encountering this worthy Gold winner, loving its ‘balsamic and smoky nose, followed by a palate showing good development with dried fig, chocolate and tomato, leather and dark spices’, while Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte noted a ‘soft palate and more traditional style, with cooked red fruit and blackberry crumble characters, some hints of sweaty leather and worn oak’.

£29.85 Top Selection Ltd

Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte was most impressed with this wine’s Gold-worthy SuperTuscan styling, finding a ‘silky mouthfeel with grip, and tonnes of fruit that makes this very appealing now, though it’s built to last, showing lots of leather and pepper, plenty of tomato and well-integrated oak’. Team leader Laurent Richet MS noted ‘hints of smoke on a ripe, juicy palate, with great texture, balance, length and power’, while fellow team leader Sam Caporn MW appreciated its ‘green and leafy notes, with deep cedar and capsicum, and a silky palate’.

£51.50 Eurowines

A ‘beautifully perfumed style, with violets and blackberries, meaty and fleshy on the palate,’ began team leader Andrea Briccarello as this took the Gold, with an equally impressed Carolina Seibel of Portland Restaurant finding it ‘plush yet angular, showing dark berries and good oak structure with lightly floral and orange characters on the finish and fine, grippy tannins’. ‘Spicy and toasty, with tar and violet notes, as well as plums, with ripe, mature tannins and good concentration,’ concluded Diana Rollan of More than Wines Academy.

£38.91 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Carolina Seibel of Portland Restaurant found ‘overripe strawberries with herbaceous and slightly medicinal notes on the nose, great structure on the palate with dark chocolate and great integration, leafy with freshening acidity’. ‘Cherry stone, fleshy fruit with lots of juicy character, soft and easy to drink,’ added team leader Andrea Briccarello.

£12.15 Top Selection Ltd

This ‘evolved wine with an orange rim’ was a hit with team leader Laurent Richet MS, with its ‘aromas of prune in eau-de-vie, incredible spice, cedar, leather and dried mushroom notes, turned earth, cigar box and cassis, then a lightly fragrant palate with fairly powerful tannic structure’. ‘Lovely,’ agreed Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte, also noting ‘rustic, crunchy red fruits, Christmas spices, tomato leaf and worn oak, leather and earth’.

£12.50 Gentle Wine Merchant, 3Venice Wine Merchants, Natural Bay Limited

‘A food wine for stewed meals,’ began team leader Laurent Richet MS, finding ‘baked tomato and cedar aromas, very Sangiovese, lovely structure with moderate acidity’, while for Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte it was ‘very elegant, fresh and medium-bodied with great balance, peppercorns, cinnamon and clove notes with a long red-fruit finish’.

£27.00 Bibendum

For Geoffray Bénat of Cépage[s] Wine Bistro there was plenty of ‘dark fruit, blackcurrant and blackberry with cigar box spicy aromas, full body with sweet blackberry and nice freshness’, while team leader Martin Lam highlighted a ‘rich, ripe, savoury nose, lifted, then a rich palate, quite high-toned with deep black cherry fruit and a long finish’.

£33.48 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

‘A good restaurant wine,’ declared Frédéric Billet of Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa, enjoying its ‘pleasant nose of blackberries, chocolate and spices, good balance of tannin and acidity with notes of black pepper and leather’.

£21.86 Hallgarten & Novum Wines

Suave Wine’s Joseph Lunn liked its ‘inky, brooding and dark’ appearance, finding a palate of ‘lively fruit and prominent acidity that could mature’, and Vinoteca’s Charlie Young praised its ‘great mix of fruit and spice on the nose, dark fruit with loads of tannins but lovely balance’, declaring it ‘young but very good’.

£25.28 Top Selection Ltd

Mattia Scarpazza of Petersham Nurseries found plenty to like in this wine’s ‘peppery, bright red cherry and cedar spice aromas, black plums and damsons on the palate’, and thought it was ‘rounded and long on the finish’, while team leader Andrea Briccarello picked up ‘good wild berry, gamey, very intense aromas, and a great, complex, juicy mid-palate with a spicy finish’.

£25.00 TryWines Expertise Limited - edoardo amadi

‘Interesting roasted tomato and thyme on the nose, and on the palate there’s leather and a tannic structure just asking for food,’ said Street XO’s Raphael Thierry, with team leader Laurent Richet MS liking its ‘sour cherries, cedar, leather and earth notes’, adding: ‘A little austere on the palate but lovely dark fruit and youthful tannin structure.’

£18.04 Liberty Wines

Street XO’s Raphael Thierry was very taken with this wine’s ‘lovely dried herbs, redcurrant and roasted tomato on the nose, good concentration and juiciness on the palate showing sandalwood complexity on the finish’, while for team leader Laurent Richet MS it was ‘more on the prune and dates side, a complex wine, well-mannered, with cassis fruit and good acidity to last well’.

£22.55 Liberty Wines

Vinoteca’s Charlie Young was struck by this wine’s ‘mint and mineral freshness on the nose, lovely freshness and purity, beautifully defined red fruit with elegance and fine tannins on the palate’, while Suave Wine’s Joseph Lunn enjoyed a ‘perfumed nose with redcurrants and bramble bushes, soft and silky on the palate with a long finish’.

£33.88 Liberty Wines

Team leader Jade Koch highlighted ‘aromas of tea, raisins and tobacco, an interesting baked character on the palate with lots of straw and thick fruit, hot and lean, drying yet long’, while Suave Wine’s Joseph Lunn found it ‘subtle yet complex, with smooth and well-integrated tannin and good acid balance’.

£39.69 Bibendum

‘Very juicy, cherry and plum fruit with a smoky and wild character and soft tannins, spices and chocolate,’ said team leader Andrea Briccarello, with Portland Restaurant’s Carolina Seibel highlighting ‘red fruit and orange zest notes, mushroomy and grippy character with a hint of tannin tartness’.

£23.30 Alivini

‘Rich fruit, sour cherry aromas with some nutty hints,’ began Mattia Scarpazza of Petersham Nurseries, continuing: ‘Full body and rich, baked damson fruit, elegant and bright with notes of fresh black fruits, and very easy to drink.’

£37.54 Matthew Clark

Joseph Lunn of Suave Wine noted ‘ripe fruits on a youthful and bright nose with menthol hints, ripe plums and prunes on the palate’, and for Vinoteca’s Charlie Young it had ‘understated, savoury aromas, scented herbal character with a great balance of tannins and acidity’.

£17.51 Bibendum

Team leader Nigel Lister found ‘lovely typicity, elegant with charry liquorice and red fruit’, while team leader Andrea Briccarello enjoyed its ‘intense, complex leather notes, great cherry and plum with bitter chocolate on the finish’.

£26.70 Eurowines

‘Lovely, intense and spicy on the nose, with cherry, plums and earthy character, a well done, honest wine,’ said Janusz Pawel Sasiadek of Bottles & Battles, with Coq d’Argent’s Andrés Ituarte noting ‘green bell pepper and heavy wood aromas, tasting of French varieties, with dense, dark fruit concentration and a long finish’.

£19.95 Eurowines

A ‘classic style and good value’ for senior judge Nigel Lister, who liked its ‘farmyardy, sour cherry and bright aromatics, typical Sangiovese red fruit on the palate’, describing it as ‘rich yet elegant’, while team leader Andrea Briccarello found it ‘moreish, with meaty and savoury aromas, great cherry and plum notes’.

£19.38 Boutinot

‘Intense nose and palate of plums, tobacco leaf and chocolate with pleasantly intense tannins; a food wine, finishing with cassis and notes of leather,’ said Janusz Pawel Sasiadek of Bottles & Battles, with team leader Laurent Richet MS noting its ‘impressive aromas of concentrated fruit in full ripeness, delicate structure and a saline note’.

£35.89 Liberty Wines

‘Sweet, floral nose, lots of ripeness on the palate, power and spice with some elegance on the finish,’ began Vinoteca’s Charlie Young, while team leader Jade Koch found it ‘brooding, inky and robust, with jammy fruit, dusty and a little earthy, but interesting’.

£12.75 Liberty Wines

£24.54 Top Selection Ltd

£15.09 Matthew Clark

£12.88 Bibendum

£39.00 TryWines Expertise Limited - edoardo amadi

£24.50 Liberty Wines

£18.30 Liberty Wines

£34.45 Liberty Wines

£17.20 Liberty Wines