Every year thousands of wines are entered into the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the International Wine Challenge (IWC), the Sommelier Wine Awards (SWA) and the International Wine and Spirits Challenge (IWSC).
Companies submit wines into specific categories, and these are tasted by panels of experts ‘blind’, ie the panel knows the category (eg Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc under £20/bottle), but otherwise use their collective judgement of what the taste to agree which are the best. The winner of each category is awarded a gold medal if a panel of even more ‘elite’ judges confirm its quality, and gold medal winners can go on to be awarded platinum medals or trophies when judged against other category winners.
This year’s tasting kicked off with a beautiful single vineyard Fino Sherry from Valdespino (one of just 40 wines considered ‘best in show’ at the DWWA. Even the non sherry lovers among us could tell this was a special wine. We visited Valdespino in 2018.
It was particularly nice to celebrate the SWA ‘By the Glass’ Trophy awarded to the Outer Limits Albariño from Viña Montes as we had tasted the first release of this on our tour to Chile last year. It was delicious and clearly a versatile wine at a great price.
A classic Sancerre from Domaine Roc l’Abbaye was our final white and its DWWA Gold Medal was much deserved: beatifully balanced with super complex flavours and texture.
The IWSC Gold Medal winning Gran Reserva Rioja from Coto de Imaz was smooth and rich in flavour and went very well with our lasagne at Teddington.
The ‘Ozymandias’ Givry Premier Cru (a blend from two premier crus made by Domaine Desvignes) from the Côte Chalonnais in Burgundy had won a SWA Gold Medal, and despite its relative youth it was drinking beautifully.
Thanks to a bargain price point (and some great winemaking by top Barossa producer Henschke) the Henry’s Seven blend of mainly Shiraz (co-fermented with some Viognier), Grenache and Mataro (Mourvèdre) was a big hit, little surprise it was a SWA ‘Critics Choice’.
And finally another DWWA Best in Show, this was an amazing Barolo from GD Vajra (who we have also visited on tour previously), made from grapes grown on the estate of Luigi Baudana, which the Vajra family bought when he died and his family did not want to stay in winemaking. Despite being from the 2022 vintage it was drinking beautigully though it clearly had many many years development ahead of it!
The Britannia served us a lovely two course dinner at Richmond and Tabby and Hannah were on top form in the kitchen at Teddington.
For details of the wines please visit the Wines we have tasted page.
