Fortified Masters 2014: The results

The Drinks Business Fortified Masters – a highlight of the db calendar – always leaves our judges feeling nourished thanks to the quality of the wines on offer.

Judging took place at Kensington Place restaurant in London

There are few tastings more enjoyable in our calendar of competitions than The Drinks Business Fortified Masters. Not only does it comprise a broad array of styles, and some little-known and historic wines from Mediterranean nations, but it contains some of the most delicious products to stem from the grape. Much of their interest can of course be attributed to the winemaking and maturation methods, which like their sources, are highly varied. But if one were to draw a general conclusion from this tasting, which is now in its second year, it is that the older the fortified wine, the better it tends to score. Be it New World Muscats, tawny Ports, or Sherries, those wines which have spent many years concentrating in casks yield a rich, unctuous and complex liquid, which can’t really be bettered.

Like last year’s tasting, we amassed a selection of fortified wine aficionados to judge the wines. We were pleased to have Godfrey Spence join us once more, author of The Port Companion and renowned fortified wine expert, along with Nick Room, fortified wine buyer for upmarket UK supermarket chain Waitrose. We were also lucky to have the palates of Demetri Walters MW, private wine events sales manager at Berry Bros & Rudd and José González Godoy, restaurant manager at Ametsa with Arzak Instruction, as well as Ben Howkins, author of Rich, Rare and Red: A Guide to Port, as well as Real Men Drink Port and Ladies Do Too!

Despite the high proportion of entries in the Port category, the two Masters awarded this year – reserved only for outstanding wines with scores of over 95 points – went to a Sherry and a Muscat.

Considering the Sherry first, the top medal went to Fernando de Castilla’s Antique Palo Cortado, which elicited universal praise from the judges. Displaying some of the nutty richness of an aged Sherry without the protective flor covering, as well as some of the salty citrus tang of a wine that would have started its life as a fino, this was delicious.

The other stand-out wine in the competition was very different in style. This was the Old Premium Rare Liqueur Muscat from Morris Wines in Rutherglen. Once again, the judges were all in agreement that this was a wine of outstanding quality. Enthralled by its raisined and roasted nut flavours, immense concentration and massive sweetness, the judges were also impressed that the unctuous wine still had enough acidity to keep one wanting more.

Notably, Australia’s liqueur Muscats did remarkably well in the tasting, taking home a suite of golds and silvers, exciting the judges’ palates with their intense sweetness, complexity, and ability to combine remarkable concentration without becoming cloying.

Looking at the categories in turn, this year’s competition contained some extremely high quality white Ports from Dalva – a relatively new brand from Casa da Silva, a Port house founded in 1862. Both aged white Ports received silver medals, attracting interest from the judges for their complexity. Indeed, Demetri Walters MW commented after the tasting, “The white Ports were by far the biggest eye-openers for me.”

While the younger Ports in the white, rosé and ruby categories all performed adequately, attracting mostly bronze medals, silvers were seen in abundance among the lbvs, while even higher scores were seen once more when the tasters entered the vintage and aged tawny styles. Both Porto Cruz and Sandeman earned golds for their Ports from the first- rate 2011 vintage, with Porto Cruz also gaining a gold for its 20 year-old Tawny.

Pleasant surprises then came among the single harvest tawnies, or colheitas, with Maynard’s and Calem both getting golds.

Speaking about the Port category, Ben Howkins recorded, “The big British names weren’t there, which didn’t affect the scoring, but may be why there was no Master in Port.” Continuing he said, “Among the vintage Ports, the best was Sandeman, which one would expect as the biggest name in the tasting.”

As for the lbvs, Howkins picked up on the quality improvement in this sub- category. “LBV can really be as good as some lesser vintage Ports, and if you are buying LBV today based on 2009s and 10s then you are getting really good value for money, as we saw with producers like Ramos Pinto and Sandeman.”

Howkins also mentioned a couple of “surprises”. Like Walters, he was impressed by the white Ports, and also Maynard’s – “a name I had never heard of”, he admitted. Furthermore, for Walters, the Dalva Port brand stood out “for its consistently high standard”.

In other categories, notable was the quality of Hidalgo’s “en rama” manzanilla, the famous Sherry brand’s unfiltered bottling of fresh and wonderful dry, salty fortified wine, as well as Fernando de Castilla’s first rate example of the extraordinarily sweet and almost pitch black Pedro Ximenez. Like last year, the Madeira’s performed well, proving the wonder of this wine style, which manages to combine a caramelised richness with a citrus kick – making it the most versatile fortified wine.

Finally, we were pleased to reward a set of fortifieds from Samos in Greece, which had a lovely concentration and distinctive, attractive character, whatever the style. In essence, the competition provided an exciting snapshot of the quality available in the diverse fortified wine category, while highlighting just how undervalued some of these great wines really are.

The judges (l-r):
Demetri Walters MW, Ben Howkins, Patrick Schmitt, José González Godoy, Godfrey Spence, Nick Room

Fortified Masters 2014: The medalists

Fortified Masters 2014: The medalists continued…