We’ve rounded up 10 medal-winning wines and one sparkling from our Spring Tasting, taking in a Greek white and red, Israeli Syrah and a Chardonnay from an American sporting legend.

The following wines are a selection of highlights from The Spring Tasting by the drinks business, which was conducted earlier this year, following the inaugural Autumn Tasting towards the end of 2020.

Like all our tastings, the wines were tasted blind, which meant that the judges did not know the source region, producer, or grape variety of the sample they were assessing, although they were given a broad indication of style (white, red, rosé, sweet, dry, oaked/unoaked), and the price band, from under £10 to over £50.

Click here to see all the medallists from The Spring Tasting 2021, and scroll down to see the 10 highlights from the competition.

1. KTIMA GEROVASSILIOU MALAGOUSIA, EPANOMI, GREECE, 2020

This was my first taste of Malagousia – a near-extinct native white grape revived by the producer of this wine, Evangelos Gerovassiliou – and I liked it. There’s nothing subtle about its characteristics, which emerge from the glass like a pack of children after school. It’s both fruity and floral, with flavours ranging from fresh peach to rose petals, and it certainly has plenty of texture, with an almost oily mouthfeel, but then comes this fresh salty element to it, ensuring it’s both rich and refreshing.

• Producer: Ktima Gerovassiliou
• Region: Epanomi
• Country: Greece
• Grape varieties: Malagousia 100%
• ABV: 13.5%
• Vintage: 2020
• UK retail price: £19
• Medal: Gold

2. ROBERT MONDAVI PRIVATE SELECTION BOURBON BARREL-AGED CHARDONNAY, CALIFORNIA, US, 2019

In a world where sipping skinny drinks is considered sophisticated, discovering this Bourbon-barrel-aged Chardonnay made me smile, with its caramel and butter-popcorn characteristics, ripe peach and pear fruit, and creamy, tongue-caressing texture. I just yearn to pour it to people who pretend to enjoy the puckering experience of bone-dry, high acid drops. And, as pranks go, it won’t be an expensive one – this Chardonnay sells for under £15.

• Producer: Robert Mondavi
• Region: California
• Country: USA
• Grape varieties: Chardonnay 95%, Orange Muscat 4%, Other Whites 1%
• ABV: 14.5%
• Vintage: 2019
• UK retail price: £13.50
• Medal: Gold

3. SENSI VIGNE E VINI TUA ROSA, TUSCANY, ITALY, 2019

We had some fantastic Provençal rosés in this year’s Spring Tasting, showcasing the pristine peachy fruit of the 2020 vintage in southern France, but I’m plugging this pink Sangiovese from Italy because it offers so much joy for so little cash. OK, it has a touch of residual sugar (5g/l), but that provides texture, not sweetness, and there’s so much juicy cherry fruit and fresh salty interest that I challenge you to drink this at a pace that’s anything other than dangerously fast for something with more than 12% ABV.

• Producer: Sensi Vigne E Vini S.R.L
• Region: Tuscany
• Country: Italy
• Grape varieties: Sangiovese 100%
• ABV: 12.5%
• Vintage: 2019
• UK retail price: Under £10
• Medal: Gold

4. BSI BODEGAS SAN ISIDRO SABATACHA CRIANZA, JUMILLA, SPAIN, 2017

If you’re ever asked to find a juicy, oaky, spicy red wine for the price of an oven pizza, then there’s one place you should look: Jumilla – home to Europe’s largest stock of ancient ungrafted vineyards, which are planted with Monastrell. These undervalued viticultural relics yield wines with power and sweetness, but dry tannin and freshness, making them surprisingly easy to drink, even at 15% ABV. BSI Bodegas San Isidro is the biggest and best-value producer in the region (it’s a massive co-op), and this crianza is a wonderful chocolate-scented red with notes of toast and blackcurrant, and plenty of chunky tannins, for under £10. Perfect, in fact, for having with that oven pizza you ditched to buy this.

• Producer: BSI – Bodegas San Isidro
• Region: Jumilla DOP
• Country: Spain
• Grape varieties: Monastrell 100%
• ABV: 14%
• Vintage: 2017
• UK retail price: Under £10
• Medal: Gold

5. 7CELLARS ELWAY’S RESERVE CHARDONNAY, CARNEROS, US, 2019

So you want a serious Chardonnay, the sort with richness and freshness, ripeness and brightness. You want flavours of vanilla and peach. And you want toast and citrus. Well, this fits the bill. It’s from 7Cellars in California, a winery from American football legend and restaurateur John Elway, and it was my highest-scoring white wine of the Spring Tasting – even if the Grand Reserve Chardonnay from Church Road in New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay ran it close.

• Producer: 7Cellars
• Region: California
• Country: USA
• Grape varieties: Chardonnay 100%
• ABV: 13.4%
• Vintage: 2019
• UK retail price: £22-23
• Medal: Gold

6. ROYAL TOKAJI WINERY GOLD LABEL TOKAJI ASZÚ 6 PUTTONYOS, TOKAJ, HUNGARY, 2017

Those who love sweet wines tend to turn towards the seductive oak-laden world of Sauternes or the pristine taste of late-harvest German Riesling. But there is a third way: the world-famous, but somehow forgotten gem of Tokaj, where, as this remarkable wine from Royal Tokaji Winery shows so well, you can have the honey and sweetness of Sauternes and the cleansing freshness of Riesling.

• Producer: Royal Tokaji Winery
• Region: Tokaj Wine Region
• Country: Hungary
• Grape varieties: Furmint 100%
• ABV: 10.5%
• Vintage: 2017
• UK retail price: £45
• Medal: Master

7. POGGIO IL CASTELLARE BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO DOCG, TUSCANY, ITALY, 2016

If anyone ever asks you why people get so excited by Italian fine wines, pass this Brunello di Montalcino under their sceptical nostrils. Made by Poggio Il Castellare, it has the hallmarks of great Tuscan reds, which is a set of qualities I don’t find anywhere else in the world, and it’s this: ripe red fruit but with a light fresh texture, gently warming alcohol but with a pleasantly bitter character, soft generous aged flavours, but a mouth-coating just-bottled dry tannic sensation.

• Producer: Poggio Il Castellare
• Region: Tuscany
• Country: Italy
• Grape varieties: Sangiovese Grosso 100%
• ABV: 14.5%
• Vintage: 2016
• UK retail price: £28
• Medal: Master

8. LEGARIS ALCUBILLA DE AVELLANEDA, RIBERA DEL DUERO, SPAIN, 2017

This is the sort of wine that gets me excited in a blind tasting. You want something that stands out but has structure. A wine with the flavours of quality, the characters of a great match between site, grape and winemaking. By that I mean something where you can taste the perfection of each berry that went into it. You can tell that of each one was picked at just the right time, tiny, perfect things with ripe skins and juicy pulp, but nothing big, bloated and dilute, or, conversely, dried, sweet and dull. And then they were pressed gently, and left to macerate, over time, extracting all the goodness, but not the harshness. And then comes the barrel ageing. It’s toast, cigar box, fresh cocoa. And it’s part of the wine, occasionally there, sometimes not. Then there’s the finish. It’s dry. It’s mouthwatering. And that’s despite all that concentrated, ripe berry fruit. Even those elevated alcohols, or sweeter notes from the new oak are hidden, absorbed into something better. These are the hallmarks of a great modern young red. And they all feature in this bottle.

• Producer: Legaris
• Region: DO Ribera del Duero
• Country: Spain
• Grape varieties: Tinto Fino 100%
• ABV: 15%
• Vintage: 2017
• UK retail price: £40
• Medal: Master

9. TULIP WINERY SYRAH RESERVE, UPPER GALILEE, ISRAEL 2018

In a world where Cabernet is favoured by collectors, and Pinot loved by auctioneers, one of the most underrated sources of fine wine seems to be Syrah – the basis of great reds from the Northern Rhône, notably Hermitage, but elsewhere too. Among these other places, I shall add – if you haven’t already – Israel’s Upper Galilee, based on the brilliance of this wine from Tulip Winery. As I wrote when tasting it blind, it is enticing aromatically, with scents of red and blue berries, plums, pepper and toast, and then when drunk, loaded with pure, fleshy red and dark fruits, creamy oak, tingling spice and fine, lingering, dry tannin. Nothing is over-done and dull; it is just wonderfully ripe, and beautifully made.

• Producer: Tulip Winery
• Region: Upper Galilee
• Country: Israel
• Grape varieties: Syrah 100%
• ABV: 14.5%
• Vintage: 2018
• UK retail price: £35
• Medal: Gold

10. DOMAINE SKOURAS GRANDE CUVÉE, ARGOLIDA, GREECE, 2016

As a so-called wine expert, if you’re asked for a recommendation and suggest something well-known then your audience feels short-changed. Even if they know little about the classic wine regions and noble grapes of the world, they want to be told about something unusual, obscure, and rare. And this is a good thing – enjoying wine should be about finding new tastes from far-flung places. So here’s something to sate such a desire (and show off a bit). It’s from Greece, and made with the country’s native and near-unpronounceable native grape Agiorgitiko (say it without the ‘gs’), grown in the Argolida region (use the ‘g’), and made by Domaine Skouras. It’s not cheap, but retailing for under £30, it provides a lot of character and quality for the cash.

• Producer: Domaine Skouras
• Region: Peloponnese/ PDO Nemea
• Country: Greece
• Grape varieties: Agiorghitiko 100%
• ABV: 14%
• Vintage: 2016
• UK retail price: £22
• Medal: Gold

And finally… a sparkling:
PARXET, CUVÉE 21 ECOLOGIC, CAVA, SPAIN, 2018

What a great find in the world of sparkling wine: A creamy, bready fizz with plenty of ripe yellow fruit and a really dry citrus-fresh finish (this contains just 6g/l residual sugar); that uses native Cava grapes (Macabeu, Xarel.lo and Parellada) that are grown organically, and retails for under £15. Enough said.

• Producer: Parxet 
• Region: DO Cava 
• Country: Spain  
• Grape varieties: Macabeu 40%, Xarel·lo 30%, Parellada 30%
• ABV: 11.5%
• Vintage: 2018 
• UK retail price: £13
• Medal: Gold

About the competition

Please visit The Global Masters website for more information about The Spring Tasting, or, to enter future competitions – giving you the chance to feature online and in print – please call: +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com

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The best wines from The Spring Tasting