On Wednesday night at the VIP Taste of London Secret Garden party we announced the winners of the inaugural Best in Taste Wine Awards sponsored by Blue Tomato magazine.
This competition was open to all the wine exhibitors and producers at Taste of London. We decided on three fun wine categories for the awards: Taste of Summer Wine, Foodies Wine and Indulgence Wine. I enlisted the help of Mickey Narea, sommelier at Launceston Place, Denise Medrano, The Wine Sleuth, and Roberto Della Pietra, sommelier at Gauthier Soho for the judging.
In order to taste the 80 wines entered, we set aside three hours for our blind tasting - this is the correct way to judge wines by covering up the labels. Each of the wines were then marked out of 20. We agreed on a shortlist of three wines per category. Our Foodies Wine Award shortlist revealed diversity, with Pizzato Concentus 2005 - a Brazilian red made from Cabernet Sauvignon Tannat and Merlot – gaining a place (Stand: Go Brazil); whilst a silky, smooth red from Portugal named Zimbro Douro 2006 made it to the Taste of Summer Wine Award shortlist. The Reserva Malbec 2008, Norton Argentina (Stand: Berkmann Wines) was a contender for the Indulgence Wine Award.
The trophy winners were:
Taste of Summer Wine Award - Prosecco Riccardo NV, Italy.
Stand: Harmonicande Vintners.
A superb, crowd pleasing bubbly.
Foodies Wine Award - Gran Feudo Edición Chardonnay 2008, Bodegas Chivite, Spain.
Stand: Chivite.
Classy, well structured, perfect for a foodie match.
Indulgence Wine Award - Felsina Vin Santo 2001, Italy.
Stand: Design Wine.
Delicate, exotic with balanced sweetness.
Make sure you taste all the winning wines at the show - they can be found in the Taste Wine Wine Village, except for the Reserva Malbec from Norton, which is featured on the Berkmann Wines stand.
Keep looking out for more wine recommendations during the event.