Wine Champions of 2021

Marlborough may be New Zealand’s famous sauvignon source, but this showing from nearby Nelson (the second Anna’s Way Champion in 2021 after their grüner veltliner) was a convincing grab for the spotlight! A rounder, softer style than many, but still with all the zing we expect from good Kiwi sauvignon.

The first 2021 Wine Champion to emerge from this incredibly high-scoring session was this lovely, fragrant claret from the successful 2018 vintage. Made in a modern, sweet but accomplished style, it’s brimming with ripe damson fruit.

This year our buyers agreed with the many members who buy this popular, punchy and plump Spanish garnacha. Juicy, generous and satisfying, its hint of pepper spice made it stand out in a strong line-up at our Wine Champions tastings.

A silky red from the Mediterranean coast, delivering ample and admirable southern French warmth without an edge in sight. A Wine Champion in 2021, this is a lovely option to enjoy by the glass, but with plenty of hearty food-matching potential too.

This clever blend of Gascon sauvignon blanc’s lemony crispness and Languedoc viognier’s fragrant apricotty charm went down just as well with our Wine Champions tasters as it does with the many members who buy it so enthusiastically each year. We are pleased to confirm the 2020 is an excellent year for this popular thirst quencher!

A vivid reminder of the unparalleled joys of good Muscadet, a style that deserves so much more attention than it currently receives. The excellent and ripe 2018 vintage garlands a little extra stone-fruited pleasure around this wine’s precise, delicate and fresh core. Classy, versatile wine. A Wine Champion in 2021.

‘Summer in a glass’; ‘swimming pool wine’; ‘my tasting note simply reads ‘superb’.’ Our buyers’ comments reflect just what a star this light, vividly refreshing, meadow-scented, gently spritzy and subtly stone-fruited Portuguese white was! A Wine Champion, Decanter World Wine Awards silver medal and International Wine Challenge bronze medal winner in 2021 and everything a good, honest Vinho Verde should be.

This barbera is from the beautiful Cascinone vineyard in Piedmont, north-west Italy. Bursting with ripe juicy red fruit, this medium-bodied wine has had time in large old oak casks, softening the tannins, and is a perfect pizza or pasta wine, as many think that barbera is one of the grapes that most suits tomato sauces.

A 2021 Wine Champion. As buyer Matthew Horsley put it, ‘the standard of Beaujolais this year was amazing’, and this exciting taste of the 2020 vintage showed why it’s a great opportunity to get acquainted or reacquainted with the wines. After two fuller-bodied vintages, the freshness of this well-balanced, cherry-fruited favourite certainly perked up the tastebuds.

Succulent pear and white-pepper aromas, nectarine and refreshing spritz on the palate make this a benchmark of Austria’s signature grape, from the historic Stadt Krems winery.

Finding such easy-drinking pleasure at this price can be a tricky business for a wine buyer, but when our team tasted the second vintage of this generous, fruit-filled Society wine blind during our Wine Champions sessions, we knew it had the x-factor. A bargain.

Not content with festooning our Wine Champions podium with fantastic-value red wines, Sicily also contributed a pair of white wines that earned Championship status with aplomb. The first was this zingy, lemony vermentino, whose citrusy character and touch of white pepper proved very impressive for the price.