In most lines of work awards come around like the seasons, be it the Oscars or wedding venue of the year, and wine is no different. Things have, however, been slightly different this year (haven’t they everywhere?), as with all that spitting, wine tasting doesn’t exactly lend itself to Covid security.

Valiantly, several competitions have found ways of socially distanced judging and one of the most important for quality wine, the Decanter World Wine Awards, went ahead in August, six months later than normal. This is a competition where all the wines are assessed totally blind by several
experts and where, in this age of score inflation, a score of over 90 points is a real achievement. We were delighted that 44 of our wines (a quarter that were put forward) were admitted to this select club and it was no surprise (polishing our trumpet), that after we had scooped the Italy Specialist
Retailer of the Year for the second year running, a quarter of these were from our Italian portfolio. Whilst we don’t need an award to know how good these wines are, a little validation is always nice to get!

Among these prize-winning Italian wines, a handful of our Barolos received top gongs. But I would
particularly draw your attention to a couple of Sicilian gems that also scooped awards: the 2018 Etna Rosso from organic producer Terra Costantino, which combines the finesse and elegance of Burgundy with a supple peppery warmth, and a wine from the little known Perricone grape, the 2017 Granmassenti from Feudo Disisa in the Palermo hinterland, which is a captivating rich and spicy red with a savoury, velvety finish.

Another accolade which was especially pleasing was awarded to Bouza, a Uruguayan winery we represent and champion in the UK. They received ‘Winemaker of the Year’ along with ‘Best Red Wine of the Year’ in Tim Atkin MW’s highly respected annual Uruguay report. As icing on the cake, one of their wines also scooped a Platinum medal at the Decanter Awards. For those yet to discover the charm of Uruguayan wine, they are among the most vibrant and stylish being made in South America and also represent exceptional value.

As icing on the cake, their 2018 Sin Barrica Tannat also scooped a Platinum medal at the Decanter Awards. For those yet to discover the charm of Uruguayan wine, they are among the most vibrant and stylish being made in South America, and represent exceptional value to boot.

We have seen more of our wines pick up the highest scores from famous critics in 2020 than ever before. But for our buying team, the most important critics are our customers. The positive feedback we have had from you is what matters most to us, and for that we thank you.