Five Decanter World Wine Awards medal-winners on London restaurant wine lists

Gavin Hanly 19 September 2023

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The judges in action

Picking the right wine when you go out to dinner can be a minefield. The question is - how to filter through all those choices to find something wonderful?

The good news is that there is one easy way to sift through those long restaurant wine lists - the knowledge that a wine has been chosen as an award-winner in the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards. Now in its 20th year, this wine competition is the world's largest and most influential of its kind. For the 2023 competition, a record 18,250 wines from 57 countries were judged by 236 judges, including 16 Master Sommeliers and 53 Masters of Wine.

We've done a little digging and come up with a shortlist of top London restaurants serving wines that have picked up medals at the competition. And if all this gives you a taste for great wine, search the DWWA website for more great medal-winners to enjoy at home.

Core by Clare Smyth

Wine to go for: Gusbourne, Blanc De Blancs, Kent/Sussex 2018 (Best in Show medal)

Clare Smyth's three Michelin-starred restaurant features this world-class English sparkling wine on their list. It won a Best in Show medal - one of only 50 this year, representing 0.27% of all wines tasted. All the wines are tasted and judged against their peers in the principal judging week of DWWA and this outstanding English Blanc de Blancs was pitted against a peer from Champagne. The tasting notes noted that "the aromatic fruit and flowers apparent in this wine’s scents seem to have seeped from beds of cool, almost icy moss...It’s a wine of remarkable assurance and accomplishment."

Luca

Wine to go for: Brunello di Montalcino, Mastrojanni, 2018 (Silver medal winner)

Head over to Clerkenwell to this stylish Italian restaurant where the silver medal winner Brunello di Montalcino is a great pairing for their paccheri with pork sausage ragù. Judges noted that "the scents are sweet, warm, open and welcoming, built around a core of ripe plum. The palate is deep and secondary, meaning the plum is beginning to transmute into the mellower but less precise fruits of maturity...Excellent mid-term Brunello." The winemaker's Mastrojanni, Vigna Loreto won a Best in Show medal this year too.

Brat

Wine to go for: Lustau, Oloroso, Almacenista ‘Pata de Gallina’, 82 Jerez (Silver medal winner)

With a list put together by Noble Rot wine merchants Keeling Andrew & Co, it's not surprising to find a DWWA winner on Brat's list. This sherry was a silver medal winner, and if you try it in the restaurant and love it you might want to push the boat out for a bottle of their 30-year-old Lustau at home which actually won a Best in Show medal. The judges really, really liked it saying: "Every wine lover should taste sherry of this order of grandeur at least once; there is, truly, nothing quite like it."

Frenchie

Wine to go for: Château De Rochemorin, Bordeaux, 2014 (2020 won Best in Show Medal)

In Covent Garden, the engaging Frenchie features a wine list that they say reflects the restaurant's international inspiration. That said, given its French roots there are plenty of excellent wines from across the Channel that you should look out for including this from Bordeaux. The vineyard's 2020 variety won a Best in Show medal, a wine that was praised for having "the very best kind of leafy aroma – never green, but conveying a breeze-fresh impression of fruit grown in sunlight within easy reach of the forest".

Noble Rot Mayfair

Wine to go for: Hambledon Vineyard, Classic Cuvée Brut (Bronze medal)

With wine playing such a huge part in any Noble Rot restaurant, you'll be wanting a glass of something to enjoy while you peruse their extensive list. Our suggestion would be a glass of this elegant sparkling wine from Hampshire which won a Bronze medal in the DWWA. Judges picked up on the "Lemon and fresh yellow apple notes with a grippy, grassy character". This would be super with one of Noble Rot's dressed Maldon oysters to kick off the meal.