Spirits & Wine Award Winners, Top Scoring Products, Beverage Industry Trends and Best Wine and Spirits Lists

Portugal is well known for its red wines of quality and value, but Portugal's white wines also deserve a spotlight. The names of the white wine varieties such as arinto and antao vaz may be unfamiliar, but the flavors are easy to love. With the same value carrying over from the red wine world, most of the high scoring finalist wines are priced between $10-15, making these some of the best values available. Here are the top 7 high scoring Portuguese white wines from Ultimate Wine Challenge 2018.

Shiraz, the Australian version of syrah, makes big and rich red wines, often with layers of spicy fruit and velvety textures. The McGuigan The Plan Shiraz 2016 from South Eastern Australia was the top scoring shiraz of 2018’s Ultimate Wine Competition with 92 Points and comes highly recommended by the wine judges.

Ice wine is one of the most labor intensive dessert wines to produce. Traditionally the grapes are left on the vine until a deep winter freeze when they are night harvested. By harvesting the grapes when frozen, it’s possible to extract the frozen water from the rest of the grape, leaving behind a highly concentrated juice from which the wine is made. The wines are sweet with heady aromas and enjoyed in modest portions. In 2018 the wine judges had the pleasure of rating 4 ice wines, all earning high scores.

Even though Greek wine is referenced throughout history, it’s easy to overlook the impressive quality of what is coming out of Greece. This high scoring wine from 2018’s Ultimate Wine Competition, Zacharias Assyrtiko 2017, comes from the Peloponnese region and is made from the white wine grape assyrtiko. Rated 90 Points by the wine judges, it was one of the top scoring Greek wines.