Morrisons’ £7 Ruby Port wins platinum award at Decanter World Wine Awards

It’s the perfect festive tipple

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Christmas is fast-approaching and for many of us that means time is running out to stock up on enough booze to last us the festive season.

After all, what good is a giant cheeseboard or plate of mince pies without a generous glug of warming port?

The festive fruitiness and satisfying thickness that comes with the festive tipple makes it an obvious choice for the winter months but with so many options out there, knowing which bottle to wow your guests with can be tricky.

Luckily, the Decanter World Wine Awards have the answer, because its esteemed panel of expert judges has just announced that Morrison’s Ruby Port has won the only prized ‘platinum’ award this year – the highest possible accolade that can be given to any wine.

And the best part? It’s only £7.

The judges praised the port as a “must buy” describing it as “beautifully dense plummy fruit, sweet, fleshy, complex and ripe with a lovely grippy edge.

“A soft palate with a great length, rather serious for a ruby!”

The Morrisons drink is the only supermarket port to win the prize, beating other bottles like the Burmesta, which costs £395 and won gold.

On the supermarket’s website, the unique port is described as having chocolate and black cherry flavours.

It is created by one of the largest producers in Portugal, the Symington family who have been making the fortified wine for 14 generations, in the Douro Valley of Portugal and is best paired with dessert cheese and biscuits.

Ruby Port, £7, Morrisons

Speaking of the store’s win, Mark Jarman, senior buying manager at Morrisons said: "This port offers a deep rich fruit flavour and amazing quality at a stellar price.

“We are very honoured to have won this award as we head into the festive period.”

Port isn’t the only reason you’ll want to head to your local supermarket to stock up on alcohol this Christmas though, as plenty of other stores are offering award-winning bottles of booze.

If you take a trip to budget supermarket Aldi, you’ll be able to pick up a £9.99 bottle of gin that beat Heston Blumenthal’s more expensive version in an international blind taste test.

The Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin was awarded a silver medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) earlier this year, as was Lidl’s Hortus Citrus Garden Gin.

If festive fizz is more your thing, you’ll also be pleased to hear that you can now buy a gigantic bottle of prosecco that’s capable of filling 64 glasses.

The enormous bottle of Giotti Spumante Prosecco contains six litres of bubbly, which equates to eight regular-sized prosecco bottles, and can be bought from Aldi for £79.99.