Cellar Collection 2025 at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter London: A journey through iconic wines

Drinking beautifully, this shows a fresher side of Catena Zapata's flagship wine. Cranberry, pomegranate and red cherry mingle on the palate, topped with fragrant notes of violets, cedar and sage. Expressive and fluid, there's great approachability and balance but this still has significant development potential.

A dense, immense, towering forest of a wine. Seemingly impenetrable at first, it offers small openings into its dark depths through waves of aromatics that leap from smoking pine wood to green peppercorns to baked plum. It is explosive in the mouth, intense and concentrated, with notes of dark chocolate, bramble, hoisin sauce and rich dark soil. It still feels so fresh, buoyed by its racy acid. The tannins are fairly chewy and grainy. Tasted from magnum.

A wine about to reach its prime, this has a beautiful cloak of sage, bayleaf, dried oregano and thyme, over dense prune, black olive and blackcurrant. The tannins are soft, round and pleasantly earthy, holding the fine flavours with assertive ease. A tail of refreshing dry parsley and Earl Grey lingers eleantly on the palate. Beautiful, nuanced and expressive, with the mischievous greenness of Carmenère and Petit Verdot piercing through.

An expressive, robust minerality builds the framework of this fine, structured Malbec, with great sense of place and potential to develop in bottle. A juicy core of red plum, cherry and ripe fig is sprinkled with graphite and liquorice, and elegantly covered by a thin veil of cardamom and nutmeg. A wine to revisit in years to come.

Mushroom and forest floor open into saffron, dried cranberry and dates. Born in a record-breaking dry and hot vintage (the Bekaa Valley reached 48.5°C) some of the grapes were sundried at harvest, concentrating both sugar and acidity. The 2010 has a ripe, juicy palate with an ardent core of dried wild berries, balsamic and sweet spices, yet remains effortlessly graceful, unravelling an endless melody of dried strawberry and Earl Grey tea.

A blend from three parcels of organically grown grapes at the Fontodi estate in Panzano, this 100% Sangiovese wine is still incredibly youthful as you would expect, but beneath the muscular, powerful structure, you can already discern a solid core of dark briary fruit, plus notes of coffee and cocoa-dusted cherries. Silky tannins and freshening acidity balance the density and innate power. A great wine from a great vintage for Tuscan red.

In what was widely considered an excellent vintage, Marchesi di Barolo's Sarmassa is a richly hedonistic wine with great depth and character. Its aromatic display spans dark chocolate, wet leaves, dried fig, prune and oud spice. It promises to be a big wine, so the silkiness of its tannins and texture is a wonderful surprise. The fruit, although showing tertiary character, is still ripe and plush, and the impression is of plump berries rolled in still smoking embers. This is a limited edition late-release version of Marchesi di Barolo's Sarmassa cuvée, which has been stored in bottle in pristine conditions in the estate's cellars for 10 years before release. Only 250 bottles are released each year.

Lots of amazing savoury and mineral character keep this wine soaring at 15 years (when tasted). Forest aromas of bay leaf and fir tips complement dried berries, violets and herbs. The palate is an array of cool woodland fruits, turned soil and streaks of pencil lead, which lend complexity, elegance and an ongoing ageability that still offers plenty to come.

With smoky classicism and broody allure, this shows Casa Real in its more traditional guise, with stronger oak influence and deeper extractions. Both are nevertheless well integrated, supporting the wine's beautiful and focused evolution, but also confirming that the wine's stylistic departure since has been a successful decision. A strong core of black cherry and plum, cloaked in coffee beans and black chocolate fills the palate, resting on a bed of tobacco and wet forest floor.

Plenty of sweet oak and ripe fruits mark the nose of this now 15-year-old Napa Cabernet from high on Pritchard Hill and the Chappellet estate. A colder vintage for Napa still saw ample ripeness by the time this wine was harvested in mid-October. Dark plums, frankincense and cinnamon dominate the aromas, while the palate shows flourishes of mountain garrigue that frame round black and red berries. Notes of coffee bean and milk chocolate round out the palate which shows enough acidity to carry on another five to 10 years, owing to the cool, balanced growing season.

When tasted at 15 years, complexity remains. Ample florality brightens the aromas of black fruits, earth and faint hints of wood smoke. The palate shows density of dark fruits, black brambles and polished notes of plum. Sweet spices envelope the finish. A lovely wine from this esteemed estate.

A blend of Nero d'Avola, Petit Verdot and Syrah from the Contessa Entellina vineyard in south-west Sicily, with 14 months in new French oak barriques and 36 months in bottle. Tasted in magnum, it reveals concentrated black fruit aromas, laced with leather and spice. Considerable complexity on the harmonious palate, with its deep core of smooth black fruit and fine tannins. Savoury evolution on the long finish – like foraging in mushroomy undergrowth – but this is still so young! Will carry on evolving for many years to come. Decant for an hour before drinking.

Sourced from a single vineyard in the Southern Valleys sub-region of Marlborough, this elegant Pinot is showing lovely evolution after six years. Fruit-driven aromas of raspberry, cherry, strawberries and plums with herbal and savoury tones. From a riper vintage, the palate is plush yet fresh, with appealing fruit expression and a fine framework of tannins. Dark berries and plums mingle with gentle spice, vanilla and savoury touches of olive and espresso.