Best Italian Wines of 2020 selected by Wine enthusiast and Wine spectator Magazines
December is the time for an annual ritual, the month for looking back over the course of the year – terrible as it has been – with various organizations pontificating on the best of various things be it books, people, movies or in this case, wines.
It’s a time when wine cognoscenti and wine-focused organizations pause to look back and rank the wines they liked, or disliked in some cases, over the course of the year.
It’s an attempt to quantify the qualitative experience of drinking and enjoying wines. If done independently and with unbiased resolve, the rankings can help the wine-buying public make sense and order of the thousands of wines released each year and perhaps encourage one to try some previously-unknown labels. And besides, who doesn’t love buying a wine selected as one of the world’s best that hails from an unlikely corner of the world?
And, so it goes with Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, 
two prominent wine-centric magazines with world-wide circulations. Each December they publish their annual lists of the top 100 wines released that year from around the world. Both magazines’ choices of the top 100 wines are based on surveys of the wines reviewed by their respective staffs over the course of the year. Their published rankings are highly followed since they can have a significant impact on a wine’s - and the producing winery’s - reputation and popularity.
Despite the handicaps imposed this year in terms of sheltering-in-place and social-distancing, both magazines managed to release their lists of the world’s best wines released in 2020. Both include a number of Italian wines and it’s interesting to review what wines they selected and compare their choices.
Unlike last year, when an Italian sparkling wine was selected as the world’s best wine by Wine Enthusiast, no Italian wines managed to take the top spot in either magazine’s rankings. For the Wine Enthusiast, the highest-rated Italian wine for 2020 is a 2015 Brunello di Montalcino from the Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona winery that is ranked #3. Wine Spectator's highest ranked Italian wine is also a 2015 Brunello di Montalcino and is also ranked #3 but is from the San Filippo winery.
Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Selections
The staff of Wine Enthusiast (WE) cumulatively reviewed more than 25,000 wines from around the world in 2020 in preparation for its selection of the world’s best. Only those wines that received an initial minimum rating of 90 on WE’s 100-point scale are considered for inclusion in its Top 100 wines of the year.
On a country-by-country basis, the U.S. comes out on top with 30 wines included in WE’s Top 100, the same number as in the year previous. The majority are from California (19) but Oregon and Washington also well represented with 5 each and New York with 1.
France is well represented with 16 wines in WE’s Top 100, the second-highest country total, followed closely by Italy with 16 wines and Portugal a distant 4th with 7 wines.
You can view the complete list of WE's Top 100 wines along with price, vintage and brief reviews HERE.
WE’s top-rated wine of 2020 is a 2017 “Blueprint” Cabernet Sauvignon from the Lail Winery in Napa Valley. It is a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with some Merlot and a splash of Petit Verdot that sells for $80.
The highest-ranked Italian wine in WS’s Top 100 list is a 2015 Brunello di Montalcino from the Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona winery located in the village of Castelnuovo del Abate southeast of Montalcino. It was ranked #3 and it retails for $50. 2015 was a great year for Tuscan wines and provided age-worthy, structured red wines.
The 16 Italian wines selected by WE are widely distributed throughout Italy, from Alto Adige in the north to Sicily in the south. Tuscany and Piedmont tallied 3 wines each followed by 2 each from Sicily, Abruzzo and Trentino-Alto Adige and 1 each from Friuli, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Puglia.
Approximately two-thirds of the 16 wines (10) are red and 4 are white. The remaining 2 are sparkling wines and include the lightly-sparkling 2019 “Radici” Lambrusco di Sorbara from the Paltrinieri winery (#21) and the non-vintage (NV) “Rive di Refrontolo” Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superior from the De Stefani winery (#43). The “Radici” Lambrusco undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle while the “Rive di Refrontolo Valdobbiadene utilizes the tank method.
While the average price of the Italian wines is $38 there is a wide distribution of prices among the selected Italian wines with prices ranging from $16 to $92. The “Garblét Sué” Barolo from the Brovia winery (#18) in Castiglione Falletto in the heart of the Barolo district is the most expensive Italian wine in WE’s Top 100 while the least expensive Italian wine is the 2017 “Lirica” Primitivo di Manduria priced at $16 (#89). Eight wines are priced under $30 while only 3 wines have prices in excess of $50.
The table below lists the 16 Italian wines included in WE’s Top 100 wines of 2020 and presents relevant information for each.
Wine Spectator's Top 100 Selections
The staff of Wine Spectator (WS) reviewed more than 11,000 newly-released wines in 2020. Of these, WS winnowed its potential 100 list to approximately 5,000 wines that initially scored 90 points or higher on WS’s 100-point rating scale. However, some were subsequently eliminated because of limited production and/or were too expensive.
WS bases its final selections on considerations such as quality (as indicated by their staff’s scores), value (judged by the wine’s release price), availability (determined by the number of cases either made or imported into the U.S.) and a cryptic “x-factor” that they define as “the intensity of interest the wines generated by way of their singularity or authenticity.”
WS’s Top 100 represent a wide range of varietals, appellations and prices from a large number of countries. As in past years, wines from the U.S. dominate and account for approximately one-third of the total awards. While California wines comprise the majority of the U.S. total, wines from Oregon and Washington are also well represented.
You can view WS’s complete list of the Top 100 wines with price and vintage data HERE.
WS’s top-rated wine of the year is a Spanish wine, specifically a 2010 Rioja from the Bodegas Marqués de Murrieta. It is a Tempranillo and Mazuelo blend from a stand-out vintage and retails for $139.
Although 2 less than the previous year, Italian wines still fared well with 19 Italian wines appearing in WS’s Top 100. The highest rated Italian wine in WS’s top 100 is a 2015 Brunello from the San Filippo winery. It is ranked #3 and costs $90. Coincidentally, James Suckling rated this wine a perfect, eye-popping 100 points.
Of the 19 Italian wines in WS’s Top 100, 15 are red and the remaining 4 are white wines.
The lion’s share of the 19 Italian wines in WS’s Top 100 are from Tuscany. With 9 wines, Tuscany accounts for almost half of WS’s total Italian contingent. The Tuscany total includes 3 Chianti Classico wines, all from the excellent 2015 or 2016 vintages; 2 Brunellos from the 2015 vintage; and one Barbaresco and one Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
Two Super-Tuscans are also included in the Tuscany total. One is from the Tolaini winery (#13) that is made entirely of Cabernet Sauvignon while the other is from the Caiarossa winery (#20) that is a blend of primarily Sangiovese with some Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
The Piedmont region comes in second with 3 wines in WS’s Top 100 list. This includes a 2016 Barolo from the Massolino winery; a 2017 Barbera d’Asti from the Vietti winery; and a 2015 Gattinara, a Nebbiolo-based wine from the Travaglini winery in the northern Piedmont (#54).
The remaining Italian wines in WS’s Top 100 include 2 from the Alto Adige region in northern Italy and 1 each from the Friuli, Puglia, Marche, Basilicata and Veneto regions.
Surprisingly – at least to me – is that not one wine from Sicily made it into WS’s Top 100 list. Hence, no Mount Etna, no Nero d’Avola and no Cerasuolo di Vittoria wines, among others, made the final cut. Oh well, spots in the top 100 are limited so it is what it is.
With a price tag of $90, the 2015 “Le Lucere” Brunello di Montalcino from the San Filippo winery (#3) is the most expensive Italian wine in WS’s Top 100. With the exception of a $71 Barbaresco (#24) the other Italian wines are priced well south of that. The average price of the 19 Italian wines is $38 and 7 wines are $25 or less.
The table below presents the wines and relevant information for all Italian wines that made it into WS’s Top 100 wines of 2020.
Italian Wines in Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2020 |
||||||||
Rank |
Score |
Producer |
Wine |
Vintage |
Region |
Price |
||
3 |
97 |
San Filippo | "Le Lucere" Brunello di Montalcino | 2015 |
Tuscany |
$90 |
||
7 |
95 |
Massolino | Barolo | 2016 |
Piedmont |
$53 |
||
11 |
97 |
Castello di Volpaia | Chianti Classico Riserva | 2016 |
Tuscany |
$40 |
||
13 |
9 |
Tolaini | "Legit" Cabernet Sauvignon Toscana | 2016 |
Tuscany |
$45 |
||
16 |
95 |
Caprili | Brunello di Montalcino | 2015 |
Tuscany |
$60 |
||
20 |
94 |
Caiarossa | "Pergolaia" Toscana | 2016 |
Tuscany |
$28 |
||
24 |
97 |
Produttori del Barbaresco | "Rabaja" Barbaresco Riserva | 2015 |
Tuscany |
$71 |
||
32 |
93 |
Foradori | "Fontanasanta" Manzoni Bianco Vigneti delle Dolomiti | 2018 |
Trentino-Alto Adige |
$30 |
||
36 |
92 |
Frescobaldi-Tenuta Perano | Chianti Classico | 2015 |
Tuscany |
$24 |
||
39 |
94 |
Boscarelli | Vino Nobile di Montepulciano | 2016 |
Tuscany |
$44 |
||
47 |
91 |
Vietti | "Tre Vigne" Barbera d'Asti | 2017 |
Piedmont |
$25 |
||
49 |
93 |
Istine | Chianti Classico | 2016 |
Tuscany |
$25 |
||
54 |
92 |
Travaglini | Gattinara | 2015 |
Piedmont |
$32 |
||
60 |
91 |
Il Conte Villa Prandone | "Marinus" Rosso Piceno Superiore | 2017 |
Marche |
$24 |
||
70 |
92 |
Suavia | "Monte Carbonare" Soave Classico | 2017 |
Veneto |
$33 |
||
74 |
91 |
Jermann | Pinot Grigio | 2017 |
Friuli |
$30 |
||
82 |
90 |
Tormaresca | "Torcicoda" Primitivo Salento | 2016 |
Puglia |
$20 |
||
96 |
90 |
San Leonardo | "Vette di San Leonardo" Sauvignon Blanc | 2018 |
Trentino-Alto Adige |
$22 |
||
99 |
90 |
Grifalco | "Gricos" Aglianico del Vulture | 2017 |
Basilicata |
$20 |
||
| Average Price | $38 |
|||||||
| Source: Wine Spectator Magazine, December 31, 2020 | ||||||||
All in all, it was another good year for Italian wines on the competitive world stage.
Return to About Italian Wines
©Richard Marcis
December 21, 2020
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