The well-known ranking by the U.S. magazine Wine Spectator considers three parameters: organoleptic quality, number of bottles produced, and price. Not considering these "rules of engagement" generates misunderstandings about the meaning of the magnificent 100.
The ranking of this year’s top one hundred wines on Wine Spectator, the so-called Top Hundred, has come out, and the press-especially the national press-is competing to call the winning wine “the best in the world.” It is an Italian wine, Argiano’s Brunello di Montalcino 2018, and that is certainly pleasing. It is not by far the best wine in the world, though, so much so that the same winery offers one, Vigna del Suolo cru, also from 2018 and always Brunello di Montalcino, above that in quality, price and prestige.
Not only that, but if one only took into consideration WS’s statements and the rules he gives himself for the making of his rankings one might understand a few things. First, the selection is based only on the wines tasted by the editors during the year and not on all the best wines in the world. Second, there is not only the parameter of the score obtained, but the number of bottles produced (and available in the U.S.) and the quality/price ratio also count in drawing up the ranking. In the sense that for the same score more goes to those who produce more bottles and who have a cheaper price, and, for the same reason, wines that had a higher score but were “pulled” in smaller quantities and at higher prices would demote, and sometimes be excluded from the ranking.
Nothing wrong or bad, everyone gives themselves the rules they see fit to give themselves, evidently, but, not so much WS, which states its own rules of engagement anyway, as the press should, in my opinion, give the news for what it is. That is to say, Argiano’s 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is the best wine among those tasted by Wine Spectator this year considering score, price and spread. Something that is always very prestigious and something that makes us all proud, as it points the world’s lens on an Italian wine, but somewhat different from being the “best wine of the year” tout court.
