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Brunello di Montalcino Argiano best wine in the world for Wine Spectator

Italy also took fifth place with Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva 2016 and sixth with Marchese Antinori Riserva 2020. The average price of the awarded wines is 54 dollars: ranging from over 100 to less than 25 dollars

Brunello di Montalcino Argiano best wine in the world for Wine Spectator

Un Brunello di Montalcino returns to being the best wine in the world according to the ranking of the prestigious American magazine Wine Spectator. It is the Argiano 2018 which brings Brunello back to the top of the annual ranking twenty-two years later when in 2001 the magazine awarded a Brunello di Montalcino from Tenuta Nuova di Casanova di Neri. The Argiano company consisting of 141 acres of vineyards of which 54 acres destined for Brunello and 25 acres for Rosso di Montalcino in 2013 passed from Countess Noemi Marone Cinzano to the Brazilian billionaire André Esteves who, over the course of a decade, took over invested ten million dollars.

The new projects fell under the direction by Bernardino Sani. He had done an internship in the Argiano winery in 2002, returning to the Argiano team as sales and marketing director in 2012. At the beginning of 2014 he was appointed managing director by the new ownership.

At the end of 2014, Sani has enlisted consultant winemaker Alberto Antonini to work with his team of site manager Adriano Bambagioni and vineyard manager Francesco Monari. The first intervention was the cleaning of the wine aging cellar and the investment in large 1.000, 2.000 and 5.000 liter barrels, plus 600 liter tonneaux to replace the barriques used to age both the classic Brunello and a bottling of Brunello from single vineyard called Vigna del Suolo. (A new winemaking facility was built in 2000.)

“We are happy for the Sienese company led by Bernardino Sani, under the ownership of the Brazilian entrepreneur André Santos Esteves – comments the president of the Brunello di Montalcino wine consortium, Fabrizio Bindocci -. This award, which sees the presence of a Brunello on the Wine Spectator podium for the second consecutive year, represents enormous recognition for the entire denomination and confirms on the one hand Montalcino's virtuous relationship with foreign investors, on the other the ability of our companies to express the highest quality even in years that are often received lukewarmly by critics".

Italy also took fifth place with Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva 2016 and sixth with Marchese Antinori Riserva 2020

In second place in the Wine Spectator ranking goes to the Pinot Noir West Sonoma Coast Freestone-Occidental 2021. Steve Kistler's eponymous winery – we read in the guide – became synonymous with Californian Chardonnay decades ago. Since he founded Occidental in 2011, he has become known for California Pinot Noir. With his daughter Catherine, Kistler grows 65 acres of Pinot Noir vines around their new winery in the recently created West Sonoma Coast AVA. Kistler's parcels exemplify the extreme nature of this developing wine growing area: close to the coast, at high altitude, blanketed in morning fog and whipped by afternoon winds. This bottling is packed with pure blackberry and black cherry fruit, enlivened by a light savory note, while a mineral edge underneath adds a subtle tension to the whole.

Bages Château Lynch Paulillac 2020 takes third podium. To raise the ceiling of quality, sometimes – underlines the editor of the guide – you literally have to raise the roof. Owner Jean-Charles Cazes and winemaker Nicolas Labenne have completed a huge new cellar in time for the 2020 harvest, christening it with a classic quality wine. Lynch Bages have long been beloved in the United States (and have been affectionately nicknamed “lunch bags” within some English-speaking wine circles). Its 1985 vintage won Wine of the Year in 1988. This is the flagship property of the Cazes family business, which includes six estates in France, as well as a hotel and restaurants in the charming town of Bages itself. The 2020 vintage once again demonstrates that the company ranks well above its fifth growth ranking. The 2020 Grand Vin offers a beautiful interpretation of modern Bordeaux, with notes of pure cassis and violet at the opening, followed by waves of sweet tobacco and iron. Fourth position for RAEN Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Royal St. Robert Cuvée 2021.

Number 5 of the world wines is still an Italian wine, the Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva 2016 followed in third place by Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2019. And the Italian flag also flies on podium no. 7 with Antinori Chianti Classico Marchese Antinori Riserva 2020. Closing the Wine Spectator top ten are Château Pichon Baron Pauillac 2020, Résonance Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2021, Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2022.

In our 2023 blind tastings – explains Wine Spectator in a note – our editors have examined more than 9.200 wines, of which 5.819 with a score equal to or greater than 90 points. This was our initial pool to select the Top 100, rated by quality (based on score), value (based on price), availability (cases produced or imported in the US), and most importantly, relevance and history of the wines – what we call the X-factor.

The average price of the awarded wines is 54 dollars: ranging from over 100 to less than 25 dollars

Our list is a broad picture of the year in wine. You'll find some of the best wines from premium grape varieties and first-rate appellations, particularly in our Top 10. California figures prominently thanks to the strength of the 2019 Cabernet, 2021 Chardonnay and 2021 Pinot Noir harvests; Italy, which represents 20% of the total, shows the strength of Piedmont and Tuscany. France also shines, with the Rhone Valley in the lead.

Nearly 50% of this year's Top 100 are wineries earning the honor for the first time; others are consistent performers with excellent track records, year after year. The average score is 93 points and the average price is $54. While 13 wines cost $100 or more, more than 60 percent are priced at $50 or less, while more than a quarter of the wines cost $25 or less.

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