The world’s largest and most influential wine competitors, Decanter World Wine Awards outcomes supply a definitive information to the dynamic world of wine.
Every year’s outcomes supply surprises and revelations, highlighting progress in high quality and consistency – or lack thereof. An all-time file for wines tasted, uncover the outcomes from the nineteenth version of the competitors.
Fast hyperlinks to DWWA 2022 outcomes
Key stats:
After a record-breaking 12 months for whole wines tasted in 2021, the file was topped once more this 12 months with 18,244 wines judged from 54 nations. Throughout two weeks, virtually 250 worldwide wine consultants, together with 41 Masters of Wine and 13 Grasp Sommeliers, awarded 50 Finest in Present, 165 Platinum, 676 Gold, 5,900 Silver and eight,074 Bronze medals.
Watch: Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 video
Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 – outcomes highlights
Topping the record of noteworthy outcomes, 2022 was a standout 12 months for South America with huge wins for Argentina and Chile.
Argentina loved a very profitable 12 months with a best-ever displaying of high medals awarded, tripling its mixed share of Gold, Platinum and Finest in Present medals from 14 in 2021 to 41. Securing 4 of the competitors’s high 50 Finest in Present medals, outcomes reinforce the distinctive worth for cash to be discovered right here with three of those awarded to worth wines (below £15) together with:
- Finca Sophenia, Altosur Malbec, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Mendoza 2021
- Morrisons, The Finest Gran Montaña Reserve Malbec, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2020
- Pacheco Pereda, Estirpe Natural Fairtrade Cabernet Franc, Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza 2021
- Search all outcomes from Argentina right here
However it’s not simply worth that impressed the judges – Argentina’s 13 Platinum medals exemplify top of the range throughout the board, with seven Tremendous Premium and Icon wines (£50+) awarded 97 factors.
Chile, too, carried out very strongly with a record-breaking displaying for Gold medals awarded, together with 21 Gold, six Platinum and two Finest in Present – worth for high quality once more being of explicit notice right here with half of the nation’s Platinum medals awarded to worth wines. Its high medal record highlights a spread of grape varieties from the extra consultant Carmenère, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc to Carignan from Maule, single winery Sauvignon Gris from Leyda Valley and Montepulciano from Marchigue, Colchagua together with:
- Viña Tarapacá, Gran Reserva Etiqueta Azul, Maipó Valley 2020 (Finest in Present)
- Bisquertt, Loopy Rows Carignan, Maule 2020 (Finest in Present)
- Estampa, Inspiración Montepulciano, Marchigue, Colchagua 2021 (Gold)
- Viña Leyda, Single Winery Kadún Sauvignon Gris, Leyda Valley, San Antonio 2021 (Gold)
- Search all outcomes from Chile right here
A worldwide overview of the place the highest medals have been awarded at DWWA 2022.
With 10 Finest in Present winners, France as soon as once more retained its majority share within the high 50 with Bordeaux being the perfect performing area throughout the nation, and the competitors. Of the area’s unprecedented 5 Finest in Present wins, two have been awarded to worth wines together with Château Bourdieu’s N°1, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux 2018 and Savas, Cuvée Eva, Bordeaux Blanc 2020. The judges mentioned: ‘Bordeaux is never acclaimed as a supply of great-value Sauvignon… however there’s a class to the fruit which is uncommon at this stage and can present a lot ingesting pleasure for Sauvignon followers.’
Elsewhere in France, the competitors’s high accolade was awarded to wines from Champagne, Jurançon, Saint-Joseph and Fleurie – a first-ever Finest in Present for Beaujolais for Mont Verrier’s La Tonne, Fleurie 2020. One other noteworthy first, a Vin de France received Gold for the primary time for Jeff Carrel’s Chatgris NV, an orange wine made with Grenache Gris.
See picture highlights from DWWA 2022
DWWA 2022: Platinum & Finest in Present judging week highlights
In whole, 38 Platinum and 125 Gold medals have been awarded to France with sturdy performances from the Loire, Rhône and Provence, and constant high quality for areas together with Burgundy and Alsace.
An thrilling 12 months for Italy, extra medals have been awarded to Italian wines than some other nation on the 2022 competitors. Following France, Italy acquired eight Finest in Present, 25 Platinum and 114 Gold medals, with Central and Southern Italy making strides.
Notably, Sardinia and Sicily noticed success with Finest in Present wins – a first-ever for Sardinia for its Chessa, Cagnulari, Isola dei Nuraghi 2020. The identical grape selection as Spain’s Graciano, this medal winner was described by the judges as having ‘fragrant poise and energetic complexity on the palate which many in Spain would envy’.
Marche was awarded two Platinum and three Gold medals and Campania three Platinum and three Gold, representing the perfect Platinum efficiency for each areas. Abruzzo received its second-ever Platinum medal, and Emilia Romana shocked with three Platinum medals – the primary 12 months for the area to be awarded this high accolade.
Tuscany as soon as once more was awarded the vast majority of Italy’s Finest in Present outcomes. Its greatest efficiency up to now, 4 Finest in Present medals have been awarded to:
- Cipriana, San Martino, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany 2018
- Colmano, Riserva, Vin Santo del Chianti, Tuscany 2000
- La Palazzetta, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Tuscany 2016
- Riecine, Vigna Gittori, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, Tuscany 2019
- Search all outcomes from Italy right here
Fruili-Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Val d’Aosta are additionally areas of notice with high awards comfortably exceeding 2021 outcomes.
Standout success may also be present in Spain with a greater than 20% improve in mixed Gold, Platinum and Finest in Present outcomes. It was an amazing 12 months for Gold medals specifically, with essentially the most Gold medals awarded to Spanish wines within the competitors’s 19-year historical past.
Noteworthy New World outcomes
Awarded to only 50 wines, this 12 months’s Finest in Present winners signify solely 0.27% of the overall wines tasted, and of the competitors’s high 50 wines, 40% come from New World nations – greater than double that of the 2021 outcomes.
Australia tops the perfect of the New World record with six Finest in Present medals awarded, in addition to 9 Platinum medals and 60 record-breaking Gold medals. Reflecting on judging on the 2022 competitors, joint Regional Chair for Australia, Justin Knock MW, mentioned:
‘It was clear that enthusiasm for the general high quality was notably excessive – at one level it was made clear to myself and Huon [Hooke, joint Regional Chair for Australia] that the variety of Gold medal wines from Australia was very excessive, to which we identified two issues. One – the panel judges themselves have been enthusiastically arguing for inclusion. This factors to the extent of pleasure that Australia’s well-made wines can carry to the buyer.
‘Secondly, the variety of wines entered within the high value band classes have been proportionally very excessive, giving us a really excessive calibre of wines to style and little doubt resulting in the sturdy efficiency of Australia general.’
New Zealand noticed its best-ever efficiency for Finest in Present with 4 wines awarded this high accolade together with:
- Craggy Vary, Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay 2020
- Church Street, Grand Reserve Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay 2020
- Rimapere, Plot 101 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2021
- Valli, Pinot Noir, Bannockburn, Central Otago 2020
- Search all outcomes from New Zealand
The UK was awarded its highest-ever variety of medals up to now – 151 this 12 months – with a Finest in Present win for Coates & Seely, Reserve Brut, Hampshire NV. ‘The nonetheless white wines have been maybe essentially the most spectacular single class, with some actually terrific examples’ commented Regional Chair for the UK, Simon Subject MW, and the outcomes attest with a first-ever Platinum profitable wine from Essex for Vagabond Wines Chardonnay 2020.
Within the USA, California was the large winner with all Gold, Platinum and Finest in Present medals awarded to wines from the Golden State, together with a Finest in Present win for Clos du Val, Hirondelle Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District 2019. California’s medal haul additionally included 4 Platinum and 9 Gold medals, together with Amador County’s first-ever Gold for Ana Diogo-Draper, Touriga Nacional 2020.
An additional 97 Silver medals have been awarded with Oregon and Washington State making the record, in addition to Missouri for Stony Hill Vineyard’s 2019 Norton, a dark-skinned hybrid and the official grape number of the state.
South Africa was awarded two Finest in Present medals, the nation’s greatest outcomes on this class since 2017, plus 5 Platinum and 39 Gold medals.
Extra highlights & revelations
After the first-ever Gold medals for Ukraine in 2021, the nation was once more awarded a Gold for Beykush Vineyard’s Reserve Chardonnay, Nikolayev 2019 – a outcome effectively value celebrating for the vineyard after taking particular measures to have its bottles hand-delivered through Hungary for this 12 months’s competitors.
Ukraine vineyard’s mission to ship bottles to DWWA
The nineteenth version of Decanter World Wine Awards judging begins
Japan was awarded a first-ever Platinum medal from the nation’s south island Kyushu for Sanwa Shurui, Ajimu Moroya Koshu, Oita 2021. It was additionally awarded 4 Golds together with Camel Farm Vineyard’s Blaufrankisch Personal Reserve, Yoichi 2020 from the north island of Hokkaido.
China had record-breaking outcomes this 12 months profitable 234 medals, together with 17 Gold medals.
Serbia has gone from energy to energy with 20 Gold medals awarded since its first win in 2018 – 9 of those coming from the 2022 competitors. Armenia, too, has been displaying potential progress with 5 Golds awarded since 2019, this 12 months one to Noa, Noah of Areni, Vayots Dzor 2019.
Orange wines are displaying promise with a Platinum medal awarded to a Riesling and Manzoni Bianco mix from Dvorska Šoškić, Haiku, Plešivica, Continental, Croatia 2019 in addition to six Gold medals to wines from Georgia, Italy, Croatia and France.
Elsewhere, Switzerland and Austria noticed standout outcomes with Switzerland awarded one Finest in Present, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold medals, and Austria awarded two Finest in Present, three Platinum and 10 Golds – up greater than 50% in comparison with high medals from 2021.
The Co-Chairs on judging & outcomes
Sarah Jane Evans MW mentioned of the outcomes, ‘The Decanter World Wine Awards is one thing actually particular. We pay large consideration to the wines now we have, every one we method like one of many household within the sense that we actually take care of it, research it after which charge it as it’s now. You already know that what you’re doing is having an enormous dialogue about who’s going to get pleasure from it later.’
On judging, Ronan Sayburn MS , mentioned ‘DWWA is essentially the most extensively accepted and essentially the most prestigious wine awards on the planet, and I believe that that’s due to the very rigorous course of it goes by means of for awarding the perfect wines.‘
‘The primary week is all about figuring out the Bronze, Silver and Gold medals. That’s the laborious half.’ added Michael Hills Smith MW. ‘The second week we re-judge all the Golds. DWWA is among the only a few competitions the place all the Gold medals are re-tasted, and it’s that rigour of re-tasting that lets you make it possible for all the pieces that’s obtained a Gold is totally deserving of that Gold.
‘We don’t need there to be any gentle Golds, so the second week of rigorous re-tasting actually tightens up the outcomes, which provides to the integrity of the competitors. We’re additionally in search of Platinums that are these wines that are actually excellent, even inside a line-up of Golds.’
Andrew Jefford concluded, ‘By the point a wine involves be thought of for Finest in Present, it’s already come by means of its panel as a Gold. It then comes by means of the second judging week the place we discover our Platinums. It’s already gone from Gold to Platinum, so it’s a brilliant wine.
‘After that, we’re in search of a number of wines that we actually imagine are excellent examples of their model, in addition to a well-balanced choice – one thing from just about in all places, one thing in just about each model, one thing additionally for just about each funds. And we need to put a beautiful number of these collectively in order that we will supply that to shoppers as us saying, that is actually the perfect of the perfect in our present.’
With particular because of our sponsor
Thanks to the Decanter World Wine Awards official sponsor Riedel for supplying glassware for the 2022 competitors
