In 2020 we tasted and rated nearly 18,000 wines at JamesSuckling.com, and published our Top 100 reports (in general and by region) as well as a Top 100 Value Wines of 2020 report. These reports used various factors to determine the wines selected and their ranking, only one of which is their score. Here we also publish the wines tasted over 2020, based purely on their scores of 99 or 100 points.
There are 133 wines in this list, 52 of which scored 100 points, and 81 of which scored 99. James and the team use a formula whenever they rate a wine, based on color, aromas, body structure and overall impression. But when evaluating wines of this quality, subjectivity is also a big factor. James recently explained how his 40 years of experience can also impact his ratings, especially when you discover a truly great wine that you want to share. The video below shows James explaining this in one of our recent videos from the LG Signature interview series.
This list of wines shows what a remarkable year it was for Germany. With 46 of the wines listed here, they have more than double the number of 99- and 100-point wines of the next-placed country, Italy, which has 21. That’s primarily due to the superlative performance from riesling producers in the 2019 vintage, which Contributing Editor Stuart Pigott said was probably the best ever vintage for Germany in his September report. It also means there are roughly the same number of red wines and non-red wines in this list.
Australia also significantly over-performed compared to past years, racking up 20 99- and 100-point wines having never broken double figures before. Meanwhile popular regions such as France and the United States had fewer 99- and 100-point wines than usual. But much of this data must be taken in the context of what we tasted. For instance, the vast majority of our French tastings this year were for the en primeur wines from the 2019 vintage, and we have not included barrel scores in this report. And this year we didn’t travel to Europe of course, so nearly all the wines were tasted in Hong Kong meaning we rated slightly fewer wines from Italy and France compared to last year. We also retasted some older wines that performed well and are included here.
Take a look at all our top-rated wines of 2020 below. Subscribers can access the scores and tasting notes by clicking a wine name.
The wines are listed by score and then in alphabetical order.
