Italy's incredible year: About 6,400 wines rated
James tastes a lineup of Barolo 2015s.
This year was an amazing year for Italian wine. We rated almost 6,500 wines from Italy over three months this year and we found thousands of outstanding quality wines. It was the biggest year of tasting Italian wines in my 38-year career as a professional wine taster.
All the wines were reviewed in Italy either in our office in Tuscany or on the road in tasting rooms and wineries. We racked up the miles and Coravined the bottles to find the best of what Italian vintners had to offer in 2019. We made a point of tasting in situ for most of our tastings around the world, which is a great investment in time and resources, but we think it is worth it to better understand the wines, the regions, vineyards and winemakers. We reviewed more than 25,000 wines in total this year.
The fact that we found 15 wines from Italy that were perfect bottles (100 points) says something to the world about the quality of Italian wine in 2019. We rated another dozen 99 points. Another 27 Italian wines received scores of 98 points. The bar for quality was incredibly high this year for currently and soon-to-be-released wines from Italy.
Don’t miss out on a chance to taste some of the best of these Italian wines at our upcoming
GREAT WINES OF ITALY EVENTS:
Bangkok (Nov 27) | Hong Kong (Nov 29) | Beijing (Dec 2)
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- Jack and James taste wines in the office in Tuscany.
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- The plush vineyards of Zenato show the beauty of the Veneto.
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- Argiano’s villa near Montalcino dates back to the late Renaissance and has recently been restored.
Brunello’s exceptional year
One of the most exceptional categories this year was the 2015 Brunello di Montalcino. It’s a benchmark year from the famous region of Tuscany and the wines show incredible depth of fruit and seamless tannins that melt in your mouth. The incredible quality of the 2015 Super Tuscans and 2015 Barolos was also stellar.
You probably already know that our Wine of the Year 2019 was the Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne 2015. Two other Italians made it into the Top 10: Renieri Brunello di Montalcino 2015 and Eredi Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino 2015. These wines, like other 2015 Brunellos, will be on the market this coming January.
Eleven of the 15 wines with 100-point scores are 2015 Brunellos. The others include Bruno Giacosa Falletto Barolo Vigna Le Rocche 2015, Marchesi Antinori Toscana Solaia 2015, Masseto Toscana 2015, and Roberto Voerzio Barolo La Serra 2015. Indeed, Tuscany and Langhe (Barolo and Barbaresco) experienced two great back-to-back vintages with 2015 and 2016. You can pretty much buy what you like with the top names of the regions and you won’t go wrong. The 2015 vintage tended to produce slightly riper and more structured wines while the 2016 made fresher and more linear reds.
James tastes 2015 and 2016 Brunello with Giancarlo Pacenti of Siro Pacenti. The Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne 2015 became our Wine of the Year 2019.
Other Italian wine regions shine
The 99-point wines were also mostly from Tuscany and Langhe but Umbria’s white wine Marchesi Antinori Cervaro Della Sala 2017 and the Veneto’s Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sergio Zenato Riserva 2013 may be surprising inclusions for some. They were No. 4 and No. 18 in our Top 100 respectively.
These two wines represent two bright spots in our tastings this year as the best whites of Italy, particularly from Alto Adige, Soave, and Friuli (Collio), consistently deliver outstanding quality.
Veneto’s glorious reds are coming into their own too as many producers move away from overly fruit-driven reds to more refined and polished renditions that are modern classics in style. This more reserved character in wines such as Amarone and Valpolicella Ripasso gives them more transparency and a better medium to communicate their unique and exciting soils and micro-climates.
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- This was part of a small vertical of the best years of Fuligni to compare with the new 2015.
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- Jack speaks to winemaker Carlo Ferrini at his small vineyard of Giodo.
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- Marie stands next to casks of Amarone at Masi.
Southern Italy wines
As always, the south is producing some very exciting wines particularly Sicily, Campania and Sardinia. The volcanic region of Etna stands out with fascinating reds and whites that highlight its uniqueness and history. We only wish that more areas in the south could produce such world class wines, particularly Puglia and Basilicata which continue to make many inferior wines. This is also a call out to Umbria and Lazio, which should be making better wines in general.
Nonetheless, about 75 percent of the Italian wines we tasted this year rated 90 points or above or could be called “outstanding” in quality. I cannot recall a year in which the average rating of our Italian wine tastings was higher. It’s why Jack and I so enjoy tasting and living part of the year in Italy. I have had my house in Tuscany since 1998. Jack grew up there. It makes our experience all the better knowing so much outstanding quality Italian wine is available to wine lovers around the world at the moment.
– James Suckling, CEO & editor
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- The reserve Zenato Amarone 2013 highlights the classic style of the best of the region.
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- Jack and James take a shot at the Antinori offices in Florence with an antique fiasco Chianti truck behind.
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- More wines wait to be tasted in our Tuscan offices.