Top 100 World Wines 2021 and Wine of the Year

It’s been a great year for tasting wine at JamesSuckling.com. We rated almost 25,000 wines over the last 12 months, our all-time record, and we found so many exciting wines, from 2018 Bordeaux and Napa reds to 2020 German and Austrian whites, not to mention all the other superb wines from Argentina, Australia, California, Italy and New Zealand. Plus, we found a few gems from Chile, Hungary, Portugal and South Africa.

Most of the wines were reviewed in our tasting office in Hong Kong this year. Wineries sent their samples directly to us, which was easy because Hong Kong has no duties or taxes on wine. We tasted. We Zoomed. We discussed all the top wines. In addition, editors Stuart Pigott, Nick Stock, Bill McIlhenny and Nathan Slone were busy traveling in Europe, Australia and the United States interviewing and tasting with winemakers. It was fulfilling to have at least some of our team in the field gathering information and rating wines after more than a year of no travel for myself and others.

We have been communicating all this through our social media channels, especially our Instagram account, which has one of the largest audiences in the wine world, with 292,437 followers as of yesterday. Plus, regular subscribers to our website and newsletters continue to grow.

The main criteria that went into selecting this year’s list of the best 100 wines of the world was quality, which is why none scored less than 98 points. Another factor was that the wines must have had a minimum production of 4,000 bottles. Then we looked at pricing and finally what we call the “wow” factor. The latter are wines that excite us emotionally as well a technically as tasters.

READ MORE: OUR TOP 100 WINES OF 2020

THE TOP 10

There’s a lot to be emotional about this year! Our Top 10 wines of 2021 are all perfect wines, 100-pointers. It’s been a great year for perfect wines – 35 in total. It’s a combination of great terroir with incredible single-vineyard wines, winemaking such as superlative vintage Champagnes, and serious dedication in the vineyard like making tiny-production sweet wines.

However, it’s been a long time coming for New Zealand to finally produce our Wine of the Year, the Kumeu River Chardonnay Kumeu Maté’s Vineyard 2020. It’s also the first time our Wine of the Year is a white wine. And while most people think the best wines of the island nation are pinot noir or even sauvignon blanc, we have long thought its chardonnays are truly world-class and easily compete with the best internationally, particularly France’s Burgundy.

I first went to New Zealand in October 2012 and I was in awe of the sheer natural beauty of the place. We traveled for about 10 days and saw all the key wine regions and many of the top producers. We tasted so many clean and well-crafted wines, but only a few showed the complexity and nature of great vineyards. One of those places was the Kumeu River estate of the Brajkovich family, who are some of the most gifted vineyardists and winemakers in the world.

Prior to the pandemic, Contributing Editor Nick Stock traveled a few times a year to New Zealand to taste and visit producers. And we all have been big fans of Kumeu River chardonnays. Contributing Editor Stuart Pigott attended a vertical tasting in London of 11 vintages from 2017 to 2006 of all the Kumeu single-vineyard chardonnays (they make three) and he was blown away over how well they aged.

READ MORE TOP OF THE WORLD: THE CONSISTENTLY STUNNING KUMEU RIVER CHARDONNAYS

The family has about 30 hectares (about 74 acres) of estate vineyards and 10 hectares worth of grapes supplied by local growers under long-term contracts in Kumeu River, which is situated just north of Auckland on the North Island. The winery produces about 250,000 bottles per year. The single vineyard of Maté, named after their late father Maté, encompasses about 2.6 hectares. It’s their oldest vineyard, dating back to the early 1990s.

The weather is very cool with most summer days not reaching 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The combination of bright and clear sunlight ripens the grapes slowly and beautifully most years. The heavy clay soils also add to the effect of the cool climate. It’s much cooler that Burgundy in general, especially with global warming.

All the chardonnays at Kumeu River are whole-cluster pressed, fermented with wild yeasts and spend close to a year on their lees. New oak is limited in use. This is why the wines have such a crisp yet ripe and complex character to them – and the Kumeu River Chardonnay Kumeu Maté’s Vineyard 2020 shows unequalled power with complexity. I call it the “Montrachet of New Zealand.” Plus it sells for about $50 a bottle!

READ MORE: JAMES’ 2012 KUMEU RIVER ADVENTURE AND INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL BRAJKOVICH

Our No. 2 Wine of the Year is also a first for our Top 100. It’s the first time a Chianti Classico has been in the Top 10 and it highlights the superb quality of the reds carrying the moniker of Gran Selezione – the Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Ceniprimo 2018. This is a relatively new appellation for the famous Tuscan region and highlights the best quality of single-vineyard wines from Chianti Classico The single-vineyard wine of Ceniprimo is ethereal in its transparent and sleek structure and entices you with every sip. And it comes from the famous family of Ricasoli, who essentially invented Chianti Classico in the 1870s.

At No. 3, the Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Hermannshöhle GG 2020 is a top single-vineyard riesling from undoubtedly one of the greatest producers of wine in Germany. The steep hillside vineyards of the Dönnhoff family produce some of the most compelling dry white wines in the world. And the Dönnhoffs make some of the best wines of our tastings each year. Last year, the Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Dellchen 2019 was out No. 7 wine in the Top 100. The Hermannshöhle GG 2020 is a ravishing white with its wonderful ripe fruit character of peaches and pears but a fascinating saline, minerally undertone.

PITCH-PERFECT BALANCE

I still remember the day that Contributing Editor Nick Stock sent me an email about the Mount Mary Yarra Valley Quintet 2019, our No. 4 wine. It read: “Oh man … so so good.” The Bordeaux blend is one of the greatest we have ever tasted from Australia and is clearly first-growth quality. Nick said it “was concentrated with pitch-perfect balance.” It’s a blend of 44 percent cabernet sauvignon, 30 percent merlot, 6 percent cabernet franc, 5 percent malbec and 5 percent petit verdot.

The phrase “pitch-perfect balance” could easily be applied to the Aubert Chardonnay Napa Valley Sugar Shack Estate Vineyard 2019 at No. 5. The handmade chardonnay shows incredible refinement and depth. Owner and winemaker Mark Aubert is the best chardonnay maker in the United States and he has an immense eye for detail in both his viticulture and winemaking. He speaks with such knowledge and precision when he describes his production processes at every level. He reminds me of a Swiss timepiece maker.

The Continuum Napa Valley Sage Mountain Vineyard 2018 at No. 6 is a Bordeaux blend and highlights the greatness of Napa Valley’s wonderfully harmonious and high-quality 2018 vintage. The mountain vineyard of Continuum produced incredible quality wine from organically grown grapes. Veteran winemaker and owner Tim Mondavi and his daughters Carissa and Chiara make fine-tuned and precise wines that have a unique way of expressing the Pritchard Hill sub-region, with the wines showing strength but also terrific clarity and length.

Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008 is the most structured bottling I have tasted of what I consider one of my favorite prestige cuvée blanc de blancs Champagnes. It’s our No. 7 wine on the list. Thanks to the great 2008 vintage, the Champagne is so tight and dense, with fantastically fine phenolics that touch every centimeter of your palate in a caressing and energetic way. The Comtes de Champagne is fantastic to drink now but will age for decades ahead like a great chardonnay.

The Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta 2015 at No. 8 is clearly the greatest young Amarone we have ever tasted and it highlights the region’s movement away from big, high-octane Amarones to a style of precision and balance. Sure, it’s still very rich, as it should be, but the tannins nicely frame the fruits – an array of aromas and flavors including tar, prune, date, currant fruit,  bitter-orange liqueur, aged balsamic, fresh roasting herbs, cinnamon, roasted chestnuts, black tea and licorice. Did we miss a descriptor? Tasting Editor Jo Cooke said that the wine is “black as pitch and tarry as always, with superb concentration but it’s also exquisitely balanced, though only a wine fiend would drink it now!

READ MORE AMARONE, SOAVE AND MORE: VENETO SPREADS ITS WINE WINGS

CHARACTER AND HARMONY

At No. 9, the Dominus Napa Valley 2018 is one of my personal favorite reds from the United States. Owner Christian Moueix, Winemaker Tod Mostero and the rest of the team at Dominus know how to subtly coax their vineyards in Yountville to deliver wines of real character and harmony, especially in an extended growing season like in the 2018 vintage. I compared tasting the wine to a magic carpet ride. It’s weightless and velvety on the palate.

Rounding off our Top 10, the Château Trotanoy Pomerol 2018 showcases the superb 2018 vintage for Bordeaux, and this perfect wine is a fraction of the cost of the other 100-pointers from the vintage, although it’s still slightly more than $300 a bottle. (Top Bordeaux can be expensive.)

The legendary Bordeaux shows the warmth and plushness of the best wines of the vintage but maintains an uncanny tension and focus with seamless depth and concentration.

UPWARD PRICE PRESSURE

This year’s Top 100 list reminds me how prices for the best wines of the world continue to increase at a fast pace due to the seemingly unbridled demand around the world. People have been drinking more fine wines, especially during the pandemic. Climate change at the same time is reducing quantities of many top wines, with all sorts of calamities from frosts and hail to droughts and fires. I expect upward price pressure on the best wines of the world to continue into the new year.

Luckily some of the best wineries in a number of countries have held the line on pricing, particularly in such places as Argentina Australia, Austria, Germany and New Zealand. We will continue to allocate a lot of resources covering these places, and for good reason.

This year the number one country represented in the Top 100 was France with 22 wines, mostly 2018 Bordeaux. The United States was second with 21 wines listed, mostly 2018 Napa reds. Italy followed with 15 and Germany with 12. Australia accounted for seven, Argentina had six, Spain five and Chile four. New Zealand had three wines on the list, Austria two, and Hungary, Portugal and South Africa each had one.

Stay tuned for Top 100 lists from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Chile, China, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and the United States over the next month. There are thousands of amazing wines we want to tell you about from this year’s tastings!

– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated in 2021 by the tasters at JamesSuckling.com. You can sort the wines below by vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.