Curious to see what wine articles piqued your interest the most on JamesSuckling.com in 2021? We were too, so we had our expert analytics team (read: Google) dig deep to find the answers. As we somewhat expected, our overall Top 100 Wines of 2020 report pulled in the greatest number of page views, with our recently published Top 100 Wines of 2021 finishing No. 2. We expect the latter to be viewed hundreds of thousands of times by the end of this year, but it still managed to attract as many eyeballs as it did in 2021 even though it was just posted on our site on Nov. 18.
The fascination with the overall Top 100 reports is clear: who doesn’t want to read a roundup of all the amazing apex wines in the world each year? We love putting these reports together because they usually crystallize our feelings toward specific countries, appellations, vintages, varietals and producers, but there was one big differences between our 2020 and 2021 versions: we went much bigger and bolder in 2021, surpassing the 25,000 wines tasted mark, or 7,000 more than what we rated for the 2020 report.
The last two Top 100 reports have also been unusual in that they have not been the culmination of many months of travel throughout the year, with the pandemic having put a stop to that in February 2020. We still talk to vintners and winemakers around the globe in the regions we are free to travel, but also do it virtually, with much of our wine reviews happening in our new tasting room in Hong Kong, where James, Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt and Tasting Coordinator Kevin Davy rule the roost. But Director Bill McIlhenny and Associate Editor Nathan Slone have been reporting from various wine regions in the United States, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott has been roaming Germany, Austria, France and elsewhere in Europe, Tastings Editor Jo Cooke has been holding down the fort on the Tuscan Coast, Zekun Shuai has China covered and Contributing Editor Nick Stock reports from Australia.
Despite the changed circumstances, we maintain a full schedule of wine tasting and rating encompassing most every wine region in the world, and we’ll be bringing you another full slate of regional reports in 2022, with South Africa, Switzerland, Virginia and Hungary landing soon on JamesSuckling.com. Stay tuned for more variety than any other wine media organization offers, but check out the rest of our other Top 10 Best-Read Reports in 2021:
3) Top 100 Value Wines of 2020: This is also popular with our readers every year, because who doesn’t love a great wine at a reasonable price? If the events of 2020 forced you to tighten your wallet, this list is for you. The best value-for-money wines we discovered during the year, all retailing for less than or around US$35.
4) $15 Wines That Taste Like $50: 10 New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs: Give it to the Kiwis – they know how to make great whites. Crisp, expressive and very drinkable – these sauvignons prove that many low-priced wines from New Zealand hit the mark with great precision.
5) Brunello’s Greatest Vintages Ever: 2016 and 2015: If you ever wanted a Brunello di Montalcino for your cellar to age for decades, then the 2016 vintage is for you. And it marked the second great year for Brunello di Montalcino, following hot on the heels of the sensational 2015.
6) Top 100 Wines of Italy 2020: Talk about a great wine country. We gave nine Italian wines perfect scores of 100 points in 2020, out of almost 4,000 we tasted. And some of these top-scoring wines taste even better now.
7) Top 100 wines of 2019: We can’t remember a year quite like 2019 – it was truly phenomenal for great wines. It seems that just about every major wine region released great wines onto the market, the majority being from the 2015 and 2016 vintages.
8) The Proper, Super Quality of the 2010 Dom Perignon: In this report, James reviews the 2010 Dom Perignon Champagne, which he tasted with Vincent Chaperon, the cellar master for DP. James’ verdict: if you’re thinking of purchasing this bottle, you won’t be disappointed.
9) Our Top 100 Barolo Wines From 2018 to 2020: The king of Italian wines has long been a favorite for us. But which shined the brightest? This report covers 100 outstanding Barolos during JamesSuckling.com tastings from 2018 to 2020.
10) All Our 100-Point and 99-Point Wines Rated in 2020: Out of the 18,000 wines we rated in 2020, these scored either 99 or 100 points. There were 133 in total, with Germany putting 46 bottles on the list.
– Vince Morkri, Managing Editor
