“It’s a golden moment for wine lovers with so many outstanding quality wines made from around the world in every style and at every price.”
As 2020 comes to an end, James Suckling has revealed his top 100 wines, and his much-anticipated wine of the year.
Perhaps to the surprise of many, Suckling’s favourite wine in 2020 comes from Argentina: Chacra Pinot Noir Patagonia Treinta y Dos 2018. According to him, “It’s a wonderful wine, not only because it’s a perfect, 100-point wine, but because it represents a number of points we applaud in winemaking today particularly at this moment with climate change and the volatile economy: amazing value, environmentally responsible and sustainable production, clear and transparent character reflecting its ecosystem, and incredible drinkability”. For Suckling, “it covers all of this and more”.
The critic further revealed that just over 600 cases were made of the old vine Pinot Noir (planted in 1932), and that all are biodynamically farmed. He also notes that the wine is “hard to find” but “recent vintages such as 2017 and 2016 are very close in quality” for those unable to obtain the 100-point 2018.
The wine currently commands a Market Price of £839 per 12×75 and is offered on the Liv-ex marketplace. By comparison, the 2017 is available at £804 per case, and the 2016 at £750.
Suckling’s list of the top 100 is dominated by Italy (20 wines), followed by Australia (19), Germany (17), France (12), United States (11), Argentina (9), Chile (6), Austria (3), Spain (2) and Portugal (1), highlighting the incredible diversity of the wine world.
His top ten (all 100-point wines) can be seen in the table below. Subscribers can read Suckling’s full report on his website here.
The secondary market has continued to broaden in 2020. As recently highlighted, USA’s trade share by value hit an all-time high last month; Italy, Germany, Chile, Argentina, Austria and Australia’s market shares have also reached (and maintained) record levels of trade this year. Next month, we will be releasing our annual summary of the year in the fine wine market, which will examine its diversification and its investment appeal in greater detail.
