Wine Spectator 2021 Top 10

  1. Chateau de Nalys CdP 2018. 95 pts; $105; 1000 cases imported

  2. Salvestrin Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena Dr. Crane Vineyard 2018. 95 pts; $80; 1260 cases produced

  3. Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis 2016. 95 pts; $90; 3100 cases made

  4. Château Léoville Poyferré St.-Julien 2018; 97 pts; $104; 15,000 cases made

  5. Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne 2018; 95 pts; $200; 2,702 cases made

  6. Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino 2016; 98 pts; $99; 15,000 cases made

  7. Merum Priorati Priorat Desti 2018; 95 pts; $49; 14,000 cases made

  8. Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Martha’s Vineyard 2016; 95 pts; $250; 2,500 cases made

  9. Château Pichon Longueville Lalande Pauillac 2018; 98 pts; $198; 13,000 cases made

  10. Dominus Estate Napa Valley 2018; 97 pts; $269; 4,000 cases made

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I was wondering why they would be pushing a $105 bottle of grenache [32% Syrah], but then I went to the website, and saw who the corporate conglomerate was.

OTOH, in the current market insanity, $80 for a Napa cab is getting down towards convenience store pricing.

I think we’ll see another 2018 Napa Cab in the Top 10 list. After that glowing review by WS on the 2018 Vintage for Cab, I can see them adding another one in there.

Maybe #3 or #1?

Was listening to Jeb Dunnuck’s interview on the XChateau podcast. He said that review sites that do blind tastings accept advertising. Clearly, he was referencing Wine Spectator. Whereas non-blind tasters cannot/should not, like his site.

Did that many 2018 Napa Cabs even come out this year? Didn’t most places release the 2019s?

I could see Macdonald in the top 10. Their highest rated cab of the vintage and they were in top 100 last year

Interesting . . .

They were ? You sure?

They were ? You sure?

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Actually year before. Lost track of time. #79

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Looks like the list is high-end this year. #10-#7 are all $80 or more.

Usually WS doesn’t like to bestow the top spot on a wine that can’t be purchased in a wine shop, but MacD certainly sounds deserving and got the high Cab rating from them this last year.

I guessed WS would place Dominus & Monte Bello in the top 10 (both receiving 97 pts from WS) and possibly the Turnbull Oakville Reserve (96 pts), with the Turnbull having a decent shot at the top spot with its $85 release price. I’d be surprised if the the Turnbull doesn’t make some sort of appearance now that the lower scoring but similarly priced Salvestrin sits in 9th place.

I’m not very familiar with Rieslings but thought they would populate the top ten with all the buzz they’ve been generating.

2012 Peter Michael Au Paradis disagrees

FWIW no whites in 10-7 so Reisling should make a top 5 appearance

Hah! I was actually thinking about Au Paradis when I posted and how it was a good counterpoint to my argument!

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[scratch.gif]

Nalys has been owned by Guigal since 2017 – not a conglomerate.

The point is that Nalys is not owned by Nalys.

It’s owned by one of the larger winemaking outfits in the entire world, which [unlike almost all family owned wineries] has an actual advertising budget, and purchases paid advertising.

E. Guigal Ad Campaign
E. Guigal Winery Ad Campaign | CF Napa Brand Design

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Well, if we’re speculating, here’s my guess.

I think it would be borderline criminal of them not to put a Huet in the Top 10 considering that, for the 2020 vintage, they gave it two 93s, a 94, two 95s, two 96s (Le Mont Moelleux and Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec - this one would be my bet) and two 97s (Moelleux Premiere Trie Le Mont and Moelleux Premiere Trie Clos du Bourg).

As for Riesling, their highest rated German 2019 was a Robert Weil Rheingau Kiedrich Grafenberg Beerenauslese which they price at $340 and would thus (because of price and because it’s a dessert wine) be an unlikely pick for the Top 10. There are 2 Schloss Lieser Auslesen at 97 (again unlikely). But there’s a Schloss Lieser Juffer Kabinett at 95 (none at 96) that could be something they’d pick (though I’m not sure how many off-dry wines I’d bet on and I already bet on the Huet Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec). So, if they’re going for a Riesling, and they really want Germany they could go for the Okonomierat Rebholz Kastanienbusch GG (rated 95 but this was by Zecevic who doesn’t seem to work there anymore and all the other ones are by Sanderson), so maybe they’d go to Austria for the Alzinger Smaragd Wachau Ried Hohereck which is less than half the price ($58) and they also rate it a 95 (but that one’s sold out).

Who knows.

WS will not put a Riesling in the top 5. They never do. Riesling never gets respect from WS. The last top 10 Riesling was in 2003 (Prüm). There is a history of Huet making the top 10, so that is a possibility, but the top is always red dominated and the whites are heavily CA chard-weighted.

It’s hard to take a top 10 list that takes price into account if it doesn’t include any German Riesling, especially from the 2019 vintage.

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The Wine Spectator generates a vaccine-esque volume of conspiracy theories around here for whatever reason.

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