Wine Spectator Top 100 Thread

[Tyler_F]

Glad I grabbed a couple of #10 last week. Good timing, I’d say.

[Peter_C]

At one time this was a big deal. I wonder… does it move the needle much at all?

I will say that based on limited anecdotal evidence, it does. Last year for example, I was in one of my local shops shortly after the full list had been released. There were two people in there that had the actual WS list printed out, and were going bin by bin looking for anything on the list. This shop also put big shelf talkers on any wine in the top 100, and lo and behold, most of those bins were emptier than the other bins.

Was one of those two people you?

[David_Baum]

The list definitely sells wine but only #1 gets a big bump in price

[John_Glas]

This shop also put big shelf talkers on any wine in the top 100, and lo and behold, most of those bins were emptier than the other bins.

No matter who is on the shelf talker a 92 point wine that is $15 will move more than the wine next to it unless it is one of those corporate sweet tooth wines.

[Tom_Lee]

#6 2017 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard
#5 2016 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Trois Sources

Tom

[David_Chow]

Got me opened my wallet for 3x of #5 after released moments ago. Got it at First Bottles for $60 per…now, they are sold out.

[A_Dotson]

At one time this was a big deal. I wonder… does it move the needle much at all?

I will say that based on limited anecdotal evidence, it does. Last year for example, I was in one of my local shops shortly after the full list had been released. There were two people in there that had the actual WS list printed out, and were going bin by bin looking for anything on the list. This shop also put big shelf talkers on any wine in the top 100, and lo and behold, most of those bins were emptier than the other bins.

Yes, it seems to have its biggest impact on Wine Spectator spectators.

[Kirk.Grant]

This is still a big deal to the people that do not dive into the deep end of wine. People still come into the wine shops with the list & with the wines they want to buy from the list.

[Chris_Seiber]

At one time this was a big deal. I wonder… does it move the needle much at all?

It still causes the top wines to sell out at retail doesn’t it?

I’ve looked at this over the years. The #1 wine usually goes way up in price and way down in availability, but pretty much the other 99 don’t. If anything, it actually gets easier to find many of the other wines, since I think many stores get them to put on their shelves and end caps.

There is usually little to no price escalation, even for the #2-10 wines. If it’s a small production wine (as they usually are not), maybe the remaining ones at retail get bought up.

Long story short, other than the specific bottling and vintage that ends up #1, don’t fret if some wine or producer you like lands in the top 10 or top 100.

However, pointing that out never slows the fashionable “I HOPE MY FAVORITE WINE DOESN’T END UP ON THE LIST!!” posts that always arrive in these threads.

++++++++

Here was a post I made on this back in 2014 with some examples from that time:

For example, the 2010 Domaine Serene Evenstad PN was last year’s #3 on the list. It’s available for $58, its WSPro average price at retail today is only $5 more than the vintages to either side of it, and there are plenty of stores selling it.

Or the Brewer Clifton PN 2012, which was just announced as #8 a few days ago. It’s WS-Pro average price is within a couple of dollars of the three vintages before it, and lots of big retailers have it in stock.

Or the Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay 2011. It’s #5 on this year’s list, and the price and availability are essentially the same as the five vintages before it.

I remember one year attending Hi Times “Italian Wines of the Year” tasting in late December, and trying the Renato Ratti Barolo Mercenasco. It was a very tasty modernish Barolo at around $40, so I decided to pick up a few. When I went back to the shelves, I saw on the display that it was #3 on the WS Top 100 that year. And there was plenty of it, at a great price.

[Chris_Seiber]

This is still a big deal to the people that do not dive into the deep end of wine. People still come into the wine shops with the list & with the wines they want to buy from the list.

And that’s kind of the stated point of the list. It doesn’t purport to be a true “these were the 100 best wines” or even the 100 best values or anything. It’s a list designed to create interest and excitement for readers in going out and exploring good wines from the past year.

If a newbie to wine goes into Hi Time with the list and picks some Priorat, New Zealand pinot, and Chinon off the shelf because they were in the top 50, that’s a good thing.

[R_M_Kriete]

[
I’ve looked at this over the years. The #1 wine usually goes way up in price and way down in availability, but pretty much the other 99 don’t.

I was watching K&L inventory on the Bollinger, and they sold out pretty significant inventory same day when it made the top 10.

Bollinger the #10 wine. Well, there goes that theory

[Chris_Seiber]

There are five pages worth of US retailers on WSPro selling that exact wine, starting at $125. Pretty much the same as this time last week.

I wasn’t arguing that there isn’t increased buying of some of the wines when they get listed. But usually the pricing and availability stays decent, especially on medium and larger production bottlings. Sometimes the wines get easier to find - I could easily imagine retailers sourcing more of wines with a WS100 ranking since they can probably sell them more easily.

If KL happens to sell out, what are the odds they’ll source more of it?

#7 Massolino Barolo, still two pages of listings starting at $42.

[Cris_Whetstone]

You can’t brush us off that easy, Seiber. When Bollinger hits $200 I’m coming for you.

[markjchambers]

You can argue that their weekly Insider report causes a lot of wine to disappear well before the top ten list comes out. There have been several featured wines that have disappeared quickly after being highlighted.16 Valdiz Ribera del Duero is a good example. I tried to find some Produttori del Barbaresco Rabaja after it was scored 97 and it was already gone.

[StephenM1]

It won’t beat this top 100 from Haskell’s in Minneapolis!!! Never seen a top 100 at this caliber.

2020 Haskell's 100 List

Back up the truck on this one!

Too funny! But best of Haskells, several years back they closed out a Gravity Hills Syrah for something like $6.00 - I must have gone through 10 cs of that wine!

[John_Glas]

Too funny! But best of Haskells, several years back they closed out a Gravity Hills Syrah for something like $6.00 - I must have gone through 10 cs of that wine!

They used to have really good BOGOs but went to the Total Wine model of no name wines that they make max profits off of.

[Tom_Lee]

#4 2016 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder
#3 2015 San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino Le Lucére
#2 2018 Aubert Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast UV Vineyard

Tom

[A_d_a_m_Mintz]

#4 2016 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder
#3 2015 San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino Le Lucére
#2 2018 Aubert Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast UV Vineyard

Tom

2 years in a row with Mayacamas Cab in top 10. Is it that amazing? I’ve never had it before.

[Tom_Lee]

#4 2016 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder
#3 2015 San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino Le Lucére
#2 2018 Aubert Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast UV Vineyard

Tom

2 years in a row with Mayacamas Cab in top 10. Is it that amazing? I’ve never had it before.

#2 last year and #4 this year. Conspiracy theorists will love that. It always seemed to me that the Wine Spectator made an effort to diversify the list each year so the choice is hard to figure out regardless of the quality of the wine in the bottle.

Tom

[David_Chow]

Any guesses as to which will be #1? Not specifically but I will say it will be a bottle that’s sub-$50.