The 2024 Guides all agree on Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2013 by Bertani

In the world of wine criticism, at least one Italian wine has captured the highest awards of the 8 main Italian guides. The top wine is the Venetian Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2013 by Bertani, a gem and the history of Valpolicella, which is now led by the Angelini Wines Group & Estates. The wineries that the 8 guides WineNews selected all agree as the most prestigious, even though they awarded different wines, are Vietti in Piedmont, Cantina Terlano in South Tyrol, Ferrari Trento of the Lunelli family in Trento, and Inama, Pieropan and Speri in Venice, as well as, obviously, Bertani. The “award” given to the wineries for at least one of their wines is the various Guides’ highest acknowledgement. And, perhaps it has even more importance because it is a sort of "rating", a hard core of quality producers converging on all, or at least the majority of National critics.
The rankings are the result of comparing 8 “National coverage” wine guides, 2024 edition, selected by WineNews. It is the customary end-of-year comparison, offered by the leading publications in Italy. There are of course, the “traditional guides” and those that have greater “seniority of service” (“Vini d'Italia” by Gambero Rosso”, “I Vini di Veronelli” by the Luigi Veronelli Permanent Seminar, “Bibenda” by the Italian Sommelier Foundation - FIS, “Essential Guide to the Wines of Italy” by Daniele Cernilli, “Vitae” of the Italian Sommelier Association - AIS, “Vite, vigne, vini d'Italia Slow Wine” by Slow Food). In addition, to complete the picture, two special Guides have been placed side by side in the comparison, “Vinibuoni d’Italia”, e Italian Touring Club - TCI guide (which has chosen to consider primarily wines from native vines), and “The 100 best 100 Italian wines and winemakers”, by the daily newspaper, “Corriere della Sera” (the guide selects the best of the Italian wine scene, offering a very limited selection of wines, edited by Luciano Ferraro, deputy editor of the newspaper in Via Solferino. Starting this year paired with James Suckling, one of the most famous and influential wine critics in the world).
In our analysis, we have chosen to exclude, not for value, but for their particular quality, the tastings of Luca Maroni, who has chosen to follow the concept of “fruit-wine”. He publishes the "Italian Wines Yearbook" in late January, as well as the Italian weekly "L'Espresso" guide, "The 1000 Wines of Italy", edited by Luca Gardini and Andrea Grignaffini, whose current edition is still 2023, as it was released in the summer, and not during the regular period in which most other trade publications are distributed on the shelves. Our analysis, as usual, does not go into the details of the very different evaluation criteria the various guides have adopted, but simply considers the companies and wines awarded the highest rankings.
Looking at the individual wines, the Tuscan Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Poggio 2018 from Castello di Monsanto (not awarded by Slow Food’s Slow Wine Guide), Bolgheri Sassicaia 2020 from Tenuta San Guido are close to a full score, scoring 7 awards out of 8. San Guido (not awarded by “Vinibuoni” of the Italian Touring Club - TCI), and Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Vento Riserva 2016 by Col d'Orcia (not awarded by “The Best 100 Wines” of the “Corriere della Sera”), to which we have added the Trentino sparkling wine Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore 2012 from the Ferrari Trento maison of the Lunelli family (not awarded by "Vinibuoni", which however did reward other wines from the company), the Le Marche Castelli di Jesi Verdicchio Villa Bucci Riserva 2020 by Bucci and the Rosso Piceno Roggio del Filare 2020 by Velenosi (neither awarded by “The best 100 wines” of the “Corriere della Sera”). As far as the companies that were awarded for different wines, those that scored in 7 out of 8 guides were: from South Tyrol - San Michele Appiano, Cantina Girlan, Cantina Kurtatsch, Cantina Tramin and Elena Walch; from Trento, Letrari; from Venice, Tedeschi ; from Piedmont, Gaja, Bruno Giacosa, Pio Cesare and Braida; from Lombardy, Bellavista, Ca’ del Bosco and Mosnel, from Tuscany, Castello di Fonterutoli, Castello di Monsanto, Frescobaldi, Ornellaia, Tenuta San Guido, Tenuta Sette Ponti, Col d'Orcia , Poggio di Sotto and Petrolo; from Umbria, Palazzone; from Le Marche, Bucci, Umani Ronchi and Velenosi; from Abruzzi, Torre dei Beati; from Campania, I Favati; from Apulia, Gianfranco Fino and from Sicily, Passopisciaro, Pietradolce, Girolamo Russo, Donnafugata and Tasca d’Almerita.
The following companies, instead, were acknowledged in 6 out of 8 guides: from Piedmont, La Spinetta, Giacomo Borgogno, Marchesi di Gresy, Marziano Abbona, Fratelli Alessandria, Brovia, Cavallotto, Domenico Clerico, Elio Grasso, Poderi Lugi Einaudi, Malvirà, Massolino, Angelo Negro, Paitin, Giuseppe Rinaldi, Tenuta Santa Caterina and Vajra; from South Tyrol, Nals Margreid, Cantina Bolzano, GumpHof-Prackwieser and Pfannenstielhof-Pfeifer; from Friuli, Livio Felluga, Russiz Superiore, Le Vigne di Zamò, Vie di Romans and Zidarich; from Lombardy, Ar.Pe.Pe. and Nino Negri; from Trento, San Leonardo; from Venice, Allegrini and Rubinelli Vajol; from Tuscany, Argentiera, Antinori, Il Borro, Duemani, Felsina, Fontodi, Grattamacco, Le Macchiole, Barone Ricasoli, Rocca delle Macìe, Biondi Santi, Boscarelli, Capezzana, Islands and Olena, Il Marroneto, Piaggia, Poliziano, Salvioni and Castello di Volpaia; from Umbria, Antonelli, Leonardo Bussoletti, Caprai and Lungarotti: from Lazio, Family Cotarella; from Abruzzo, Masciarelli, Valentini and Valle Reale; from Campania, Mastroberardino, Fontanavecchia, Rocca del Principe and Villa Raiano; from Lucano, Elena Fucci and Cantine del Notaio; from Apulia, Cosimo Taurino; from Sicily, Benanti and from Sardinia, Argiolas and Fradiles.
The companies that 5 out of 8 Guides awarded include a host of other prestigious names in the Italian wine world: from South Tyrol, Tiefenbrunner, Cantina Colterenzio, Muri-Gries and Cantina Valle Isarco; from Trento, Pojer & Sandri: from Aosta Valley, Elio Ottin; from Piedmont, Bartolo Mascarello, Giovanni Rosso, Nicola Bergaglio, Giovanni Almondo, Ca' del Baio, Ca' Viola, Cascina Ca' Rossa, Coppo, Ettore Germano, Fontanafredda, Sottiano, Mauro Veglio, Renato Ratti, Oddero and Villa Sparina; from Friuli, Jermann and Scubla; Liguria, Maccario; from Lombardy, Barone Pizzini, Guido Berlucchi & C., Bosio, Conte Vistarino, Ricci Curbastro and Uberti; from Venice, Suavia, Maculan, Pasqua, Gini and Zyme; from Emilia, La Tosa; from Romagna, Villa Papiano and Tre Monti; from Tuscany, Querciabella, Giodo, Riecine, Pietroso, Grattamacco, Tenuta Luce, Masseto, Monteverro, Castellare di Castellina, Tenuta di Trinoro, Le Pupille, Badia a Coltibuono, Le Chiuse, Le Cinciole , Folonari, Ruffino, Terenzuola, Mastrojanni, Poggio al Tesoro, Argiano, Ridolfi, Casanova di Neri, Panizzi, Tua Rita and San Giusto a Rentennano; from Le Marche, Andrea Felici; from Umbria,Tabarrini; from Lazio, Casale del Giglio and San Giovenale; from Abruzzi, Cataldi Madonna, Feudo Antico and La Valentina; from Molise, Di Majo Norante; from Campania, Cantine Astroni, La Sibilla, Villa Matilde, Marisa Cuomo and Villa Diamante; from Apulia, Masseria Li Veli, Tenute Chiaromonte, Cantele, Coppi, Leone de Castris, Vallone and Polvanera; from Calabria, Librandi; from Sicily, Florio, Cottanera, Planeta and Graci and from Sardinia, Cantine Santadi.
The Winenews analysis also highlighted an ongoing trend. That is, the exponential increase in demand for top wines at an enormous number of events in Italy and abroad imposes choices, while Italian wineries, compared to the past, do not distribute their samples to everyone. There are various reasons, but the main one would seem to be producers choosing to reserve their best wines (usually a few thousand bottles and sometimes at a stellar price) for a smaller audience of critics than in the past, increasingly favoring foreign critics, especially from the Anglo-Saxon area. In other words, they choose who to let taste and review their wines, and by doing so are somewhat influencing the future of wine criticism, attributing more or less "weight" to some opinion leaders and/or publications.
Historically, 2014 was the last time in which at least one wine - Bolgheri Sassicaia 2011 by Tenuta San Guido - managed to bring together in unison all the most important guides in Italy ( 8 guides in the respective 2015 editions.“Three Glasses” of the Gambero Rosso Vini d’Italia Guide, “Five Bottles” of the L’Espresso Vini d’Italia Guide, “Three Stars” of the I Vini di Veronelli Guide, “Cinque Grappoli” of the “Duemilavini” Bibenda Guide, “Four Vines” of Vitae Italian Sommelier Association Guide, “Grande Vino”, which represented the best from an organoleptic point of view for Slow Food’s Slow Wine Guide, and also one of the wine’s that scored the highest points on Luca Maroni’s “pleasantness index” in his Yearbook of the Best Italian Wines, as well as the highest acknowledgement - the “face” of “Doctor Wine” - assigned to wines evaluated at 95/100 or more from the then debuting Guida Essenziale ai Vini d’Italia by Daniele Cernilli). A decade later, obviously many things have changed in the editorial staff of the guides, among producers and, more generally, in the National wine world, starting from an increase in the number of companies, their production quality, and also structures of International markets and the evolution of consumers’ tastes.