Wine & critics: no label, and no winery, wins unanimous approval from the 9 “national” guides

Not only to reward the same wine: there is not even a unanimous opinion on the same winery among the 9 “national” guides selected by WineNews in its usual end-of-year comparison, offered by Italy’s most important publications in the genre (with Terlano, Ca’ del Bosco, G.D. Vajra, Boscarelli, Petrolo, and Ferrari awarded by 8). With the same lack of unanimity, of course, also on the label front (the best, and only one with 7, is San Leonardo 2020 from Tenuta San Leonardo), confirming a now well-established trend. This is a sign that, to some extent, seems to indicate a state of “confusion”, almost a loss of the comforting “certainties” gained in the past, even by wine critics, at a particularly critical time for the entire wine world. The reasons may be many and varied: from the decision by companies to provide samples to some guides and not others, to the increasing inclusion by guides of new companies that continue to populate the national wine scene, to more structural causes, such as climate change, which brings with it significant changes in the organoleptic characteristics of wine, even in historic areas, to a profound revision of wine styles practiced by wineries, to the frantic search for the right “recipe” to reawaken the appetites of new and old consumers.
The result emerges from WineNews’s classic comparison (edition no. 21) of several hundred awards (net of a few possible errors that, with such a large and heterogeneous database, could slip through, ed.) from the 9 “nationally covered” guides, 2026 edition, which include the “classic” ones with the longest “service record”: “Vini d’Italia” by Gambero Rosso, “I Vini di Veronelli” by Seminario Permanente Luigi Veronelli, “Bibenda” by Fondazione Italiana Sommelier-Fis, “Guida Essenziale ai Vini d’Italia” by Daniele Cernilli, “Vitae” by Sommelier Ais (with the “Gemma”, which symbolizes all those labels that deserve a score of 94 or more points out of 100), “Vite, vigne, vini d’Italia Slow Wine” by Slow Food, which, to complete the picture, have been joined in the comparison by three guides with a distinctive character, namely the Italian Touring Club’s (TCI) guide “Vinibuoni d’Italia” (which, by editorial choice, mainly considers wines from native grape varieties), “I migliori 100 vini e vignaioli d’Italia” by “Corriere della Sera” (a guide edited by the deputy editor of the Via Solferino newspaper, Luciano Ferraro, and James Suckling, which condenses the best of the Italian wine scene into a very limited selection of wines, signed by Suckling himself), and “La Guida ai 1000 Vini d’Italia” by “L’Espresso”, edited by Luca Gardini (also from a very selective list of award-winning wines).
And so, in terms of wineries, the South Tyrolean Cantina Terlano, the Lombard Ca’ del Bosco, the Piedmontese G.D. Vajra, the Tuscan Boscarelli and Petrolo, and the Trentino Ferrari-Lunelli come close to achieving a clean sweep (with 8 guides awarding them out of 9). 7 out of 9 possible awards go to Valle Reale in Abruzzo, Elena Walch in South Tyrol, Marisa Cuomo and Rocca del Principe in Campania, Bruno Giacosa, Vietti, and Cavallotto in Piedmont, Ricasoli, Capezzana, Tolaini, and Fontodi, San Leonardo from Trentino, Antonelli from Umbria, and Pieropan and Allegrini from Veneto.
The group of wineries that have been awarded by 6 out of 9 guides is slightly larger: it includes Valentini and Torre dei Beati from Abruzzo, Cantina Colterenzio, San Michele Appiano, and Cantina Girlan from South Tyrol, Cantine del Notaio from Basilicata, Librandi from Calabria, Di Meo from Campania, Villa Papiano and Fattoria Nicolucci from Emilia-Romagna, Skerk and Livon from Friuli, Guido Berlucchi, Mosnel and Bosio, Bucci (Oniverse group, Veronesi family) and Velenosi from Marche, Di Majo Norante from Molise, Gianfranco Fino, Cosimo Taurino and Polvanera from Puglia, G.B. Burlotto, E. Pira-Chiara Boschis, Palladino, Massolino, Travaglini, Gaja, Borgogno (Farinetti), Brezza, Livia Fontana, La Colombera, Domenico Clerico and Giovanni Rosso from Piedmont, Argiolas from Sardinia, Pietradolce, Passopisciaro (Franchetti) and Palari, and Regaleali (Tasca d’Almerita), the Tuscan Poggio di Sotto and Grattamacco (ColleMassari group), Antinori, Ornellaia (Frescobaldi), Il Marroneto, Tenuta San Guido, Castello di Monsanto, Montevertine, Fattorie Le Pupille, Isole e Olena, and Biondi-Santi (Epi Group), Castello di Volpaia, Canalicchio di Sopra, Poliziano, Castello del Terriccio, Col d’Orcia and Panizzi, Moser from Trentino, Lungarotti and Palazzone from Umbria, Les Crêtes from Valle d’Aosta, Bertani (Angelini Wines & Estates), Inama and Tommasi from Veneto.
Once again, 5 out of 9 guides awarded Masciarelli and Emidio Pepe from Abruzzo, Muri Gries, Cantina Bolzano, Cantina Tramin, Franz Haas, Cantina Kurtatsch, Nals Margreid, Castelfeder, and Gumphof from South Tyrol, Elena Fucci from Basilicata, Ippolito 1845 from Calabria, Mastroberardino, Fontanavecchia, Cantine Di Marzo and I Favati, Jermann (Antinori), Vie di Romans and Livio Felluga from Friuli, San Giovenale, Famiglia Cotarella, Marco Carpineti, Damiano Ciolli and Gabriele Magno from Lazio, Cantina Lunae from Liguria, Bellavista (Gruppo Terra Moretti), Arpepe and Conte Vistarino, Fattoria Le Terrazze, Le Caniette, Oasi degli Angeli and Umani Ronchi from the Marche region, Tenute Chiaromonte, Conti Zecca and Cantele, Ratti, Giacomo Fenocchio, Giacomo Conterno, Marchesi di Gresy, La Spinetta, Braida, Bartolo Mascarello, Oddero, Malvirà, Angelo Negro, Orsolani, Ca’ del Baio, Azelia, Lodali, Paitin, Pio Cesare and Poderi Luigi Einaudi from Piedmont, Contini and Fradiles from Sardinia, from Sicily Girolamo Russo, Feudo Montoni, Tascante (Tasca d’Almerita), Donnafugata, Graci, Planeta, and Alta Mora (Cusumano), from Tuscany Altesino (Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini), Casanova di Neri, Fuligni, Mastrojanni, Il Borro-Ferragamo, San Giusto a Rentennano, Castello di Meleto, Le Macchiole, Piaggia, Pietroso, Poggio al Tesoro (Marilisa Allegrini), Istine, Castellare di Castellina (Domini Castellare), Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara, Ridolfi, Sassotondo, Camigliano, Rocca delle Macìe, Podere Forte and Tenuta Sette Ponti (Moretti Cuseri family), Arnaldo Caprai, Tabarrini, La Palazzola and Leonardo Bussoletti from Umbria, Rosset Terroir and Elio Ottin from Valle d’Aosta, and Brigaldara, Speri and Tenuta Sant’Antonio from Veneto.
And if simply finding companies that everyone agrees on, in an increasingly complex wine scene marked by a prevailing trend toward fragmentation, has become almost a pipe dream, imagine finding a label capable of being awarded by all the guides (9 of those examined in the 21st edition of the WineNews comparison, as always carried out beyond the judging criteria - symbols, scores in cents... - of the various tasting teams). And, once again this year, there isn’t one. What’s more, only the San Leonardo 2020 from Tenuta San Leonardo managed to get 7 out of 9 guides to agree. With wines awarded by 6 out of 9 guides, which are a skeleton crew: Tenuta San Guido (Bolgheri Sassicaia 2022), Poggio di Sotto (Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2019), Grattamacco (Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco 2022), Lungarotti (Torgiano Rosso Rubesco Vigna Monticchio Riserva 2020), Tommasi (Amarone della Valpolicella Classico De Buris Riserva 2013), Bucci (Castelli di Jesi Verdicchio Classico Villa Bucci Riserva 2022), Velenosi (Rosso Piceno Superiore Roggio del Filare 2022), Marisa Cuomo (Costa d’Amalfi Furore Bianco Fiorduva, but with some guides favoring the 2023 vintage and others the 2024), Valentini (Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2021), Di Meo (Fiano d'’Avellino Alessandra Riserva 2015), Fattoria Nicolucci (Romagna Sangiovese Superiore Predappio Vigna del Generale 2022), Ca’ del Bosco (Franciacorta Dosage Zéro Annamaria Clementi Riserva 2016), G.D. Vajra (Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2021), Palari (Faro Palari 2020) and Castello di Monsanto (Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigneto Il Poggio 2020).