Rankings: the “Larner List”, the “Top 100” Italian wines by The Wine Advocate’s wine reviewer

There is a new list about to debut in the world of wine rankings, which is entirely dedicated to Italian wines, with a strong international flavor. The countdown starts today of the “Larner List”; i.e., the “Top 100” of the best tastes of the year by Monica Larner, Italian reviewer at the world’s most prestigious wine magazine, “The Wine Advocate”, founded by Robert Parker. The announcement was made on Facebook, where, starting today and continuing until the end of the year, a wine a day will be unveiled, culminating in the absolute number one to be published on December 31st.

“This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time”, Monica Larner told WineNews, “and because I am quite ahead on my tastings this year, I can now create a list of 100 wines – most of which have already been published, while others will be published in the upcoming issues of “The Wine Advocate” - to be narrated in the final 100 days of the year. Further, I wanted to try a new way of communicating our work for “The Wine Advocate”, using the social media available to me in a better way. And, since I have a very large archive of photos of wines, dishes and landscapes, I will put photos, also of dishes, together with all the wines in my “Top 100” (selection of over 4.400 Italian wines, reviews published in “The Wine Advocate” in 2019, which is more and more under the auspices of the Michelin group, ed.), because it is much better to narrate the context linked to a certain wine. Each daily episode will become a “story” on social media. I created the hashtag #larnerlist to create a thread to link to the project. The idea is mine, yes, but actually all of us “reviewers” publish photos of our favorite bottles. I wanted to create an order, a structured presentation”. So, the countdown will start in the next few hours, and continue until December 31st, “and, on that date I will also publish an article in “The Wine Advocate” including my entire list. In this way, my favorite wine, my “number 1” will be revealed both on our website and on social media at the same time”.

The ranking, which will follow very precise criteria, will include wines “with a very interesting quality-price ratio, symbols of the Italian regions from Valle d’Aosta to Pantelleria, or wines from native vines especially precious to me, which are new and have made an impression on me and, over all, wines that have fascinated me for their pure splendor, exuberance and importance. Wines that create excitement, those from 100 to 51 will follow more a quality-price logic, and those from 50 to number 1 a criterion linked to excellence and collectability”.