2019’s panel tastings have seen high scoring wines aplenty. In the last year our experts have covered topics as diverse as 2010 California Cabernet, Premium 2010 Rioja and Champagne magnums vs bottles.
In total, 1,672 wines were tasted, but just 64 (or 3.8%) of wines entered achieved an Outstanding (95-97 points) or Exceptional (98-100 points) award. You can see all 64 of Decanter’s top panel tasting wines below, arranged in order of panel tastings, starting with the 2010 California Cabernet in the February 2019 issue.
The largest panel tasting of 2019 was December’s California Cabernet 2015 tasting, with a mammoth 197 wines entered, of which 10 achieved 95+ points.
The panel tasting with the biggest proportion of Outstanding and Exceptional wines was February’s Western Australia Chardonnay tasting, with 3 Exceptional and 4 Outstanding wines out of the 60 tasted.
May’s Chianti Classico 2010 Riserva & Gran Selezione tasting wasn’t too far behind, with 7 of the 75 wines entered achieving 95+ points.
What is a panel tasting?
Three world-class wine experts in their field review flights of wines on a set theme. Each expert writes a tasting note and score for each wine, and every score is then averaged to provide a final score, given in the context of the selected tasting theme.
Decanter’s top panel tasting wines 2019:
All wines below achieved scores of 95 and above, covering both the Outstanding and Exceptional award categories.
Wines ordered by month of panel tasting, beginning with February 2019.
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See all of Decanter’s 2019 panel tastings:
Californian Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 – February 2019
Western Australian Chardonnay – February 2019
Quality Rioja 2010 – March 2019
Top Spanish Mencía – March 2019
Picpoul de Pinet – April 2019
Chilean Carmenère – April 2019
Amarone: Riserva, single-vineyard and special-selection – May 2019
Chianti Classico 2010 Riserva & Gran Selezione – May 2019
Premium Californian Chardonnay – June 2019
Premium South American red blends – June 2019
New Zealand oaked Sauvignon Blanc – July 2019
Good value Douro reds for under £20 / $25 – July 2019
Côtes de Provence rosé – August 2019
Rosso di Montalcino 2016 & 2017 – September 2019
Global Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine – September 2019
Chilean Pinot Noir – October 2019
Australian Pinot Noir – November 2019
Priorat reds – November 2019
California Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 – December 2019
Champagne: Magnum Vs Bottle – December 2019
