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Wines of the Year 2020: Top scorers

See the highest-rated bottles from our Wines of the Year panel tasting; a list that places lesser-known styles alongside classics and may inspire you to discover new grapes, regions and producers in 2021.

To create Decanter’s Wines of the Year 2020 ranking, we asked our staff, key contributors and Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Chairs to nominate their standout bottles across three categories:

  • Classic (a premium, benchmark wine style);
  • Offbeat (unusual grape, winemaking method, region or unearthed gem);
  • Value (£25 or under).

The wines were then tasted and scored by an expert panel – Beth Willard, Andy Howard MW and Ronan Sayburn MS – to help ensure objectivity.

Prices were not revealed to the judges at the time of tasting and the panel did not know which of the three categories (cited above) a wine had been nominated for.

The list brings together a kaleidoscope of backgrounds, perspectives and palates, all supported by outstanding knowledge on specific areas. It therefore provides a fantastic insight into exciting things, old and new, happening in different parts of the wine world.

‘This is all about experts – who really understand the varieties and wine styles of their regions – choosing wines they love, and that makes it a unique tasting,’ said Willard.


Scroll down to see our Wines of the Year 2020 top scorers

See more of our top wines of 2020


More about the wines 


Decanter Wines of the Year 2020: The top scorers

This list represents red, white, rosé, sparkling, sweet and fortified wines from the tasting. 


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