Todos os anos, desde 1988, a revista norte-americana Wine Spectator lança a sua lista Top 100, na qual seus editores selecionam os vinhos mais emocionantes dos milhares analisados durante o decurso do ano. O Top 100 de três anos atrás – 2015, enfatizou o quanto o mundo do vinho mudou desde que a Wine Spectator publicou seu quadro de honra inaugural, em 1988. Naquele ano, o Top 10 foi integrado por quatro Borgonhas, três Bordeaux, dois tintos italianos e um Cabernet Sauvignon da Califórnia. Agora, menos de três décadas depois, excelentes vinhos de quase todos os cantos do globo competem com estes líderes históricos. Simplificando, é um grande momento para os amantes do vinho. Os vinhos encontrados pelos editores estão entre os mais interessantes de 2018 porque alguns são rótulos bem tradicionais ao lado de etiquetas pouco conhecidas da Califórina o que motiva os produtores tradicionais explorarem novas direções. Também cabe ressaltar que todos vinhos foram escolhidos considerando o “X-Factor”. Além disso, a seleção também prioriza a qualidade (com base na pontuação), valor (com base no preço) e disponibilidade (com base no número de caixas seja produzidas ou importadas para os Estados Unidos). Estes critérios foram aplicados aos milhares de vinhos classificados como excelentes (90 pontos ou mais na escala de 100 pontos da Wine Spectator) para determinação do Top 100 de 2018. Por enquanto segue o Top 10 na ordem crescente, destacando que o vinho do ano foi um italiano bastante conhecido no Brasil e que nenhum vinho do Cone Sul e de Portugal integra a lista composta por um espanhol, três italianos, três franceses e três norte-americanos (indisponíveis no Brasil):

Sassicaia 2015 – vinho do ano 2018 Wine Spectator – Blogdojeriel.jpg – crédito da imagem: worldwineconsultants.com

Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia 2015 –

1° colocado – Itália
Pontuação: 97/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 245

Tasting Note

Rich and concentrated, this red features black currant, blackberry, violet, mineral and spice flavors. Dense yet lively, structured yet impeccably balanced, with vibrant acidity driving the long, fruit-filled aftertaste. The oak is beautifully integrated. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2023 through 2042.—Bruce Sanderson

 

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Château Canon-La Gaffelière St.-Emilion 2015 –

2° colocado – França
Pontuação: 96/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 84

Tasting Note

Still youthfully tight and backward, with a well-roasted frame of alder and juniper holding sway for now, but the core of cassis, blackberry and plum fruit waits in reserve, showing prodigious depth. When the toast and fruit melds, the backdrop of tobacco, singed iron and chalky minerality will get a turn to show. There’s a lot here. Built for the cellar. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2025 through 2040. 6,250 cases made.—James Molesworth

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Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2015 –

3° colocado – Itália
Pontuação: 96/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 35
The Stianti Mascheroni family has worked in the tiny hilltop town of Volpaia since 1966, but they and winemaker Lorenzo Regoli have reached new heights with the 2015 Riserva. Their highest-scoring wine to date, it’s a balanced, complex red with a long, gorgeous finish. The grapes, sourced from eight different parcels, are farmed organically in the sandstone soils on the hillside below the town. They are crushed and vinified in steel tanks, then aged in a mix of Slavonian oak casks (80 percent) and French oak barriques (20 percent) for two years.

Tasting Note

Though saturated with black currant and blackberry fruit and backed by opaque tannins, this red is pure and balanced. Thyme, iron, leather and tar notes give this complexity, while the finish goes into overtime. Best from 2023 through 2040.—Bruce Sanderson

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La Rioja Alta Rioja 890 Gran Reserva Selección Especial 2005 –

4° colocado – Espanha
Pontuação: 95/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 175

La Rioja Alta, led today by president Guillermo de Aranzabal, was founded in 1890, a year that gives name to the winery’s top cuvée, made only in the best vintages. An estate blend of 95 percent Tempranillo, with Mazuelo and Graciano making up the balance, the 890 Gran Reserva 2005 was aged six years in American oak barrels, made at the winery’s own cooperage, and racked by hand under candlelight 10 times along the way. Bottled in 2012 and released six years later, the 2005 is a textbook example of Rioja’s traditional style and an affirmation of an approach to great wine that requires a significant investment of time and labor.

Tasting Note

Cedar and sandalwood aromas give way to flavors of tea, tobacco, dried cherry, forest floor and orange peel in this expressive red. Round on the palate, supported by muscular tannins and juicy acidity. Big but graceful, mature yet lively, in the traditional style. Drink now through 2030.—Thomas Matthews

 

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Moët & Chandon Brut Champagne Dom Pérignon Legacy Edition 2008 –

5° colocado – França
Pontuação: 96/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 180

Vivid acidity is a hallmark of the 2008 vintage in Champagne, contributing to the decision by Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon’s chef de cave from 1990 to the close of 2018, to release the 2009 last year, ahead of this year’s release of the 2008. Cool conditions prevailed in Champagne during most of the 2008 growing season, but September’s bright and sunny weather during harvest rapidly turned what would have been an average vintage into one of the decade’s best. The Legacy Edition label honors Geoffroy’s pending retirement, including his name and that of his successor, Vincent Chaperon, on the label. The identical cuvée will be sold with the regular Dom Pérignon label beginning in 2019.

Tasting Note

There’s power to this graceful Champagne, with the vivid acidity swathed in a fine, creamy mousse and flavors of toasted brioche, kumquat, pastry cream, candied ginger and poached plum that dance across the palate. An underpinning of smoky mineral gains momentum on the lasting finish. Drink now through 2033.—Alison Napjus

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Aubert Chardonnay Carneros Larry Hyde & Sons 2016 –

6° colocado – Califórnia
Pontuação: 96/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 85
Mark Aubert is a master of California Chardonnay, and Larry Hyde owns one of the most coveted vineyard sites in the Carneros district of southern Napa County. This wine stands as a testament to their mutual talents and expertise. The Larry Hyde & Sons vineyard, first planted in 1979 and now covering 200 acres, features shallow soils that produce intensely flavored grapes, while cool breezes from nearby San Pablo Bay enhance freshness and acidity. Aubert makes a total of eight Chardonnays from Napa and Sonoma, led quality-wise in 2016 by the Hyde bottling. They are hedonistic and powerful, the product of long, cool barrel fermentations, mostly in new French oak.

Tasting Note

Voluptuous and creamy, with densely packed flavors of apple pastry, pear tart and peach and hints of mango that are long and rich. The plush, complex finish is filled with notes of spice and dried herbs. Drink now through 2026.—Kim Marcus

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Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains Dopp Creek 2015 –

7° colocado – Califórnia
Pontuação: 95/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 26
Joe Stark didn’t know much about the wine business when he started Colene Clemens in 2005, but he loved Pinot Noir. He found a distinctive location on which to plant a vineyard on a rocky hillside in the Chehalem Mountains. It was overgrown with blackberries and brush, but with vineyard manager and winemaker Stephen Goff, formerly of Beaux Frères, he planted 50 acres of vines. A blend gleaned from the entire estate, Dopp Creek is the winery’s most approachable Pinot. The 2015 vintage was the hottest on record in Oregon, but Goff channeled all that sun into an elegantly complex wine, fermenting the juice in small stainless-steel tanks before aging it 11 months in French oak, about 28 percent of which was new.

Tasting Note

Impressive for the polished texture and elegant complexity, offering vibrant raspberry, orange peel and spice flavors that gain momentum toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2023.—Tim Fish

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Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2016 –

8° colocado – França
Pontuação: 95/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 70
Few estates epitomize Châteauneuf-du-Pape like Le Vieux Donjon. Family-owned, it is now run by the sister-and-brother team of Claire and François Michel, who succeeded their father, the legendary Lucien Michel. In 2012, a vineyard purchased on sandy soils bolstered the domaine’s holdings to 99 acres while providing access to all four terroirs in the appellation (galets, clay, limestone and sand). The 2016 is a 75-10-10-5 percent blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault, respectively, vinified traditionally, with one exception—in this vintage, a small portion was aged in cement vats (instead of entirely in foudres) to emphasize the freshness of the fruit. With its telltale juniper note and vibrant minerality, this is one of the most ageworthy and widely available bottlings from this storied appellation.

Tasting Note

This offers a blitz of bay leaf and juniper notes out front, followed by a racy and tightly coiled core of red and black currant, damson plum and cherry fruit flavors. Lots of brisk iron and garrigue accents rifle through the finish. Clear, precise and streamlined, this should age wonderfully. Best from 2020 through 2040.—James Molesworth

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Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna San Lorenzo 2016 –

9° colocado – Itália
Pontuação: 95/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 60
U.S.-born Marco de Grazia established a successful Italian wine-importing company prior to purchasing vineyards on Sicily’s Mount Etna in 2000. The consistent quality of Terre Nere’s bottlings and de Grazia’s promotion of this emerging wine region have helped to push Etna to the forefront of Italian wine. This graceful red blends Etna’s signature Nerello Mascalese (98 percent) and Nerello Cappuccio grapes, sourced from 9.9 acres of vineyards within the San Lorenzo cru. The vines are more than 70 years old, planted at an elevation of nearly 2,500 feet in soils dominated by volcanic sand.

Tasting Note

Ripe black cherry and raspberry fruit meets tarry mineral and accents of licorice, spiced orange peel and herb in this chewy, medium-bodied red. The bold flavor and structure are deftly knit into a graceful and harmonious package, with the spice and mineral character lingering on the finish. Best from 2020 through 2030.—Alison Napjus

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The Bedrock Heritage Sonoma Valley 2016 –

10° colocado – Califórnia
Pontuação: 95/100 pts.
Preço: US$ 46
Bedrock Vineyard was planted 130 years ago by the father of publisher William Randolph Hearst. Winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson knows the vineyard by the inch, having identified and mapped all 16,279 vines. Twain-Peterson inherited his passion for historic vineyards from his dad, Zinfandel guru Joel Peterson. In 2004, Morgan and Joel bought the vineyard and renamed it Bedrock; the debut vintage was 2007. The 2016 includes all 27 varieties that are interplanted in what old-timers called field blends; about half of the brew is Zinfandel and the rest is an eccentric mix comprising Carignane, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet, among others. In the cellar, Twain-Peterson relies on native yeasts and whole-cluster fermentation.

Tasting Note

A knockout red, focused and well-built but loaded with personality, with expressive blackberry and dark Asian spice notes leading to intense yet refined smoky plum, orange zest and cracked pepper flavors. Zinfandel, Carignane, Mataro, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet. Drink now through 2027.—Tim Fish

Vem aí o TOP 100 WS 2018. Aguarde!

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One thought on “Wine Spectator anunciou os dez melhores vinhos de 2018”

  1. Adorei a seleção, como sempre esse blog é perfeito para dicas e sugestões que realmente ajudam o internauta. Parabéns pela excelente matéria. Na minha opinião, o vinho Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains Dopp Creek 2015 é maravilhoso, além de barato. Seu preço nem de longe passa perto de outros vinhos do mesmo nível. Uma vez encontrei uma promoção no Assaí, comprei vários. Dá para ficar de olho se sai alguma coisa nesse site: https://www.portafolhetos.com.br/assai-atacadista/
    Espero que ajude o pessoal como o post me ajudou!

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