Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 41

DECEMBER 2019
TA ST I N G S

YEAR'S BEST
TASTED

RECOMMENDED

TOP WINES

BEST BUYS

US CABERNET & BLENDS
PAGE 42

668

355

208

CHAMPAGNES
PAGE 63

255

124

BAROLO & BARBARESCO
PAGE 73

204

130

109

RIOJAS
PAGE 80

272

HUNGARIAN WINES
PAGE 84

TAWNY PORTS
PAGE 86

IMPORTED
PAGE 89

268

119

US
PAGE 93

156

1,991

982

579

162

SOME MEMBERS
OF OUR TASTING
PANELS FOR THIS
ISSUE
LA: Rick Arline, Auburn * Scott Butterfield, Flask Fine Wines & Whisky
Kevin Caravelli, Antico; * Floreana
Edwards-Younger, Angler * Kayla
Goldberg, Terroni * Joben Herrera,
Pizzeria Mozza * Kristin Olszewski,
Nomadica * Nina West, Republique
NYC: James Conley, Keens Steakhouse * Giulia Dwight, Maialino
Craig Ganzer, Consultant * Mariko
Kobayashi, Frankly Wines * Brian
Long, Marea * Nacho Monclus, Camperdown Elm * Gabriella Pantone, Vernick Food & Drink (Philadelphia)

FOCUS
TIMORASSO
PAGE 64

NEW RELEASES

TOTAL
WINES

The Top Wine and Best Buy numbers are a subset of the total number of recommended wines.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
Wine & Spirits recommendations start with a panel
of our peers. We present all wines to screening panels
composed of retailers, sommeliers and other winebuying professionals. We present flights of like wines in
numbered glasses, revealing only vintage, appellation
and variety-and price, if the wine is $15 or less. We then
ask our panelists if they would recommend the wine, and
why. Our goal is to draw on a broad universe of tasters to
help us decide which wines are worth recommending,
and to avoid the prejudices any one critic might exercise,
consciously or not, against certain styles or types.

Our screening panels, run by a W&S editor,
recommend, on average, 20 to 30 percent of the
wines we taste. We then present all recommended
wines to the editor charged with reviewing that
region's wines. That editor rates the wines based on
the same limited information: only vintage, appellation and
variety. Our goal with those ratings is for each reviewer to
provide you with a consistent point of view.
In the pages that follow, we present all the wines our
editors have scored 90 points or better, as well as all the
Best Buys-wines we have recommended that cost less
than the median price for their respective categories.

Subscribers can access our online database, including
all wines tasted and reviews of all recommended wines.
The label reproductions that appear in our tasting
reports are a form of advertising. After we complete
our tastings and record the results, our marketing team
offers wineries the opportunity to draw attention to their
reviews with label reproductions. There is no obligation to
advertise, and our scores and reviews are in no way affected
by a winery's decision regarding advertising. Neither does
advertising influence our selection of the wines we taste;
our tastings are open to all. All bottle reproductions in
the magazine are purely editorial art.

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2019