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WineSpectator.com

Top100

2015The mosT exciTing wines of

the wine of the year! PLUS100 toP

vaLUeS

DEC. 31, 2015 – JAN. 15, 2016

52 Wine Spectator • Dec. 31, 2015 – Jan. 15, 2016

Lara

rob

by

100T

he 2015 Top 100 emphasizes how

much the wine world has changed

since we put together our inaugural

honor roll, in 1988. That year, the Top

10 counted three Bordeaux, including

our Wine of the Year, four Burgundies,

including Domaine de la Romanée-

Conti Richebourg 1985, two Italian

reds and one California Cabernet.

All four Gaja Barbarescos from the

1985 vintage were in the Top 20.

Now, less than three decades later, outstanding wines

from almost every corner of the globe compete with

these historic leaders for consumers’ attention. This

year, for example, a New Zealand wine and a South

African wine earned Top 10 honors for the first time.

Put simply, it’s a great time to be a wine lover.

The wines our editors found among the most interest-

ing in 2015 are a diverse group—ranging from emerging

labels and regions to traditional estates exploring new

directions—and all generated the excitement we call

the X-factor. In addition, we applied the criteria of qual-

ity (based on score), value (based on price) and avail-

ability (based on the number of cases either made or

imported into the United States) to the more than

5,700 wines that rated outstanding (90 points or

higher) this year, to determine our Top 100 of 2015.

Overall, the average score and average price are the

same as in last year’s Top 100: 93 points and $47.

The three countries earning the most nods—France,

Italy and the United States—collectively account for

64 percent of the list. France held steady, despite chal-

lenging vintages in Bordeaux and the Rhône, as well as

rising prices in Burgundy. Italy gained ground slightly

on the strength of the 2010 vintage in Montalcino and

Barolo. And California Cabernet is back on top thanks

to the stellar 2012s, including our Wine of the Year.

New Zealand and Oregon each increased their pres-

ence, based on the terrific performance of Pinot Noir

in both areas. Washington too grew its representation,

a reflection of its excellent Syrahs and Cabernets, and

Spain upped its contingent from eight spots to 10.

Many wines on the list are made in limited quantities,

a reflection of the greater wine world. As such, our

Top 100 is not a “shopping list,” but rather a guide to

wineries to watch in the coming months and years. The

selections reflect the producers and wines our editors

were particularly passionate about in 2015.

For complete tasting notes on the Top 100 wines,

turn to page 182 of the Buying Guide. Senior editors

MaryAnn Worobiec, Alison Napjus and Tim Fish, tasting

coordinator Augustus Weed, associate tasting coordina-

tor Gillian Sciaretta, assistant tasting coordinators Aaron

Romano and Emma Balter, and associate editors Mitch

Frank and Ben O’Donnell all contributed to the profiles

in the following pages. We hope you enjoy the exciting

list of fine values, rising stars and historic producers that

populate Wine Spectator’s 2015 Top 100.

Contents

53Wine of the Year

57Top 100 at a Glance

59Profiles of Wines

Nos. 2 to 100

65Top 100 by Region

and Variety

69Wines of the Year

1988–2014

7210 Years of Top 10s

85Values in the Top 100

182Top 100 Tasting Notes

187Classic-Scoring Wines

of 2015

Our annual roundup of the year’s most exciting wines

top

Wine of the YearThe

http://2015.top100.winespectator.com/wine/1-peter-michael/

52 Wine Spectator • Dec. 31, 2015 – Jan. 15, 2016

Lara

rob

by

100T

he 2015 Top 100 emphasizes how

much the wine world has changed

since we put together our inaugural

honor roll, in 1988. That year, the Top

10 counted three Bordeaux, including

our Wine of the Year, four Burgundies,

including Domaine de la Romanée-

Conti Richebourg 1985, two Italian

reds and one California Cabernet.

All four Gaja Barbarescos from the

1985 vintage were in the Top 20.

Now, less than three decades later, outstanding wines

from almost every corner of the globe compete with

these historic leaders for consumers’ attention. This

year, for example, a New Zealand wine and a South

African wine earned Top 10 honors for the first time.

Put simply, it’s a great time to be a wine lover.

The wines our editors found among the most interest-

ing in 2015 are a diverse group—ranging from emerging

labels and regions to traditional estates exploring new

directions—and all generated the excitement we call

the X-factor. In addition, we applied the criteria of qual-

ity (based on score), value (based on price) and avail-

ability (based on the number of cases either made or

imported into the United States) to the more than

5,700 wines that rated outstanding (90 points or

higher) this year, to determine our Top 100 of 2015.

Overall, the average score and average price are the

same as in last year’s Top 100: 93 points and $47.

The three countries earning the most nods—France,

Italy and the United States—collectively account for

64 percent of the list. France held steady, despite chal-

lenging vintages in Bordeaux and the Rhône, as well as

rising prices in Burgundy. Italy gained ground slightly

on the strength of the 2010 vintage in Montalcino and

Barolo. And California Cabernet is back on top thanks

to the stellar 2012s, including our Wine of the Year.

New Zealand and Oregon each increased their pres-

ence, based on the terrific performance of Pinot Noir

in both areas. Washington too grew its representation,

a reflection of its excellent Syrahs and Cabernets, and

Spain upped its contingent from eight spots to 10.

Many wines on the list are made in limited quantities,

a reflection of the greater wine world. As such, our

Top 100 is not a “shopping list,” but rather a guide to

wineries to watch in the coming months and years. The

selections reflect the producers and wines our editors

were particularly passionate about in 2015.

For complete tasting notes on the Top 100 wines,

turn to page 182 of the Buying Guide. Senior editors

MaryAnn Worobiec, Alison Napjus and Tim Fish, tasting

coordinator Augustus Weed, associate tasting coordina-

tor Gillian Sciaretta, assistant tasting coordinators Aaron

Romano and Emma Balter, and associate editors Mitch

Frank and Ben O’Donnell all contributed to the profiles

in the following pages. We hope you enjoy the exciting

list of fine values, rising stars and historic producers that

populate Wine Spectator’s 2015 Top 100.

Contents

53Wine of the Year

57Top 100 at a Glance

59Profiles of Wines

Nos. 2 to 100

65Top 100 by Region

and Variety

69Wines of the Year

1988–2014

7210 Years of Top 10s

85Values in the Top 100

182Top 100 Tasting Notes

187Classic-Scoring Wines

of 2015

Our annual roundup of the year’s most exciting wines

top

Wine of the YearThe

54 Wine Spectator • Dec. 31, 2015 – Jan. 15, 2016

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A small, little-known vineyard in Napa Valley’s Oakville District has produced a wine that epitomizes the mod-ern style of Napa Cabernet.

Au Paradis is the newest offering from Peter Michael Winery. This producer’s stellar reputation was built on wines grown in Sonoma County, but the 2012 bottling

of Au Paradis proves its deft touch extends to Napa. The wine speaks of its site, farmed and vinified to perfection by an experi-enced team capturing the brilliance of a bountiful vintage.

Au Paradis 2012 offers a panoply of rich flavors that run deep

and exhibit the telltale mix of dark berry, currant, black olive, savory herb and scorched earth character that comes from the vine-yard’s rocky red soil. The lavish use of new French oak adds both a graceful textural allure and heightened aromatic presence of toasty mocha notes that further enhance the wine’s seductive charm.

The vineyard was planted in 1988 by Kal and Dorothy Showket. The couple bought the sloping hillside parcel off Silverado Trail next to Dalla Valle for their dream vineyard. They planted wisely: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and a little Sangio-vese. The Showkets made a small amount of wine but sold most of

their grapes to the likes of Caymus, Shafer and Dalla Valle before an illness in the family led them to sell the vineyard to Peter Michael in 2009.

Michael, a Britain-born tech tycoon, had looked at land in Napa Valley in the 1970s but found the prices too steep even for him and settled instead in a remote corner of Knights Valley due north of Napa. There he had the good fortune to discover a gold mine of a property and has en-joyed tremendous success with a stable of estate-grown Chardonnays and the Bordeaux-inspired red blend called Les Pavots.

But he never put Napa out of his mind. When the Showket property came up for sale, Michael seized the op-portunity. Oakville is synonymous with lofty land prices and “grand cru” Cabernets. Cabernet in Oakville dates to the 1880s, grown first in what is still known as To Kalon Vine-yard, made famous by Robert Mondavi and subsequently others. The list of great Cabernets from Oakville reads like a who’s who: Mondavi, Opus One, Heitz Martha’s Vineyard, Harlan, Joseph Phelps’ Backus Vineyard, Dalla Valle, Schrader and Screaming Eagle are among the better known.

Au Paradis, as Michael named the vineyard, lies in the eastern hills of Oakville. The site, distinguished by its rocky, reddish-brown soil, faces west and south. Its midvalley lo-cation allows for the steady heat accumulation that Cab-ernet loves, along with exposure to calming afternoon breezes that arise from the south and San Pablo Bay.

The Showket’s Cabernets from the site were often ex-emplary. The 1999 (93 points, $75) showcased the wine’s harmony and depth of flavor. Russell Bevan of Bevan Cel-lars took quality up a notch or two; Kal Showket offered him a ton of Cabernet grapes in 2004 to help Bevan get

Wine of the YearPeter Michael

Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis 2012 96 points | $195 | 1,785 cases made

BY James LauBe

Winery founder Peter Michael

Dec. 31, 2015 – Jan. 15, 2016 • Wine Spectator 55

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started, and Bevan went on to use Showket Vineyard for a run of exceptional Cabernets from 2005 to 2009.

“The red soil gives you amazing purity of fruit, not just black, blue and red, but it also doesn’t overripen,” says Bevan. “The wines have a distinct minerality, and tertiary development complements those red and blue fruits [with] tobacco.”

Michael’s first shot at making a Cabernet from Au Paradis came in 2010, but the heat wave at harvest surprised his winemaking team and they decided to skip the vintage, opting to start with 2011; the resulting wine (90, $195) was a success in a damp, spotty year. The 2012 bottling validates all the excitement surrounding the vineyard and the vintage. The wine is a classically structured Napa Cabernet.

Nick Morlet, winemaker at Peter Michael, who has made the Knights Valley Les Pavots for a decade, also believes Au Paradis is perfect for Cabernet. The soil and exposure ensure even ripening, he says, and the heat is just right. “Cabernet likes to sweat,” Morlet observes. When the sun sets, the cooler air from San Pablo Bay mitigates the temperature, keeping balance in the grapes.

This is the fifth time in the history of the Top 100 that a Caber-net from Napa Valley has been selected as Wine Spectator’s No. 1 wine. The quality of Napa Cabernet has been accelerating over the past few decades, with many of the incremental improvements farming-based. It’s a combination of soil, climate and precision viticulture that distinguishes the best-performing vineyards.

As a textbook example of the way passionate investment, tech-nical skill and an outstanding vineyard can create compelling wines, the Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Au Paradis 2012 is our 2015 Wine of the Year.

Au Paradis vineyard in Napa’s Oakville District

Peter Michael winemaker Nick Morlet

Dec. 31, 2015 – Jan. 15, 2016 • Wine Spectator 57

1 96 $195 Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Au Paradis 2012

2 96 $140 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2012

3 98 $70 Evening Land Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Seven Springs Vineyard La Source 2012

4 95 $85 Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino 2010 5 95 $60 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay

Santa Cruz Mountains 2012 6 94 $54 Bodegas Aalto Ribera del Duero 2012 7 95 $69 Escarpment Pinot Noir Martinborough

Kupe Single Vineyard 2013 8 95 $85 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Serègo Alighieri Vaio Armaron 2008 9 94 $72 Clos Fourtet St.-Emilion 2012 10 95 $80 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance

Constantia 2009 (500ml)

11 95 $40 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2012 12 94 $32 Limerick Lane Zinfandel Russian River Valley 2012 13 96 $60 La Serena Brunello di Montalcino 2010 14 95 $60 Bergström Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge

Le Pré Du Col Vineyard 2013 15 94 $30 Abadia Retuerta Viño de la Tierra de Castilla y León

Sardon de Duero Selección Especial 2011 16 93 $25 Taylor Fladgate Late Bottled Port 2009 17 95 $44 Turley Petite Syrah Howell Mountain Rattlesnake Ridge 2013 18 98 $125 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli 2010 19 95 $60 Dehlinger Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Altamont 2013 20 92 $22 Meiomi Pinot Noir Monterey-Sonoma-Santa Barbara

Counties 2013 21 93 $28 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2014 22 95 $52 Gramercy Syrah Walla Walla Valley The Deuce 2012 23 94 $50 Bodegas LAN Rioja Edición Limitada 2011 24 94 $50 Blandy’s Bual Madeira 2002 25 93 $30 Quinta do Crasto Douro Superior 2012 26 93 $31 Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 2010 27 95 $55 Livio Sassetti Brunello di Montalcino Pertimali 2010 28 94 $39 Baer Ursa Columbia Valley 2012 29 92 $20 Tenshen White Santa Barbara County 2014 30 93 $30 Dominio de Tares Mencía Bierzo Cepas Viejas 2011 31 94 $55 K The Creator Walla Walla Valley 2012 32 91 $15 Viña Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley Alto

Gran Reserva 2012 33 91 $17 Pewsey Vale Riesling Eden Valley Dry 2014 34 92 $25 Tenet Syrah Columbia Valley The Pundit 2013 35 93 $36 Rombauer Chardonnay Carneros 2013 36 92 $20 Bodegas Godeval Valdeorras Viña Godeval

Cepas Vellas 2013 37 92 $22 Viña Montes Syrah Colchagua Valley Alpha 2012 38 92 $25 Soléna Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Grande Cuvée 2012 39 90 $10 Real Companhia Velha Douro Porca de Murça Red 2013 40 90 $12 Pomelo Sauvignon Blanc California 2014 41 93 $35 Podere Sapaio Bolgheri Volpolo 2012 42 95 $70 Keplinger SUMŌ Amador County 2013 43 94 $50 Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino 2010 44 90 $17 Piattelli Malbec Luján de Cuyo Premium Reserve 2013 45 93 $36 Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains

Margo 2012 46 90 $19 Castello d’Albola Chianti Classico 2011 47 91 $22 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Ste.-Claire 2014 48 90 $20 Calera Chardonnay Central Coast 2013 49 95 $65 Felton Road Pinot Noir Central Otago Bannockburn 2013 50 97 $138 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 2010

51 91 $20 Alain Brumont Madiran Château Bouscassé 2009 52 94 $60 Brancaia Toscana Ilatraia 2012 53 91 $23 Descendientes de J. Palacios Bierzo Pétalos 2013 54 93 $34 Kumeu River Chardonnay Kumeu Estate 2012 55 92 $30 Arcanum Toscana Il Fauno 2010 56 93 $44 Cune Rioja Imperial Reserva 2010 57 95 $90 Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2012 58 91 $14 Torre de Oña Rioja Finca San Martín Crianza 2012 59 94 $75 Rodney Strong Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley

Rockaway Single Vineyard 2012 60 93 $48 Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley L’Ermitage 2007 61 95 $75 Clarendon Hills Grenache Clarendon Romas 2009 62 93 $48 Oddero Barolo 2011 63 93 $33 Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc Stellenbosch W Block 2013 64 92 $44 Grapes of Roth Merlot Long Island 2010 65 93 $56 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Signature 2012 66 91 $18 Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz-Viognier

Victoria 2013 67 91 $22 Feudo di Santa Croce Primitivo di Manduria LXXIV 2013 68 94 $85 Booker Syrah Paso Robles Fracture 2013 69 93 $51 Bodegas Monasterio Ribera del Duero

Hacienda Monasterio 2011 70 92 $37 Allram Grüner Veltliner Qualitätswein Trocken

Kamptal Hasel Alte Reben Reserve 2014 71 95 $102 Antinori Bolgheri Superiore Guado al Tasso 2012 72 91 $28 Lavau Gigondas 2013 73 90 $18 Alpha Estate Malagouzia Florina Turtles Vineyard 2014 74 90 $20 d’Angelo Aglianico del Vulture 2012 75 92 $40 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2014 76 94 $89 Leeuwin Chardonnay Margaret River Art Series 2012 77 95 $100 M. Chapoutier Hermitage White

Chante-Alouette 2014 78 91 $30 Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon

Alexander Valley 2012 79 92 $46 Bérêche & Fils Brut Champagne Réserve NV 80 92 $28 Bodegas Marqués de Murrieta Viura Rioja

Capellanía 2010 81 91 $27 Bodega Luigi Bosca Malbec Luján de Cuyo

Single Vineyard 2013 82 91 $23 Viña Polkura Syrah Marchigue 2011 83 90 $20 Torre Rosazza Pinot Grigio Friuli Colli Orientali 2014 84 91 $20 Duorum Douro 2013 85 91 $25 Hecht & Bannier Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2011 86 92 $30 Ravines Riesling Finger Lakes Dry

Argetsinger Vineyard 2012 87 90 $24 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna 2013 88 91 $26 Viña Koyle Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua Valley

Royale Los Lingues Vineyard 2012 89 90 $26 Zisola Sicilia 2013 90 91 $23 Philippe Alliet Chinon 2014 91 91 $25 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Spätlese Rheingau 2013 92 95 $116 Rotem & Mounir Saouma Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Omnia 2012 93 90 $22 Schola Sarmenti Nardò Nerìo Riserva 2012 94 93 $39 Domaine du Gros Noré Bandol 2012 95 93 $42 Grosset Riesling Clare Valley Springvale 2014 96 92 $55 Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune Teurons Domaine 2012 97 93 $48 Orin Swift Machete California 2013 98 93 $81 Château Figeac St.-Emilion 2012 99 93 $53 Jean-François Ganevat Côtes du Jura

Les Chamois du Paradis 2011 100 94 $113 Sadie Family Palladius Swartland 2012

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