Decanter Awards | Best In Show Platinum Medal Wines

Out of the 18,094 wines tasted from 56 countries, only 50 – or 0.28% of the total tasted – were awarded a prestigious Best in Show medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2021.

It was a year of firsts for countries, regions and wine styles at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards. The top 50 wines represent this, shining a spotlight on exciting, under-the-radar wines all over the wine world and highlighting exemplary favourites from top wine-producing countries, too.

Wines from 17 countries made this year’s Best in Show list, France dominating with 15 of the top 50. Though regions like Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône are well represented, DWWA 2021 included a first Best in Show medal for a ‘Vin Jaune’ – or ‘yellow wine’ – a speciality of the Jura region of eastern France, for Domaine Berthet-Bondet, Château-Chalon 2013. We have anexclusive allocation of just 54 bottles of this wine for Ireland. 

“We were lucky enough to have a small but serious cohort of Vins Jaunes entered into this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards” commented the DWWA 2021 judges. 

“From the moment when our judges came across this supremely articulate yet typically refined Chateau-Chalon, it was hard to hold it back.  If you’ve never tried Vin Jaune, you couldn’t do better than begin with this 2013.”

Made from 100% Savagnin, not to be confused with Sauvignon Blanc, the variety again appears on the Best in Show list in nearby Switzerland, for wine cooperative St. Jodern Kellerei’s  Heida Barrique 2019 from Valais. 

Judges said in their notes on the wine, “Heida is the name used in the high Valais (or Wallis) for Savagnin, and our judges were very impressed by the range and expressive uniqueness of Swiss Savagnin this year.”

In Portugal, a total of three Best in Show medals were awarded, including a Value Best in Show for Gandarada, Dão 2019. The DWWA 2021 judges commented, ‘There’s sensational value to be had in this wine for fans of Dao — though those who aren’t yet familiar with this granite-soiled zone of Northern Portugal should know that its pleasures are as much stern as playful.” The 2019 is not yet released, so we have the 2017 vintage to offer you until the 2019 arrives. 

Further afield, in South America Argentina was awarded a Best in Show for Catena Zapata’s Nicasia Vineyard Malbec 2019 from Mendoza.

Sarah Jane Evans MW, DWWA 2021 Co-Chair, said of the results, “You know that this is something that’s been through a really rigorous judging process. We’re not playing at judging here. This is blind tasting. We have absolutely no idea what the wines are and we’re tasting them not only in panels together where we have to each discuss and think about them deeply, but then they go up to Regional Chairs who are experts in those countries.”

She added, “It’s a very, very rigorous process, but it highlights fabulous wines at the end of it.”

Each of the top 50 wines are in high demand immediately after winning such a prestigeous award and they are nigh impossible to find. Over 40 of the wines have no representation in Ireland, so we have sourced small parcels of as many as we could for you. These are extremely rare and we welcome you to try some of them for yourself. 

You can see a full list of all results here.