Critics and wine ratings

The Wine Advocate

The magazine “The Wine Advocate” (TWA for short) was founded in 1978 by Robert M. Parker Jr. The American Parker is considered one of the most influential wine tasters in the world. In the meantime, an international team of tasters stands behind the renowned name, who evaluate the most important wine regions of the world with their expertise. The independent reports and well-founded tasting notes have been published in the magazine “The Wine Advocate” for more than 40 years. A large following has enjoyed the editorial team’s wine ratings for decades, and they are accepted and …

James Suckling

James Suckling was the lead taster for Italy and Bordeaux at Wine Spectator, America’s most widely read wine magazine, for almost 30 years. Since 2010, he has had his own wine portal on the internet, where he focuses mainly on the “Great Wines” from Italy and Bordeaux, and with prominent fellow tasters such as Marie v. Ahm, on Champagne, Australia, New Zealand, California, Chile and Argentina, and of course on his second passion, cigars. For some years now, he has also been organising attractive wine events, such as “Bellissimo Brunello” tastings in the USA and various …

Wine Spectator

With an incredible readership of three million wine lovers, Wine Spectator is one of the oldest and world’s leading wine magazines in the USA. Founded in 1976 by Bob Morrisey, this English-language trade magazine has been under the wing of American publisher and editor Marvin R. Shanken for over forty years. The trade journal publishes fifteen issues a year and is dedicated to detailed comparisons of current vintages as well as price-determining wine evaluations according to the recognised 100-point system. All Italian wines were awarded for twenty-nine years by the famous …

Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast is one of the most internationally renowned wine magazines and was founded in 1988 by the American wine enthusiasts and current owners Adam and Sybil Strum. In search of the world’s most interesting wines, the fourteen annual issues of the lifestyle magazine deal with wine-related topics such as travel, food and events. Published in the state of New York, Wine Enthusiast is aimed at wine lovers from all over the world, for whom a team of experts evaluates more than 25,000 international wines every year according to the 100-point scheme. This 12-member …

Decanter

The British Decanter plays in the league of the best and most widely read wine magazines in the world and has developed into England’s leading trade magazine for international wines and spirits since its foundation in 1975. And although the Decanter is still only published in English, it is read by novices and wine professionals in over 90 countries. The monthly issues look behind the scenes of the wine industry and offer recommendations of the wines that stand out positively in comparison with the international competition. As part of the annual Decanter World Wine Awards, …

Jancis Robinson

British Jancis Robinson, MW, (*1950), is the world’s most respected and influential wine writer and taster. And probably the most diligent and well-travelled in any case. She studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford. She came to wine in 1975, when she was hired as editor-in-chief of Wine & Spirits, a traditional magazine for the trade. In 1979, she became the wine correspondent for the Sunday Times. Soon Jancis Robinson was known outside the UK as a columnist for countless magazines and TV shows. Wine-Spectator, Decanter, Feinschmecker, Falstaff and many other …

Gambero Rosso

The Guide “Vini d'Italia” from the Genussverlag Gambero Rosso is often referred to in Italy as the wine Bible. Although many new guides have been created in recent years, it is still the best-known, most important and most reliable wine guide for Italian wines. In this objective standard work, the top wines of all regions are awarded each year by a competent jury and the best wines are awarded the famous “3 glasses/Tre bicchieri” excellent. Two red glasses are given to those wines that made it to the final round of tastings. This standard work is also …

Bibenda

The annual wine guide “Bibenda Vini d'Italia, Grappe e Ristoranti, l'Orchestra Italiani” with more than 2.000 pages is taken from the former publication “duemilavini“which was published together with the Sommelierverand. Until 2013, the renowned wine guide was published under the name Duemilavini. In the Bibenda annual digital edition, published in November, the members of the Italian Sommelier Association AIS have summarized their tasting results. Here wines from all over Italy are discussed, which are vividly arranged according to the different …

Veronelli

Luigi (1926-2004 Veronelli ) was probably the most influential wine and gastronomy journalist in Italy. With his numerous publications, he has contributed a great deal to improving the quality of Italian viticulture and olive oil. In the wine guide “Vini di Veronelli“The result of the tastings, which are carried out according to very strict criteria, is presented annually. It contains more than 17,000 wines from about 3,500 producers. The scoring system awards up to three red stars for excellent, very good and good wines. Particularly outstanding wines with mostly …

Doctor Wine

Dott. Daniele Cernilli, internationally renowned Italian wine journalist, co-founder and long-time editor-in-chief of the famous Italian wine guide Gambero Rosso, has new projects. “Doctor Wine” – a highly active and successful online platform about Italian wine, also in English. In October 2014, the largest Italian publishing house published its first 550-page “Guida essenziale ai vini d’Italia”. Daniele Cernilli, together with a small editorial team and well-known experts, tasted wines from all over Italy and evaluated them according to the internationally proven …

Slow Wine

The Slow Wine Guide, first published in 2010, emerged from the Slow Food movement after it split from the Gambero Rosso publishing house. The well-known Italian wine critics Giancarlo Gariglio and Fabio Giavedoni were able to recruit around 200 experienced tasters for their new project. The success proves the editors right, as winegrowers in all regions of Italy have committed themselves to the Slow Food philosophy and produce their wines carefully and sustainably in harmony with nature and with the aim of presenting the territorial identity in their products. Now more …

Vitae

The Italian-language guide VITAE is considered the holy bible of all passionate wine tasters and sommeliers among the numerous wine guides in the country and has been published by the Italian Sommelier Association AIS (Associazione Italiana Sommelier) since 2014. This wine guide thus features the opinions of over a thousand expert sommelières and sommeliers, who evaluate more than 30,000 wines in an annual blind tasting according to the internationally recognised 100-point system. In recent years, VITAE has increasingly distinguished itself by awarding prizes to and …

Luca Gardini

Wine critic and sommelier world champion Luca Gardini (born 1981) revealed his outstanding talent early on. He is now also known by the synonym “The Wine Killer” and publishes his in-depth tasting notes and rankings of top Italian wines on the GardiniNotes.com site. His in-depth expertise puts him in the ranks of the world’s most renowned wine critics - numerous awards attest to the Italian’s profound expertise. Supported by a pool of experts, he published “Enciclopedia del Vino” - a wine encyclopedia - in 2012 and published his personal “Top 100”, a selection of the best …

Luca Maroni

If you are interested in Italian wines, there is no getting around the judgement of wine journalist Luca Maroni, who is always dressed in fine threads. According to his ideas, every wine must shine with intense fruit aromas, which is why his favourites appear in his own wine guide. Luca Maroni’s wine ratings are based on the widespread 100-point scheme, although Maroni only awards a maximum of 99 points even for the best wines on the grounds that there is no such thing as a perfect 100-point wine. In his annual Annuario dei Migliori Vini Italiani, the wine critic assesses …

Vinibuoni

Vinibuoni is the guide of the most important Italian automobile club, the Touring Club Italiano. The main focus is on autochthonous Italian wines and their vines, which have been cultivated on the peninsula for over 300 years. is Vinibuoni based on a selection procedure for exceptional efforts and transparency in viticulture and viniculture. More than 80 tasters in 21 regional working groups are involved in the evaluations, each of which is responsible for its own region. The final awarding of the highest awards will take place publicly and with the participation of the …

Falstaff

Since its first issue in 1980, the Austrian Falstaff has become the most important gourmet magazine in the German-speaking world and deals with everything that might please our taste buds. It was named after Sir John Falstaff, the roly-poly knight who loves to drink and eat and who appears in several of William Shakespeare’s plays. The culinary lifestyle magazine, which started as a two-man business, is now the highest-circulation German-language trade magazine with various editions for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Edited by Wolfgang M. Rosam and his wife Angelika, it …

Weinwisser

The WEINWISSER was founded in 1992 by Swiss wine pundit René Gabriel and food critic Wolfram Meister as the Swiss counterpart to Parker’s Wine Advocate. Like the Wine-Advocate, the “independent newsletter for everyone who wants to know more about wine” consisted only of individual A4 sheets stapled together. Since the well-known wine critic Giuseppe Lauria (formerly part of the chief taster team at Gault Millau) took over as editor-in-chief, the layout has been significantly modernised, while Lauria has also advanced the magazine’s profile in terms of content and sharpened it …

Vinum

The VINUM magazine is the best-known wine medium in Switzerland and sees itself as a magazine for wine culture. VINUM has been published since 1980 and provides monthly information both in print and online. With three country-specific print editions - for Germany/Austria, German-speaking Switzerland and France - as well as the multilingual online platform, VINUM is certainly one of the most important wine magazines in Europe. The mix of thoroughly researched reports, tasting notes and wine evaluations, as well as entertaining information on all aspects of the enjoyment of …

Merum

Merum, the Italian magazine for wine, olive oil, travel and food, has been writing completely independently, competently and critically about wine and olive oil for 25 years, and also about Italian topics, which other magazines leave behind. For more than 25 years, the Merum editors around editor-in-chief Andreas März have been passionately reporting on famous and unknown appellations, researching directly on site, selecting the best Barolo, Brunello, Chianti Classico etc. for the readers, and at the same time being committed to less prominent wines such as Vernatsch, …