It's no longer all about Tuscany with our Top 100 Wines of Italy list. Other areas are also pushing through with plenty of top-quality wines from Piedmont, Sicily, Alto Adige and other parts of the country.
The diversity and consistency in quality from the best names in Italy impressed us this year. This was quite an accomplishment considering producers released wines from less esteemed vintages than in the recent past. It was tough to follow such extraordinary years as 2015 and 2016, but we found a number of excellent 2018 Brunellos that were more balanced and fresher than the richer and denser 2017s. It was the same with 2018 Barolos, which are wines for early drinking and lack the age-worthiness of the preceding years.
The best of the nearly 200 Barbarescos we rated in 2022 matched the number of top Barolos on our list - nine each - and highlighted how Barbaresco is making wines clearly equal in quality to Barolo, even though some may think otherwise. Overall, JamesSuckling.com rated more than 7,400 Italian wines out of the 32,000-plus wines we tasted this year. As a wine critic who's covered Italy for more than four decades, this was a personal record for me.
One of the year's highlights was travelling with my team to Sicily, specifically the southeastern volcanic region of Etna. I believe that some of the special sub-appellations - contrada in Italian-are now some of the best places in the nation to make distinctive wines, including San Lorenzo, Calderara Sottana, Santo Spirito, Moganazzi, Guardiola and Feudo di Mezzo.
Another region to think about from this list is Alto Adige. The cool, mountainous area makes bright and precise wines, both white and red. The crystal-clear nature of the wines, whether a minerally pinot grigio or slatey lagrein, makes them so fresh and appealing to drink.
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