Decanter World Wine Awards

Photo: Decanter

How do you even set about evaluating 18,250 wines from 57 countries? Somehow Decanter manages to do it.  The big winner was Australia. For the first time ever, Australia topped the charts with a record 10 Best in Show medals, representing a fifth of all wines awarded this top accolade internationally. 

France and Spain were awarded eight Best in Show medals each, followed by Italy with seven. But in the Platinum category, Italy excelled with 28 wines awarded 97 points. France followed closely behind with 26 and Spain 20. A record three Best in Show medals were awarded to Spain’s Northwest, with recognition for Rías Baixas, Bierzo and Treixadura.

Portugal received three Best in Show, three Platinum and 40 Gold medals, with its fortified wines representing more than half of these. The Portuguese white entries scooped their highest-ever Gold medal tally and, for the first time, more whites than reds – 11 vs 9 – were awarded top medals (Gold, Platinum and Best in Show).

South Africa scored two Best in Show wins, with impressive Platinum and Gold performances.

Argentina's 24 wines were awarded Gold, matching their performance from the previous year. Argentina went on to achieve four Platinum and two Best in Show medals for their Malbecs. Argentina’s Bodega Zuccardi, Brazos De Los Andes Cabernet Franc, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2022 was named a Top Value Gold  in the competition’s new Top 10 Value list (Gold medal-winning wines priced under £15). 

Chile was awarded their first-ever Best in Show and first-ever Platinum awards.

Interestingly, 2023 marks the UK‘s fifth consecutive year to have a UK sparkling featured in the competition’s coveted Best in Show selection. The nation saw a further Platinum and six Gold medals awarded almost exclusively to sparkling wines. 

The US had just one Best in Show win with an entry from Oregon. The US also scored two Platinum Medals for entries from Washington and California. Pennsylvania got its first-ever Medal a Bronze, while a Missouri wine went home with a Silver. 

Canada picked up its first Gold Medal for a sparkling wine from Nova Scotia. 

New Zealand achieved a top medal showing with a Best in Show win alongside four Platinum medals (two Chardonnay and two Pinot Noir wines), plus 27 Golds – only nine of these to New Zealand’s namesake grape, Sauvignon Blanc.

Elsewhere, Serbia won its first-ever Best in Show for a white made from the Grašac grape variety, Slovenia scored 12 Gold medals and 80 Silver, Georgia took one Platinum and six Golds out of the country’s eight, while Croatian wines picked up a record 25 gold medals. Hungary scored three Platinum Awards and Ukraine (God bless them) picked up 37 medals, including their first Platinum Medal.

Israel picked up five Gold Medals while Turkey brought home two Gold Medals. 

Japan picked up a Platinum and four Golds, while China's wines did measurably better than in previous years but did not snatch the top awards. 

It's interesting to note where the wines considered best are being made. The UK's showing is of course encouraging to us as our white Solaris looks ready to produce this year.