The world’s largest and most influential wine competition, Decanter World Wine Awards results offer a definitive guide to the dynamic world of wine.
Each year’s results offer surprises and revelations, highlighting growth in quality and consistency – or lack thereof. An all-time record for wines tasted, discover the results from the 19th edition of the competition.
Quick links to DWWA 2022 results
Key stats:
After a record-breaking year for total wines tasted in 2021, the record was topped again this year with 18,244 wines judged from 54 countries. Across two weeks, almost 250 international wine experts, including 41 Masters of Wine and 13 Master Sommeliers, awarded 50 Best in Show, 165 Platinum, 676 Gold, 5,900 Silver and 8,074 Bronze medals.
Watch: Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 video
Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 – results highlights
Topping the list of noteworthy results, 2022 was a standout year for South America with big wins for Argentina and Chile.
Argentina enjoyed a particularly successful year with a best-ever showing of top medals awarded, tripling its combined share of Gold, Platinum and Best in Show medals from 14 in 2021 to 41. Securing four of the competition’s top 50 Best in Show medals, results reinforce the exceptional value for money to be found here with three of these awarded to value wines (under £15) including:
- Finca Sophenia, Altosur Malbec, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Mendoza 2021
- Morrisons, The Best Gran Montaña Reserve Malbec, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2020
- Pacheco Pereda, Estirpe Organic Fairtrade Cabernet Franc, Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza 2021
- Search all results from Argentina here
But it’s not just value that impressed the judges – Argentina’s 13 Platinum medals exemplify top quality across the board, with seven Super Premium and Icon wines (£50+) awarded 97 points.
Chile, too, performed very strongly with a record-breaking showing for Gold medals awarded, including 21 Gold, six Platinum and two Best in Show – value for quality again being of particular note here with half of the country’s Platinum medals awarded to value wines. Its top medal list highlights a range of grape varieties from the more representative Carmenère, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc to Carignan from Maule, single vineyard Sauvignon Gris from Leyda Valley and Montepulciano from Marchigue, Colchagua including:
- Viña Tarapacá, Gran Reserva Etiqueta Azul, Maipó Valley 2020 (Best in Show)
- Bisquertt, Crazy Rows Carignan, Maule 2020 (Best in Show)
- Estampa, Inspiración Montepulciano, Marchigue, Colchagua 2021 (Gold)
- Viña Leyda, Single Vineyard Kadún Sauvignon Gris, Leyda Valley, San Antonio 2021 (Gold)
- Search all results from Chile here
A global overview of where the top medals were awarded at DWWA 2022.
With 10 Best in Show winners, France once again retained its majority share in the top 50 with Bordeaux being the best performing region across the country, and the competition. Of the region’s unprecedented five Best in Show wins, two were awarded to value wines including Château Bourdieu’s N°1, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux 2018 and Savas, Cuvée Eva, Bordeaux Blanc 2020. The judges said: ‘Bordeaux is rarely acclaimed as a source of great-value Sauvignon… but there is a class to the fruit which is rare at this level and will provide much drinking pleasure for Sauvignon fans.’
Elsewhere in France, the competition’s top accolade was awarded to wines from Champagne, Jurançon, Saint-Joseph and Fleurie – a first-ever Best in Show for Beaujolais for Mont Verrier’s La Tonne, Fleurie 2020. Another noteworthy first, a Vin de France won Gold for the first time for Jeff Carrel’s Chatgris NV, an orange wine made with Grenache Gris.
See photo highlights from DWWA 2022
DWWA 2022: Platinum & Best in Show judging week highlights
In total, 38 Platinum and 125 Gold medals were awarded to France with strong performances from the Loire, Rhône and Provence, and consistent quality for regions including Burgundy and Alsace.
An exciting year for Italy, more medals were awarded to Italian wines than any other country at the 2022 competition. Following France, Italy received eight Best in Show, 25 Platinum and 114 Gold medals, with Central and Southern Italy making strides.
Notably, Sardinia and Sicily saw success with Best in Show wins – a first-ever for Sardinia for its Chessa, Cagnulari, Isola dei Nuraghi 2020. The same grape variety as Spain’s Graciano, this medal winner was described by the judges as having ‘aromatic poise and lively complexity on the palate which many in Spain would envy’.
Marche was awarded two Platinum and three Gold medals and Campania three Platinum and three Gold, representing the best Platinum performance for both regions. Abruzzo won its second-ever Platinum medal, and Emilia Romana surprised with three Platinum medals – the first year for the region to be awarded this top accolade.
Tuscany once again was awarded the majority of Italy’s Best in Show results. Its best performance to date, four Best in Show medals were awarded to:
- Cipriana, San Martino, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany 2018
- Colmano, Riserva, Vin Santo del Chianti, Tuscany 2000
- La Palazzetta, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Tuscany 2016
- Riecine, Vigna Gittori, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, Tuscany 2019
- Search all results from Italy here
Fruili-Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Val d’Aosta are also regions of note with top awards comfortably exceeding 2021 results.
Standout success can also be found in Spain with a more than 20% increase in combined Gold, Platinum and Best in Show results. It was a great year for Gold medals in particular, with the most Gold medals awarded to Spanish wines in the competition’s 19-year history.
Noteworthy New World results
Awarded to just 50 wines, this year’s Best in Show winners represent only 0.27% of the total wines tasted, and of the competition’s top 50 wines, 40% come from New World countries – more than double that of the 2021 results.
Australia tops the best of the New World list with six Best in Show medals awarded, as well as nine Platinum medals and 60 record-breaking Gold medals. Reflecting on judging at the 2022 competition, joint Regional Chair for Australia, Justin Knock MW, said:
‘It was clear that enthusiasm for the overall quality was notably high – at one point it was made clear to myself and Huon [Hooke, joint Regional Chair for Australia] that the number of Gold medal wines from Australia was very high, to which we pointed out two things. One – the panel judges themselves were enthusiastically arguing for inclusion. This points to the level of excitement that Australia’s well-made wines can bring to the consumer.
‘Secondly, the number of wines entered in the top price band categories were proportionally very high, giving us a very high calibre of wines to taste and no doubt leading to the strong performance of Australia overall.’
New Zealand saw its best-ever performance for Best in Show with four wines awarded this top accolade including:
- Craggy Range, Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay 2020
- Church Road, Grand Reserve Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay 2020
- Rimapere, Plot 101 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2021
- Valli, Pinot Noir, Bannockburn, Central Otago 2020
- Search all results from New Zealand
The UK was awarded its highest-ever number of medals to date – 151 this year – with a Best in Show win for Coates & Seely, Reserve Brut, Hampshire NV. ‘The still white wines were perhaps the most impressive single category, with some really terrific examples’ commented Regional Chair for the UK, Simon Field MW, and the results attest with a first-ever Platinum winning wine from Essex for Vagabond Wines Chardonnay 2020.
In the USA, California was the big winner with all Gold, Platinum and Best in Show medals awarded to wines from the Golden State, including a Best in Show win for Clos du Val, Hirondelle Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District 2019. California’s medal haul also included four Platinum and nine Gold medals, including Amador County’s first-ever Gold for Ana Diogo-Draper, Touriga Nacional 2020.
A further 97 Silver medals were awarded with Oregon and Washington State making the list, as well as Missouri for Stony Hill Winery’s 2019 Norton, a dark-skinned hybrid and the official grape variety of the state.
South Africa was awarded two Best in Show medals, the country’s best results in this category since 2017, plus five Platinum and 39 Gold medals.
More highlights & revelations
After the first-ever Gold medals for Ukraine in 2021, the country was again awarded a Gold for Beykush Winery’s Reserve Chardonnay, Nikolayev 2019 – a result well worth celebrating for the winery after taking special measures to have its bottles hand-delivered via Hungary for this year’s competition.
Ukraine winery’s mission to deliver bottles to DWWA
The 19th edition of Decanter World Wine Awards judging begins
Japan was awarded a first-ever Platinum medal from the country’s south island Kyushu for Sanwa Shurui, Ajimu Moroya Koshu, Oita 2021. It was also awarded four Golds including Camel Farm Winery’s Blaufrankisch Private Reserve, Yoichi 2020 from the north island of Hokkaido.
China had record-breaking results this year winning 234 medals, including 17 Gold medals.
Serbia has gone from strength to strength with 20 Gold medals awarded since its first win in 2018 – nine of these coming from the 2022 competition. Armenia, too, has been showing potential growth with five Golds awarded since 2019, this year one to Noa, Noah of Areni, Vayots Dzor 2019.
Orange wines are showing promise with a Platinum medal awarded to a Riesling and Manzoni Bianco blend from Dvorska Šoškić, Haiku, Plešivica, Continental, Croatia 2019 as well as six Gold medals to wines from Georgia, Italy, Croatia and France.
Elsewhere, Switzerland and Austria saw standout results with Switzerland awarded one Best in Show, five Platinum and seven Gold medals, and Austria awarded two Best in Show, three Platinum and 10 Golds – up more than 50% compared to top medals from 2021.
The Co-Chairs on judging & results
Sarah Jane Evans MW said of the results, ‘The Decanter World Wine Awards is something really special. We pay huge attention to the wines we have, each one we approach like one of the family in the sense that we really care for it, study it and then rate it as it is now. You know that what you’re doing is having a big discussion about who’s going to enjoy it later.’
On judging, Ronan Sayburn MS , said ‘DWWA is the most widely accepted and the most prestigious wine awards in the world, and I think that that’s because of the very rigorous process it goes through for awarding the best wines.‘
‘The first week is all about working out the Bronze, Silver and Gold medals. That’s the hard part.’ added Michael Hills Smith MW. ‘The second week we re-judge all of the Golds. DWWA is one of the very few competitions where all of the Gold medals are re-tasted, and it’s that rigour of re-tasting that allows you to make sure that everything that’s got a Gold is fully deserving of that Gold.
‘We don’t want there to be any soft Golds, so the second week of rigorous re-tasting really tightens up the results, which adds to the integrity of the competition. We’re also looking for Platinums which are those wines which are really outstanding, even within a line-up of Golds.’
Andrew Jefford concluded, ‘By the time a wine comes to be considered for Best in Show, it’s already come through its panel as a Gold. It then comes through the second judging week where we find our Platinums. It’s already gone from Gold to Platinum, so it’s a super wine.
‘After that, we’re looking for a selection of wines that we really believe are outstanding examples of their style, as well as a well-balanced selection – something from pretty much everywhere, something in pretty much every style, something also for pretty much every budget. And we want to put a lovely selection of those together so that we can offer that to consumers as us saying, this is really the best of the best in our show.’
With special thanks to our sponsor
Thank you to the Decanter World Wine Awards official sponsor Riedel for supplying glassware for the 2022 competition
