Spanish Wine Ranks 1st on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2020 List

Prestigious trade publication Wine Spectator recently released its Top 100 of 2020, a list of the very best wines that aims to celebrate wines and wineries from all over the world and to assess wines based on availability, value and quality, among other factors. The magazine has been creating this list since 1988, and every year it is eagerly anticipated by winemakers and wine lovers alike.

Most notably, the number one wine in this year’s ranking is from Spain. Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, from Bodegas Marqués de Murrieta, won the coveted spot. This 2010 vintage, which scored 96 points out of 100 and is made with Tempranillo and Mazuelo grapes, has flavors of dried cherry, forest floor, vanilla, black tea and orange peel and it is a “generous but gentle, lively, balanced and harmonious,” according to top100.winespectator.com.

Including that wine, there are nine Spanish wines in this year’s ranking. The others are Bodegas y Viñedos Valderiz, Ribera del Duero, in 12th place; Bodegas Godeval, Valdeorras Viña Godeval Cepas Vellas, in 17th place; Bodegas Montecillo, Rioja Reserva, in 25th place; Bodegas Borsao, Syrah Campo de Borja Zarihs, in 28th place; Compañia de Vinos del Atlántico, Garnacha Montsant Pinyolet, in 30th place; Bodegas Juan Gil, Jumilla Blue Label, in 38th place; R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, Rioja Rosado Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva, in 55th place; and El Cep, Brut Cava Gelida Gran Reserva, in 76th place.