Frescobaldi labels rank among the best wines in the world

Every year specialized magazines and industry guides elect the best wines in the world, draw up rankings and award prizes dedicated to wine. Many Frescobaldi labels have received these important awards, confirming their quality and the uniqueness of the terroirs. Let's take a look at which wines scored the highest.

How are wine scores determined?

There are two methods of wine evaluation: the Parker scale and the Robinson scale.

The first system was invented in 1978 by Robert Parker, one of the most influential critics, a true authority in the world of wine.

The Parker scale ranges from 50 to 100 points, specifically:

96-100 - Extraordinary: of a complex and deep character, it is a formidable product that features all the characteristics you would expect from a wine in this category. Making an effort to seek out, buy and taste the wines in this group is definitely worthwhile.
90-95 - Outstanding: of excellent complexity and great character. A truly optimal purchase.
80-89 - Barely above average to very good: it demonstrates a good combination of finesse and flavour, with character and without significant flaws.
70-79 - Average: It is essentially an average-quality wine, without particular character, straightforward and innocuous, but well made. Suitable for undemanding palates.
60-69 - Below average: contains notable errors, such as excessive acidity or tannins, bland or with unpleasant aromas.
50-59 - Unacceptable: a wine considered unacceptable or of little interest to the experienced consumer.

If the score is indicated in parentheses it means that the wine has been tasted from the barrel.

(Source: Italvinus)

The second type of wine evaluation references the scale created by Jancis Robinson, a British critic who evaluates the wines he tastes by assigning them a score on a 20-point scale.

Here's what each point value indicates:

20 Truly exceptional
19 A humdinger
18 A cut above superior
17 Superior
16 Distinguished
15 Average, a perfectly nice drink with no faults but not much excitement
14 Deadly dull
13 Borderline faulty or unbalanced
12 Faulty or unbalanced 

In both cases the logic is always the same: the higher the score, the better the wine.

With this information, let’s now take a look at the most prestigious wine magazines and see what scores they have given Frescobaldi wines.

Wine Spectator

Every year Wine Spectator reviews over 15,000 wines, using a team of experts and oenological critics and attributing to each label a score based on 100 points (according to the Parker scale) as follows:

95-100 Classic
90-94 Outstanding
85-89 Very good
80-84 Good
75-79 Mediocre
50-74 Not recommended

There are two concepts that guide each review:

•           Experience of editors who write the tasting notes

•           Integrity based on blind tastings. Each wine is in fact valued without knowing its price or brand, so as to guarantee total absence of prejudice.

Among the Frescobaldi labels attaining the highest scores in the last tasting are:

•           Perano Rialzi 2016 with 94 points

•           Giramonte 2016 with 93 points

•          Castelgiocondo 2015 with 93 points

•           Mormoreto 2016 with 92 points

•           Ripe al Convento 2014 with 90 points

The Wine Advocate

Robert Parker, better known as the wine advocate, founded a magazine in 1978 that today is a reference point for the wine sector and over the years reaching the considerable goal of more than 45,000 subscribers.

Its founder, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, is also the inventor of the homonymous rating system that grades the best wines in the world, and is still used today by many oenological critics.

Specifically, the scores classify wines as:

96-100 Extraordinary
90-95 Outstanding
80-89 Barely above average to very good
70-79 Average
60-69 Below average
50-59 Unacceptable

In 2021, 6 Frescobaldi labels achieved outstanding scores:

•           Perano Rialzi 2016 with 95 points 

•           Giramonte 2016 with 95 points 

•           Ripe al Convento 2015 with 94 points

•           Mormoreto 2016 with 93 points

•           Castelgiocondo 2016 with 93 points 

•           Nipozzano 2016 with 92 points

Decanter

The Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) is the largest and most prestigious wine competition in the world. Now in its 18th edition, it brings together the most authoritative international wine experts and the best wine business professionals, in charge of a rigorous and reliable tasting, selection and voting process.

Decanter uses both models (Parker and Robinson) in a very personal classification:

98-100 Exceptional (19.5 - 20GoldMedal)
95-97 Outstanding 18.5 - 19.25GoldMedal)
90-94 Highly recommended (17.25 - 18.25SilverMedal)
86-89 Recommended (16 - 16.75 Bronze Medal)
83-85 Commended
76-82 Fair
70-75 Poor
60-69 Faulty

In expectation of the results from the 2021 edition, we’ll recall the Frescobaldi labels that obtained the highest scores in the last competition:

•            Castelgiocondo 2015 with 94 points
•            Perano Rialzi 2016 with 88 points (Bronze Medal)

JamesSuckling.com

James Suckling is also a journalist and wine critic with a long experience who reviews the wines he tastes and posts each a score on his website.

His classification is a reinterpretation of the Parker model and includes just 3 levels:

+95 points (A+): a must-buy wine, of which one would like to drink a whole bottle
90-95 points (A): outstanding wine, of which one would gladly drink a glass
< 88 points: it's still worth buying, but proceed with caution

The aforementioned Frescobaldi labels all fall into the first two groups (A and A+), with the following scores:

•            Ripe al Convento 2015 con 97 points
•            Perano Rialzi 2016 with 96 points
•            Mormoreto 2017 with 95 points
•            Castelgiocondo 2016 with 95 points
•            Giramonte 2017 with 95 points
•            Aurea Gran Rosé 2018 with 93 points
•            Nipozzano 2017 with 92 points

Falstaff

Finally, there is Falstaff, a wine magazine founded in 1980 in Austria and today very well known in the food, wine and travel sector in German-speaking countries.

A 100-point scale is also used and these are the points awarded to Frescobaldi wines:

•            Ripe al Convento 2015 with 96 points
•            Castelgiocondo 2016 with 95 points
•            Perano Rialzi 2016 with 94 points
•            Mormoreto 2016 with 95 points
•            Nipozzano 2016 with 92 points
•            Giramonte 2016 with 95 points

The Glasses of The Gambero Rosso

We close this review of oenological awards with an all-Italian recognition: Gambero Rosso glasses. Italy's longest-serving wine guide evaluates different labels by awarding glasses.

The highest recognition (comparable to a vote of 91 points and up) is 3 glasses (extraordinary) won this year by Nipozzano 2017 and Ripe al Convento 2014.

Moving through the rankings we find Castelgiocondo 2015 that attained 2 red glasses and Mormoreto 2017 with 2 black glasses. The classification of 2 glasses is equivalent to a score that goes from 78 to 84 points and that rewards those wines evaluated between good and excellent.

Browse our website to discover the tasting notes and the right pairings for each wine.