2016’s biggest Quality gainers

As we know, the quality of a wine is not set in stone.  Just like our Brand and Economics scores, Wine Lister’s Quality scores are also updated over time as wines evolve and new vintages are released.

Our algorithm analyses Quality by aggregating ratings from our three partner critics: Jancis Robinson, Bettane+Desseauve and Vinous (Antonio Galloni).  It also comprises a small weighting for a wine’s longevity, based on the critics’ combined drinking windows, with the drink-by date updated regularly as our partner critics retaste and reevaluate.

In this post we look at the 10 biggest gainers in Quality over the course of 2016:

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Huet’s Le Mont Moelleux improved the most last year, adding over 20% to its score, taking it to 917.  This is down to a score of 18/20 for the 2015 vintage from our UK partner critic JancisRobinson.com.

Also partly thanks to a new score of 18 from the same critic, in second place is the fortified Ramos Pinto Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 Year Old Tawny Port. The wine was also deemed to be eight years longer-lived than had been previously thought, contributing considerably to its Quality score surge.

Château Simone’s Palette Rouge received a higher-than-average score from Bettane+Desseauve for its 2012 vintage, making it the third-highest gainer for the year.

Improvements were also enjoyed across a wide range of other regions, from Bordeaux to Champagne, and in the New World.

Who will be 2017’s biggest Quality gainers?  Only time (and tastings) will tell.


December’s biggest Brand gainers

Here’s the latest instalment of our monthly series on biggest Brand gainers.

The latest Wine-Searcher search frequency data is in, allowing us to update our Brand scores with changes to each wine’s popularity (one of the two criteria contributing to the Wine Lister Brand score, the other being a wine’s presence in the world’s top restaurants).

The chart below gives us a breakdown of the five wines which improved their Wine Lister Brand score most during December:

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The top five Brand gainers are not concentrated in any one country or region, with Italy, Australia, and three different French regions all represented.

As in November, Barolo is again represented.  With a percentage increase of 28% in Brand score, Marengo’s Barolo Bricco Viole saw a surge in monthly online searches, increasing from an average of 103 to 342.

The second biggest gainer is Magnien’s Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, whose average monthly searches have doubled, helping raise its overall Brand score above the Wine Lister average to 545/1000.

We’ll be back next month with an update on January’s biggest Brand changers.


Comprehensive wine comparison in a couple of clicks

We’re always adding new features to Wine Lister, and in direct response to your feedback, we are pleased to introduce our new wine comparison tool.  Released late in 2016 (it wasn’t all bad!), this is a valuable, visual device for comparing up to three wines of your choice.

Whether you want to look at three vintages of the same iconic wine, three cuvées from the same producer or three completely different wines, our comparison tool allows for an instant side-by-side analysis of each of the 11 criteria (across three main categories) that make up Wine Lister’s overall score.

Let’s look at it in practice.  Below you will see Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair’s Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots:

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By simply clicking “Compare“, you can add up to two more wines to the analysis:

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In this instance, we have chosen to analyse three different producers’ wines from the lieu-dit of Les Suchots in Vosne-Romanée, at wine-level rather than in a specific vintage.  We can quickly see that these three Les Suchots wines score similarly well in Quality, but in Brand and Economics there are greater differences. Grivot’s Les Suchots scores highest in Brand, while that from Bouchard scores lowest.  It is the outstanding Economics score from Comte Liger-Belair’s example that brings it out on top in the overall Wine Lister score.

In-depth wine comparison has never been quicker or easier! Try it for yourself (subscription or free trial required).