The Top 10 Wines 2024 and The Best Wine 2024 (07-12-2024 by Nenad Jelisic)
This is the twelfth consecutive year that NJ Wines presents the top 10 wines. In 2024, NJ Wines tasted a few thousand wines that were, and still are, available on the wine market. From all these wines, NJ Wines selected the 10 top wines of the year. The most important criterion in the selection was of course the quality of the wines, but also the availability of the wines today. Of the top 10 wines of the year come sex from France, three from Italy and one from Portugal. This year, with the best wine of the year, the fourth best wine of the year, the six best wine of the year, the seventh best wine of the year, the ninth best wine of the year and the tenth best wine of the year, France proved that it belongs to one of the world's best wine-producing countries. Note that NJ Wines’ wine tasting year always begins the first week of December the year before and ends the last the week in November the current year i.e. for the year 2024 it started the first week in December 2023 and ended the last week in November 2024. This year, eight wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), which is a new record, in 2023, three wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2022, no wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2021, four wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2020, two wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2019, five wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2018, six wines got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2017, no wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2016, one wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2015, one wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points), in 2014, no wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) and in 2013, one wine got 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points). NJ Wines is very pleased with the positive result, but NJ Wines does not believe that the global quality of the wines has changed as much in the positive direction as the tasting result shows. NJ Wines was just lucky enough to taste some of the world's best wines in 2024.
The Top 10 Wines 2024
1. Chateau Le Tertre Roteboeuf, 2020, red dry blend wine, Saint Émilion, Libournais, Bordeaux, France, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
2. Argirio, Podernuovo a Palazzone, 2018, red dry wine, Tuscany, Italy, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
3. Sandrone, Vite Talin, Barolo, 2017, red dry wine, Piedmonte, Italy, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
4. Château Duhart-Milon, 2018, red dry blend wine, Pauillac, Haut Médoc, Médoc, Bordeaux, France, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
5. Zenato, Amarone della Valpolicella, Classico, 2018, red dry blend wine, Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
6. Domaine des Creisses, Les Brunes, 2021, red dry blend wine, Pays d’Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
7. David Moret, Puligny-Montrachet, Blanc, 2022, white dry wine, Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
8. Churchill's, 20 Years Old, Tawny Port, NV, port wine, Porto, Douro, Portugal, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
9. Château Lafite-Rothschild, 2023, red dry blend wine, Pauillac, Haut Médoc, Médoc, Bordeaux, France, 4,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP (95 points of 100 points)
10. Domaine Henri Rebourseau, Clos de Vougeot, Grand Cru, Vieilles Vignes, 2019, red dry wine, Vougeot, Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France, 4,5 NJP of 5,0 NJP (95 points of 100 points)
The Best Wine 2024
Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf, 2020, red dry blend wine, Saint Émilion, Libournais (Right Bank), Bordeaux, France, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points)
Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf 2020 is an absolutely fabulous Saint Émilion-wine. It is complex, flavourful, austere and nuanced, and has a fabulous balance between tartaric acidity, sweetness, fruitiness and tannins. Complex, sophisticated and incredibly perfumed aroma of bay leaves, vanilla, Cuban tobacco of the highest quality, prunes, ripe dark cherries, cedar, crème de cassis and dark roasted coffee. Complex, nuanced and sophisticated flavour of cocoa-rich chocolate, tobacco, dark roasted coffee, ripe dark cherries, prunes, sweet spices, cedar and crème de cassis. The high alcohol content (15%) "hides" in the wine's complex, nuanced, concentrated and sophisticated aroma and flavour. The wine has silky tannins and a very long aftertaste of sweet spices and cocoa-rich chocolate that lingers forever in the mouth. Everything mentioned above contributes to the fact that Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf 2020 is a very ageable wine that can be aged for at least 15 years i.e. until at least 2039. But even now this absolutely fabulous wine is ready to be enjoyed with great pleasure.
This absolutely wonderful and fabulous Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf 2020 will go really well with grilled beef fillet/entrecôte with café de Paris sauce and potato gratin or with grilled duck breast with port- and cherry sauce and potato stoemp (roughly mashed potatoes with vegetables and cream) or with pasta carbonara (with fresh tagliatelle) or with slow-roasted porchetta with grilled vegetables and buttery garlic bread or with reindeer stew with buttery mashed potatoes or with grilled pork chops with grilled red peppers, yellow onions and tomatoes and Béarnaise sauce or with Boeuf Bourguignon with buttery mashed potatoes or with hard cheeses such as Cheddar, Svecia, Västerbotten, Parmesan and Grana Padano. The wine should be served at 18 to 19°C in Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel. Another option is to serve it at 16°C (when room temperature or outdoor temperature is above 23°C) and then enjoy it as it starts to grow in the glass.
Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf 2020 consists of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The grapes for the wine come from a 5,7 hectare vineyard located on the southern slopes of Saint-Laurent-de-Combes. Merlot vines are 45 years old, while Cabernet Franc is five years older. The soil consists of clay, which is underlain by limestone. The grapes are harvested as late as possible, which results in raisin-like grapes. The yield is a very low (maximum) 36 hectolitres per hectare. The grapes are picked and sorted very carefully by hand in both the vineyard and the winery. Then they are destemmed and gently pressed. The grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes and grape juice, is macerated and fermented in open cement vats with two pumping overs (remontage) per day. What is unique about the wine is that it is both macerated and fermented at unusually high temperatures, 35°C. Then the grape mass is gently pressed, and the wine is moved to 100% new French 225 litre oak barrels (barrique) where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and a between 18 and 24 months long aging. What is also unique about the wine is that the winemaker intentionally heats the cellars to as high as 20°C during the aging process, which the winemaker believes allows for better and earlier integration between the new oak barrels and the wine. Wines from the various oak barrels are blended and bottled, and then aged for a few more months before the wine is released on the market. The wine is not filtered.
The unique and cult-declared wines from Château Le Tertre Roteboeuf are imported to Sweden by Swedish Brand.