Who Had What It Takes To Be ‘The Best of the Best’? The 2023 Golden Vines® Awards Winners Revealed
The Golden Vines® Awards were created to elevate and celebrate the very best in the business; the people and estates who have made an invaluable contribution and continued to achieve and create outstanding things year after year. In an industry where much is uncertain and when – in a bad year – the odds can feel enormous and stacked against producers, each of these estates has persisted. They have not only survived, but thrived, which is a testament to their tenacity, knowledge, passion and expertise.
Winners were selected based on a selection of rigorous criteria, and represent how truly international, rich and varied the fine wine market is. Mostly importantly, they all embody the ethos at the very heart of everything The Golden Vines® Awards represents. In a crowded field marked by exceptional quality, they are ‘the best of the best’.
This year, we were delighted to award trophies to the following recipients.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
The 2023 Golden Vines World’s Best Fine Wine Producer
Sponsored by The Robb Report
Winner: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Even in the rarefied world of top-level Burgundy, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is in a class by itself, and not just for its flagship wine but for La Tâche, Richebourg and everything else it makes. Every square inch of its 25 hectares is managed with fanatical attention to detail, and every aspect of winemaking is handled the same way. Clive Coates calls Romanée-Conti “the purest, most aristocratic and most intense example of Pinot Noir you could possibly imagine... a yardstick with which to judge all other Burgundies”.
Robb Report is the leading voice in the global luxury market. Its discerning audience around the world has a shared appreciation and desire for quality, exclusivity, heritage, taste, and fine design. Robb Report is synonymous with affluence, luxury and curating the best of the best.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“I have only managed to taste the wines from the Domaine a dozen of times and each time it was a moment to treasure. Not only are they the lighthouse of Burgundy but they are a national treasure in France. DRC is a synonym of excellence and perfection. The Best of the Best.”
Ridge Vineyards
The 2023 Golden Vines Best Fine Wine Producer in the Americas Award
Winner: Ridge Vineyards
Ridge Vineyards’ Monte Bello has long been acknowledged as one of the greatest wines made outside Europe – and as one of the great wines of the world, ever since it showed so well in the 1976 “Judgement of Paris” tasting. This is largely the doing of one man, Paul Draper, who oversaw winemaking for nearly 50 years. For 60 years Ridge has also made wines, both red and white, from select vineyards elsewhere in the state. But Monte Bello, for many people, will always remain the gold standard.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“One of the most ancient and established vineyard in California, Ridge has ascended to the pinnacle of consistency among producers in the region. Monte Bello is one the most exciting, most elegant and age worthy wine from US. A significant advantage lies in its pricing, which has been maintained at a remarkably reasonable level.”
Weingut Egon Müller
The 2023 Golden Vines® Best Fine Wine Producer in Europe Award
Winner: Weingut Egon Müller
Man, landscape and grape reach a perfect harmony in Egon Müller, both as an individual and winemaker. His wines, made with fruit from some of the Mosel’s most prized plots, are unanimously placed among the world’s best expressions of Riesling.
The Rieslings from Egon Müller are widely recognised as amongst the very best in Germany today. He has just under eight hectares of vines in the world-famous Scharzhofberg vineyard, which includes three hectares of ungrafted Riesling vines from the 19th century.
The grapes are hand-harvested and then pressed without any skin contact before being fermented in large, 1,000-litre oak casks in the natural, deep cellars. The wines are usually bottled six months later. Müller’s sweet Rieslings are arguably the finest in Mosel, while his Kabinett and Spätlese wines are fine and elegant.
The Egon Müller estate has been in the hands of the Müller family since 1797. Its current, charismatic leader is Egon Müller the Fourth. The Fifth, Egon’s eponymous young son, is already honing his craft to become the successor of this unique heritage.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“There is Riesling and there is Egon’s Riesling. Very much like the most renowned estates of Burgundy and Piedmont, Egon Muller crafts Europe's most exceptional wines exclusively from a single varietal. These wines boast a spectrum of residual sugar, imparting sweetness ranging from Qualitätswein mit bestimmter Prädikat (QBQ) to Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA). However, what sets them apart is the exquisite balance and purity, achieved through an exceptionally high level of acidity which also allo the wines to age and improve for decades and decades. “
The Penfolds team
The 2023 Golden Vines® Best Fine Wine Producer in the Rest of the World Award
Winner: Penfolds
The story of Australian wine goes back centuries, but the country was put on the proverbial map in 1952, when Max Schubert, the visionary winemaker at Penfolds, released the first commercial vintage of Grange Hermitage. Within a few years, it was recognised that Grange was a classic wine and that Australia had the potential to be one of the world’s great producing countries. 70 years on from that very first Grange, Penfolds continues to lead the way.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“I have a profound admiration for Penfolds and their unique ability to produce a large range of wines at the highest level in each of their price categories. Their entry-level offerings consistently exceed expectations and their best wines are seating amongst the best in the world: I cannot think of any other estates in the world of fine wines which have some many iconic labels: Block 42, Bin 707, RWT, St Henri, Yattarna…etc and of course the most iconic Australian wine: Grange.”
The Sadie Family
The 2023 Golden Vines® World's Best Rising Star Award
Sponsored by VistaJet
Winner: The Sadie Family Wines
Head Winemaker Eben Sadie founded The Sadie Family Wines, and his maiden release was the 2000 vintage. He studied at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch. He worked in some of the world’s great wine regions - Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Oregon and California - but since 2010 he has been firmly based in Swartland at the family Domaine.Viticulture is at the heart of his understanding of what constitutes a great wine, and most of his time is spent in the vineyards, surrounding himself with an impressive team of people that help him to forge his vision forward. The consistency over almost three decades in is a testimony of his dedication and unwavering drive to excellence. His efforts led him to be bestowed with the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2017. When commenting on Eben’s win, Chairman of the Institute Jane Master MW said, “Eben’s determined search to produce outstanding wines has put Swartland and South Africa on the map.” Masters explained how delighted she was that theMaster of Wine Winemakers had rewarded his dedication and talent, saying the award was truly well-deserved.“It is a major honour to be receiving this award and I would like to dedicate this to the great team of people I have by my side that has helped me over the years to grow closer to a dream. For a great wine is not the work of one,” said Eben when accepting his award.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“In any other business 23 years in business is a very long time but in the realm of fine wines, The Sadie Family Wines Estate is a rising star. Credit for the incredible dedication of Eben goes to elevating the wines to a level previously unprecedented in South Africa. Since his first vintage in 2000, the wines have evolved to become leaner, lighter, purer, and more elegant, now the likes of Columella and Palladius (their prestige red and white blend) have become cults, not only in South Africa but in the whole World.“
Jancis Robinson OBE MW
The 2023 Golden Vine® Hall of Fame Award
Winner: Jancis Robinson OBE MW
The grande dame of wine writers, Jancis Robinson OBE MW is one of the world’s most influential and respected critics. Known for her impeccable taste and easy, accessible style, her writing bridges the gap from beginners to experts, opening the world of wine to anyone with a thirst for knowledge and an interest in developing their palate. In addition to her own award-winning website, JancisRobinson.com, she has been a regular contributor and wine correspondent for the Financial Times since 1990, with her articles appearing weekly.
She is the author of multiple best-selling books on the subject of wine, including The Oxford Companion to Wine, Wine Grapes, The 24-Hour Wine Expert, and The World Atlas of Wine - co-written with Hugh Johnson - which has sold over five million copies to date. To this day she is the only wine writer elevated to the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.
In 1984 she was the first person outside the wine trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams and in 2003 she was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen, on whose cellar she advised from 2004 until 2022. She continues to be a member of the Royal Household Wine Committee. In 2016 she received France's Officier du Mérite Agricole and the German VDP's highest honour, and in 2021 became a trustee of the Gérard Basset Foundation designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the worlds of wine, spirits and hospitality through education.
She loves and lives for wine in all its glorious diversity, generally favoring balance and subtlety over sheer mass, having campaigned for associated sustainability issues since 2006.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“A living example of hardwork and dedication to the profession of Wine Journalist. Pragmatic and unbiased, Jancis invests time in meticulously crafting evaluations, judging, and appreciating not only the world's finest most well known wine producers but also those emerging, small, and lesser-known talents. Her achievements and successes speak for themselves yet she remains approachable and modest and she is a champion for inclusivity and diversity. I am, personally so delighted that she won The Golden Vines Awards for Hall of Fame.”
The VEN classrooms at UC Davis
The 2023 Golden Vine® Innovation Award
Sponsored by Casa Ferreirinha
Winner: UC Davis Department of Viticulture & Enology
For more than 135 years, the UC Davis Department of Viticulture & Enology has driven innovation in grape growing and winemaking for California, as well as the rest of the world. For anyone who has traveled the wine regions of the world, it is obvious that the department’s influence has been global. Now, thanks to generous supporters, they have world-class facilities to match this influence, allowing us to increase their contribution to the world of wine-making, training some of the best and brightest to become the leaders of tomorrow.
With an outstanding portfolio and truly international presence, Sogrape leads the way in the wine market, sourcing the best bottles globally for a discerning audience.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“The UC Davis Department of Viticulture & Enology stands as an exemplary institution in the world of wine education. The dedication of its faculty, the cutting-edge research conducted, and the comprehensive curriculum offered have collectively contributed to producing a cadre of skilled professionals and advancing the art and science of winemaking. It stands as a beacon of knowledge, innovation, and expertise, earning well-deserved praise for its profound impact on the viticulture and enology landscape.”
The Macallan
The 2023 Golden Vines® World's Best Rare Spirit Brand Award
Winner: The Macallan
An obsession with quality has been the hallmark of The Macallan since its founding by Alexander Reid on a plateau above the river Spey in north-east Scotland. It’s a company led by pioneers, with Reid the first person to be granted a license to distill in the Speyside estate, and that spirit continues today, combining historic practices with new cutting-edge developments in creating the very best whisky.
No detail is spared in their pursuit of excellence: from selecting the finest grain spirit to the hand-crafted oak casks which give the whisky its distinctive colour and rich aroma, from place and production, to people and passion. The Macallan is the result of such defining mastery and intricacy, it is unmatched; peerless in each and every way.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“Through innovation and visionary decisions, particularly in recognizing the significance of "Terroir" from their own land and from Xerez, where they source their casks, The Macallan has successfully elevated the entire Scotch category to the realm of luxury fine spirits. The Golden Vines® World's Best Rare Spirit Brand Award is fully deserved.”
The Emidio Pepe cellars
The 2023 Golden Vines® Sustainability Award
Sponsored by Gucci
Winner: Emidio Pepe
True leaders in the field of sustainable wine-making, Emidio Pepe is a family winery established in 1964 and from day one was run with an unwavering commitment to making fine wine whilst preserving nature and respecting traditional farming and winemaking practises; this was at a time when sustainability was unheard of, and the world was rapidly evolving towards the use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to help boost yields and manage quality. As a consequence, Emidio Pepe has always produced wines of distinction, that truly reflect their unique terroir and have an amazing capacity to age. The winery remains family owned, and as a result the new generations continue to embrace modernity and are employing precision agriculture alongside traditional practices that, due to the vision of their founder, are proving as relevant today as they have ever been. Their submission for the award demonstrated that sustainability is a fundamental part of their DNA. Their achievements also highlight that even the smallest of wineries can compete with larger corporations when it comes to making great wine whilst respecting nature and the community, and in so doing have an enviable track record of success over a long period of time.
Clément Robert MS, The Golden Vines® Fine Wine Director:
“Emidio Pepe's dedication to handcrafting and artisanal methods is second to none, with minimal intervention at the core of everything they do. Despite their uncompromising and somewhat unorthodox practices, they are producing some of the finest wines from Italy.”
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