Decanter The World's Best Wine Magazine

Decanter Magazine offers content as varied as the world of wine itself. Recommending more than 4,000 wines each year, this monthly magazine also provides the latest wine news. It also features reports on winemakers, estates and wine regions, as well as wine buying guides. The magazine also brings together a wealth of interesting information and advice on adopting a lifestyle in which wine and the pleasure it brings play a major role. Furthermore, it is the magazine to follow to learn everything there is to know about the international wine trade. Since 1999, Decanter has also been available in an online version with an eponymous website in English, which is particularly rich in information. In addition to wine ratings, this platform offers articles on wine news, as well as on wine regions around the world.

In order to offer quality content to both professionals and wine enthusiasts, Decanter has a team of experienced tasters and regional correspondents. The magazine's team includes numerous international wine experts and renowned sommeliers. Many famous personalities have already collaborated with Decanter, including wine-loving writers such as Steven Spurrier, Jancis Robinson and Michael Broadbent. The magazine's team also includes other wine professionals such as Tim Atkins, a multi-award-winning wine journalist, and Andy Howard, Master of Wine.

Wines are classified for evaluation by country, region, colour, grape variety, style and vintage. This classification allows wines to be evaluated against their peers. Wines are also categorised according to their price:

• Price bracket A – Entry level: up to £9.99
• Price bracket B – Mid-range lower: £10 to £14.99
• Price bracket C – Mid-range upper: £15 to £19.99
• Price bracket D – Premium: £20 to £29.99
• Price bracket E – Super-Premium: £30 to £49.99
• Price bracket F – Boutique/Icon: £50

For the tasting, Decanter calls on specialists from around the world, including Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine. Although the evaluation is done by category, it is initially based on region. For example, Bordeaux wines are evaluated by a panel of Bordeaux wine experts. The wines entered are blind tasted individually by the members of the jury. However, the jury members are provided with information about the region, the style of wine and the price range. Each taster comments on each wine tasted. The entire jury then compares their analyses of the wine in order to reach a consensus on the score and medal to be awarded to a wine.

Whether recommending wines in the magazine or for the Decanter World Wine Awards, Decanter uses a 100-point scoring system for wine tasting.

• 98 to 100 points: Exceptional

Wines receiving this score are great wines, exceptional and profound.

• 95 to 97 points: Outstanding

These wines are highly complex and full of character, offering a memorable tasting experience.

• 90 to 94 points: Highly recommended

These are superior wines, very accomplished and with impressive complexity.

• 86 to 89 points: Recommended

These wines are well made, simple and satisfying.

• 83 to 85 points: Commended

These are acceptable wines, simple and with little personality.

• 76 to 82 points: Fair

These wines are properly made, but not very exciting.

• 70 to 75 points: Poor

This range of scores is given to wines that are unbalanced and/or bland, lacking in character.

Wines rated between 0 and 49 points are not published in the print edition of the magazine or on the magazine's website. Furthermore, wines rated between 50 and 69 points and published are considered defective according to Decanter standards.

At the annual Decanter World Wine Awards, wines scored above a certain number of points receive a medal according to their classification. Below are the medal categories according to the number of points obtained:

• Bronze medal: 86 to 89 points
• Silver medal: 90 to 94 points
• Gold medal: 95 to 97 points
• Platinum medal: 98 to 100 points

The wines are evaluated based on their own individual qualities. Thus, during a single tasting session, several wines may be awarded bronze, silver and gold medals. To ensure a rigorous evaluation of the wines, the silver medal-winning bottles are tasted twice and the gold medal-winning bottles are tasted three times. After being scored out of 100 points, the wines that have been awarded silver and gold medals are tasted again so that the juries, supervised by the regional presidents, can resolve any discrepancies in the scoring. The wines awarded a gold medal are then tasted again by the co-presidents for final approval. The wines awarded a gold medal are then categorised by grape variety or style. A panel composed of regional chairmen and co-chairmen taste these wines again according to their origin. The jury members know the country of origin of the wines, their region, sub-region, grape varieties, vintages and price ranges. The winners in the grape variety and style categories are awarded a Platinum medal. Value Platinum medals are awarded to the best wines priced below £15.

In addition to the best wines, Decanter awards other trophies to recognise personalities and other wine professionals.

• The Decanter Retailer Awards: this award recognises the best wine retailers in the United Kingdom (best neighbourhood wine merchants, shop or online retailers, etc.). This award allows wine lovers to discover the best retailers for exceptional retail experiences in the country.
• The Decanter Hall of Fame: since 1984, Decanter has organised an annual competition to choose the best personality in the world of wine. Having made an exceptional contribution to the world of wine, this person may be a winemaker, sommelier, oenologist, wine critic or even a scientist. The jury is made up of key figures from the world of wine.

Since 2011, Decanter has also organised the annual Decanter Asia Wine Awards. This is the most important wine competition in the Asian market. More than 3,000 wines are tasted each year by over 50 expert wine tasters from more than 10 Asian countries (China, Macao, Japan, Singapore, India, Indonesia, etc.). This competition provides an opportunity to discover emerging trends in different parts of the world.

Decanter is the go-to publication for discovering wines from all over the world, from France to China, Austria to Greece. If choosing a bottle of wine often proves difficult, don't hesitate to trust the magazine's recommendations and ratings, as well as the medals awarded at the Decanter World Wine Awards.