wein.plus honours the collections and discoveries of the 2023/24 tasting season

Europe's largest independent wine platform honours 17 wine and sparkling wine estates with the Collections of the Year and two wineries as Discoveries of the Year.

Tasting director Marcus Hofschuster and Kim Schreiber presented their awards after tasting over 7,000 wines in the past season. A total of 17 wines and two sparkling wines were honoured. Ten of the winners came from Germany, five from Italy and one each from Austria and Spain. They also honoured the Florian Reus winery from Franconia and the Winkler sparkling wine producer in South Tyrol as "Discoveries of the Year". "The collections of the year go to established top producers and wineries that have caught our eye in a particularly positive way," says Marcus Hofschuster, explaining the selection. The "Discoveries of the Year" honour the good work of wineries that have not yet been in the spotlight.

In the 2023/2024 tasting season, around 1400 wines scored more than 90 points in the evaluation. 70 wines achieved the "Great" category with 95 or more points. Due to the ambitiously defined rating scale, these wines received the award in the literal sense of the word: overall, the tasters once again awarded these scores to only around one per cent of the wines assessed. The only sweet wine to receive the highest score of 100 points was the 2022 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese VDP. Grosse Lage from the Robert Weil winery in Kiedrich (Rheingau).

Tasting director Hofschuster used strict criteria to select the wineries for the collections and discoveries of the year from the precisely documented inventory of wine ratings. "It's often just a few nuances that tip the scales in favour of the award," says Hofschuster, describing the demanding evaluation process, which often involves several rounds of tasting before the final points are awarded.

Marcus Hofschuster has been tasting Europe's top wines for wein.plus since 2000: always blind and always under the same conditions in the tasting room in Erlangen. His work is incorruptible, precise and thorough. Almost 170,000 wine ratings are currently available at wein.plus.

wein.plus
congratulates these wineries:

Collections of the year

Germany

• Ahr - Jean Stodden Winery
• Franconia - Weltner W inery
• Nahe - Emrich-Schönleber W inery
• Rheingau - Winery Künstler
• Mosel - Van Volxem W inery
• Baden - Winery Bercher
• Palatinate - Bürklin-Wolf Winery
• Rheinhessen - Adams Wein
• Württemberg - Karl Haidle Winery
• Sparkling wine - Sekthaus Raumland

Italy

• Veneto - Giannitessari
• Piedmont - E.Pira & Figli - Chiara Boschis
• Emilia Romagna - Denavolo
• Tuscany - Salvioni - La Cerbaiola
• South Tyrol - Schreckbichl Winery - Cantina Colterenzio

Austria - Herbert Zillinger

• Herbert Zillinger

Spain - Palacios

• Palacios Vino de Finca

Discoveries of the year

Germany

• Franconia - Florian Reus Winery

Italy

• South Tyrol - Winkler Sparkling Wine Manufactory

The stars behind the names of the wine and sparkling wine estates show the producer classification of wein.plus. Five stars stand for one of the best producers in the world, four stars for one of the best in the country, three stars for one of the best in the region.