While the perception generally is that tasting wines looks like a pretty sweet gig, it’s not always. When there are some tough flights to assess it can make for a challenging tasting.

Some examples from the lauded vintages of 2020 and 2021 are starting to fade in the glass, 2022 was a difficult vintage and 2023 a mixed bag which further confuses the judging process. Put together in one day of blind tasting and, well, that’s a tough row to hoe. You start to question whether you’re doing it right. Did you miss something? Are you being unduly harsh? Are you not picking up something vital? A gruelling run of wines tends to make you question your life choices.

That said, the world of wine is ever evolving and with every year comes a new set of circumstances and a new vintage of wines. 2024 was a very strong year from which emerged some spectacular chardonnays, as illustrated by the fact that 10 of our glorious top twelve are from 2024.