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This comment from @Bluebeard set me thinking - what are the best wines in the world for different varieties? How many are by consensus?
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I was also pondering that as I wrote it! How about (in descending order of how unarguable this seems to be):
Pinot - DRC RC
Grenache - Rayas
Cabernet Franc - Rougeard
Merlot - Petrus
Nebbiolo - Monfortino
Aligote - Ponsot Monts Luisants
Sangiovese - Soldera
Some grapes are usually blended (Yquem is probably the worldās best Semillon, but has 20% Sauvignon Blanc), or have a few obvious exponents (e.g. is Chave or Grange a better Syrah/Shiraz)?
Iād argue that G-Max is the consensus best dry Riesling, but canāt say itās the worldās greatest Riesling - maybe joint title with Egon Muller?
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This is a great little book I picked up a while back. Doesnāt rank āthe bestā of each variety but has a similar theme of must try wines for the bucket list. Needless to say I have many dog-eared pages ready for my big lottery win. Available on Amazon.
But how many mere mortals actually tasted itā¦? Surely a consensus can only be reached if enough people have a goā¦? 
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The formula is surely Variety x Vintage x Producer isnāt it?
Moreover itās all decidedly subjective. In order to nominate any given wine, for a start the nominator needs to have drunk it themselves, but for me such an occasion lingers in the memory banks as a total experience drawn from it, which not only includes the prerequisite wine - including the vintage as @Tannatastic points out, but also the circumstances:- the occasion, ambience and location. Iāve had many amazing such experiences but they canāt be boiled down to just the wine. So for me, sorry, a bit of a dud thread. But will be interested in othersā replies, none the less.
Unless there are some measurable criteria for evaluating the ābestā wine I donāt see how you can ever choose the best. You might find a āwidely agreed to be the bestā, or āone of the bestā but never an absolute best.
You can measure the fastest 100 metre sprint time, and have a world record. I very much doubt you would ever have someone agreed as the most elegant or beautiful runner in the world.
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Itās all tosh.
All that matters is what you like. Who cares if critics and revieweae say another wine is better.
I reckon many highly rated wines are so rated because theyāre expensive, and theyāre expensive because they are bought by people with too much money but not enough conviction of taste, who need to be told what is fashionable.
My best wine is the next one I open.
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A pointless exercise IMO. How many people will have drunk DRC? What is the marginal ābetternessā of it compared to a similar wine at a tenth of the price. Quality/price is not a linear equation beyond a certain point.
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If a large number of wine experts (not the likes of me) agree over a period that x wine is consistently the best of y variety, that would indicate to me that there is a consensus of opinion (ie widely agreed to be the best), which is what I was driving at.
Sorry Iāve upset so many people with what was only intended as a general musing.
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I donāt think anyone is upset! Just have a different viewā¦
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@CCouzens no need for apologies, lively discussion (aka disagreements) are what makes this board a fun place to be.
Iām in no way upset.
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Agree with @MarkC that there is no upset hereā¦!
Itās actually a really interesting question; to take the DRC example - it may well be that a whole load of respected critics taste it every year, and think it is the best Pinot on earth, the benchmark against which all fine Pinots should be judged. But if none of us - regular wine lovers - can access this wine, whatās the point of this assessment?
Incidentally, Andrew Jefford wrote about this very issue, following a DRC tasting. The piece is called āSome Useless Notesā - and his point, I guess, is that heās writing poetic tasting notes, though heās aware that very few people will actually get to taste the wines.
I often feel the same skimming through Decanterās latest fantabulous Bordeaux tastings - āAmazing vintage X revisitedā. 100 point scores for all the usual suspects - the very suspects I will never be able to afford, so after the initial read of a few notes - itās back to assessments of wines I will actually drink one day, should I choose to. Some will, inevitably, become my own Best Wines in the World.
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A friend who used to own a restaurant in a ski resort in France sold a couple of bottles (of DRC) to a table of Russians. His profit on the two bottles paid his staff wages for the season!
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I can well imagine!
I sometimes wonder if producers of such illustrious - now almost mythical! - wines donāt feel frustrated from time to time that many wine enthusiasts will never get to try their wines. It canāt all be the pleasure of profit, surely, when youāre a dedicated vigneron and want to share the fruits of your labour and love? Or maybe Iām just naiveā¦ 
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I know some prodicers have very strict allocation rules .
I believe DRC get their importers to take note of who each bottle gets sold to and if you are caught flipping your allocation you get no more.
I have always been led to believe this is why so many auction lots do not show the bottle numbers in the pictures, so their owners do not get allocations removed.
I suppose it is pointless to think about drinking Romanee Conti. But moderately ridiculously priced wines? How many restaurant meals, or good bottles would you have to forego in order to drink a bottle of Cheval Blanc from a good year? Or a good vintage of Dom Perignon? I think that at a certain level the best are still worth it.
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Totally agreed.
Wine is something to be enjoyed, shared with friends, drunk on special occasions and remembered.
Iād much rather remember the dodgy Rose from my wedding than DRCā¦
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