Michaela Morris is well-placed to present Italian wines to an audience of nearly 500 wine buyers and over 200 Italian producers. She was one of the first certified Italian Wine Experts through Vinitaly International Academy in 2015 and co-created the curriculum for VIA’s Italian Wine Maestro course. Michaela also holds the WSET Diploma and is the new DWWA Regional Chair for Piedmont in 2024.
The 2023 iteration of Decanter World Wine Awards, from which these wines were chosen, was the award’s twentieth year. 2023’s competition saw a record 18,250 wines from 57 countries judged by leading international experts. The DWWA prides itself on the use of independent judgement, using a collection of tasters who taste flights of wines blind and then discuss the results. Wines awarded Gold medals (95-96 points) are grouped by category and re-tasted blind by a different team of experts, and all those achieving a Platinum medal (97-100 points) are re-tasted by the Co-Chairs, who finally pick out the Best in Show wines – just 0.2% of the total number of wines entered.
Italy finished second only to France with 2,777 medals. In the Platinum category, Italy led the way with 28 wines awarded 97 points, as well as 7 out of the 50 Best in Show.
The masterclass room, with Michaela Morris (left) and Clive Pursehouse (right). Credit: Jim Cabrera
The six selected wines
For the masterclass, Michaela selected six wines, all of them Platinum or Best in Show.
