In response to Kage's questions:

Wolgan Valley was sensational, but I was there at the tail end of 2011, so I excluded it from this 2012 list.

Aman at Summer Palace was also top notch, so if I were to add 4th and 5th best stays of 2012 to date, I'd put Aman-Summer Palace at #4, and Amanruya at #5. Amanruya's glories were just slightly dampened by its inability to run smoothly at capacity -- housekeeping was really a major problem, never appearing at all on several of the days of our week-long stay. And the staff mostly lacked the tremendous warmth of virtually everyone we met at the 2 Chinese resorts. Staff were much less experienced in English at Amanruya than they were at the Chinese Amans, and never addressed us by name, which was a constant at the Chinese Amans. So by way of contrast, the Chinese Amans are operating at the very highest levels right now, with impeccably trained and endlessly nurturing staff. I was blown away by how personalized the experiences at Amanfayun and Aman-Summer Palace were, even by Aman's highest of standards. I'll try to post a more detailed review and photos soon.

I was only booked for one night at Sacher Salzburg, or I would have left early.