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Leetcode #2991: Top Three Wineries

In this guide, we solve Leetcode #2991 **Top Three Wineries ** in Python and focus on the core idea that makes the solution efficient.

You will see the intuition, the step-by-step method, and a clean Python implementation you can use in interviews.

Leetcode

Problem Statement

Table: Wineries +-------------+----------+ | Column Name | Type | +-------------+----------+ | id | int | | country | varchar | | points | int | | winery | varchar | +-------------+----------+ id is column of unique values for this table. This table contains id, country, points, and winery.

Quick Facts

  • Difficulty: Hard
  • Premium: Yes
  • Tags: Database

Intuition

The task is relational in nature, which maps cleanly to DataFrame operations in Python.

By treating tables as DataFrames, joins and group-bys become concise and readable.

Approach

Load the inputs as DataFrames and apply the appropriate merge, filter, or group-by.

Select or rename the columns to match the required output.

Steps:

  • Load inputs as DataFrames.
  • Apply merge/groupby/filter operations.
  • Select the output columns.

Example

+-------------+----------+ | Column Name | Type | +-------------+----------+ | id | int | | country | varchar | | points | int | | winery | varchar | +-------------+----------+ id is column of unique values for this table. This table contains id, country, points, and winery.

Python Solution

import duckdb import pandas as pd def solution(wineries: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.DataFrame: con = duckdb.connect() con.register("Wineries", wineries) return con.execute("""WITH T AS ( SELECT country, CONCAT(winery, ' (', points, ')') AS winery, RANK() OVER ( PARTITION BY country ORDER BY points DESC, winery ) AS rk FROM (SELECT country, SUM(points) AS points, winery FROM Wineries GROUP BY 1, 3) AS t ) SELECT t1.country, t1.winery AS top_winery, IFNULL(t2.winery, 'No second winery') AS second_winery, IFNULL(t3.winery, 'No third winery') AS third_winery FROM T AS t1 LEFT JOIN T AS t2 ON t1.country = t2.country AND t1.rk = t2.rk - 1 LEFT JOIN T AS t3 ON t2.country = t3.country AND t2.rk = t3.rk - 1 WHERE t1.rk = 1 ORDER BY 1;""").df()

Complexity

The time complexity is O(n log n) (typical). The space complexity is O(n).

Edge Cases and Pitfalls

Watch for boundary values, empty inputs, and duplicate values where applicable. If the problem involves ordering or constraints, confirm the invariant is preserved at every step.

Summary

This Python solution focuses on the essential structure of the problem and keeps the implementation interview-friendly while meeting the constraints.


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