The World's 50 Best Vineyards revealed

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cream of the crop

The World’s 50 Best Vineyards for 2025 have been announced, following an international awards ceremony in Margaret River, Western Australia, where the world of wine converged to recognise and celebrate this year’s winners.

As ever, there are a few surprises in there, with a picture emerging that the top tier no longer belongs exclusively to the ‘old world triangle’ of France, Italy and Spain, with the Americas, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Lebanon continuing to make gains in this higher end of the market.

The official rankings – now part of William Reed’s '50 Best' brand portfolio alongside The World's 50 Best Restaurants, Bars and Hotels – award vineyards not just on wine quality but on visitor experience too. More than 700 experts in the wine and wine tourism industries from across 20+ geographic regions cast their votes for the estates they believe offer the most complete visitor experiences, encompassing landscape, architecture, gastronomy and hospitality.

The awards ceremony in Margaret River, Western Australia, November 2025

The resulting list is not simply a catalogue of beautiful estates but a global gauge of where wine tourism is heading and what oenophiles now seek and expect from a vineyard experience.

Leading the pack in the coveted first place is ‘Vik’ in the Millahue Valley of Chile, which was lauded as a ‘golden place for winemaking’ thanks to its ‘futuristic architecture, pioneering wines and pristine landscapes’. The rest of the top five are populated by fellow South American ‘Bodega Garzón’ (Maldonado, Uruguay) alongside old-worlders ‘Bodegas Ysios’ (Rioja, Spain), ‘Haut Lafitte’ (Bordeaux, France) and Schloss Johannisberg (Rheingau, Germany) which is considered the world’s first Riesling winery, and now the best in Europe.

First place winner 'Vik' in the Millahue Valley of Chile

Elsewhere in the top 50 we find a Japan vineyard – ‘Château Mercian Mariko’ in Nagano Prefecture – which platforms indigenous Japanese grapes grown in a serene mountain sanctuary; and two English entries in the form of ‘Gusbourne’ in Kent (pictured at top), which jumped from last year’s 50th place to this year’s 28th, and West Sussex’s ‘Nyetimber’ which is a brand new entry for 2025, debuting at #32: one of only 11 new entries in the top 50.

Meanwhile Lebanon retains its place on the exclusive list, representing Middle Eastern wine tourism at #33 with ‘Château Heritage’, one of the oldest and most loved Lebanese wines from the small town of Kab-Elias in Bekaa Valley. With Lebanon also present in this year’s 51-100 list (Chateau Kefraya in the West Bekaa district at #92) it shows how this underrated wine-making nation continues to make great waves on the international scene.

The full list of William Reed’s World’s 50 Best Vineyards can be found at its official site: www.worldsbestvineyards.com

Its Director of Content, William Drew, concluded: "This year's list highlights the diversity and innovation of the vineyards shaping the global wine scene.

"It is a celebration of excellence, passion and the stories behind each vineyard, and we look forward to wine lovers around the world discovering these remarkable places."