The Vinous Top 100 2026 should land in the second half of November, and it is the youngest of the big year-end wine lists: this will be only its third edition. Antonio Galloni’s team builds it from the 35,000-plus wines its critics review in a year, and it does not simply rank the highest scores. Here is how the list is chosen, what the first two editions rewarded and what to watch for this time.
ⓘ We may earn a commission when you book through links on this page — at no extra cost to you. Affiliate Disclosure
- Expected
- Second half of November 2026 (date not announced yet)
- Who
- Antonio Galloni and the Vinous critics
- Wines reviewed
- More than 35,000 a year
- Criteria
- Quality, value and excitement, not score alone
- Editions so far
- Two: 2024 and 2025
- Where
- vinous.com
In this article
How the Vinous Top 100 2026 will be chosen
Vinous is the wine publication founded by Antonio Galloni, with a team of critics who each cover their own regions. When the 2025 list came out, Vinous said its critics had spent months visiting vineyards and tasting with winemakers, and had published more than 35,000 reviews over the year.
The Top 100 is drawn from that pool, but it is not a table of the highest scores. In the announcement of the 2025 edition, Galloni described the list as a curated selection of quality, value and excitement, built around the wines that left a lasting impression on the team. The 2025 list shows it plainly: the No. 1 wine scored 98 points, while a 100-point Saint-Émilion sat at No. 8.
Each entry carries the critic’s score and a release price, which makes the list easy to shop from. It also tends to mix benchmark names with bottles from smaller producers and less famous regions, which is where the “discovery” in Vinous’s own description comes from.
When the list comes out
Vinous has not announced a date for the 2026 edition, and the first two years followed different calendars. In 2024 the list arrived as a countdown: positions 100 to 61 went out on November 13, the following blocks over the next days, and the Wine of the Year on November 20. In 2025 Vinous published the whole list in one go on November 10.
As of November 11, 2026, the 2026 list is not out. The other big American lists are already moving: the Wine Spectator Top 100 2026 countdown started on November 9, and the James Suckling Top 100 2026 came out on October 30. We will update this page with the full Vinous list on the day it appears.
The 2025 list: Chianti Classico at No. 1
The 2025 Wine of the Year was Castello di Monsanto’s 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Il Poggio, a 98-point wine listed at $95. It is a symbolic pick: the Bianchi family bottled Il Poggio as a single vineyard from 1962, long before the idea was common in Chianti Classico. The top five, as published by Vinous:
| Rank | Wine | Origin | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Il Poggio 2020 | Italy | 98 |
| 2 | Van Loggerenberg Wines Syrah Graft 2024 | South Africa | 98 |
| 3 | Château Brane-Cantenac 2022 | France | 98 |
| 4 | Frog’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown 2023 | USA | 96 |
| 5 | Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso San Lorenzo 2023 | Italy | 97 |
Across the 100 wines, France placed 28, Italy 22 and the United States a little over 20, with Spain and Australia next. South Africa, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Portugal and England were all on the list too. Scores ran from 93 to 100, and the list leaned young: more than a third of the wines were 2023s.
It is not a cheap list. 55 of the 100 wines carry a price of $100 or more, and only a handful sit at $50 or under. That is the main practical difference from the Wine Spectator ranking, where value and availability in the U.S. weigh openly on the order.
2024: the first edition
The first Vinous Top 100 picked a Napa Valley Cabernet as Wine of the Year: Philip Togni Vineyard’s 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, 99 points. Galloni chose it for the quality of a great vintage and for a price that stays accessible by the standards of the world’s finest bottles.
The rest of the 2024 top ten made the same point from different angles. Giaconda’s 2022 Chardonnay from Australia and Hirsch’s 2021 Pinot Noir Raschen Ridge from California both scored 100 and still ranked second and fifth. La Ca’ Nova’s 2021 Barbaresco Montefico Vigna Bric Mentina was No. 4 at $50, and Dominio de Pingus’s 2021 PSI from Spain was No. 7 at $30.
What to watch for in the Vinous Top 100 2026
Two editions are not a pattern, so any forecast stays cautious. Still, a few threads are worth following. France, Italy and the United States have anchored both lists, each with about twenty wines or more, and both Wines of the Year came from one of the three. The question for 2026 is whether a smaller country breaks into the top three again, as South Africa did with Van Loggerenberg in 2025.
Italy is the other thread: it took No. 1 in 2025, No. 4 in 2024 and 22 places on last year’s list. Etna is worth watching too: Tenuta delle Terre Nere appeared in both editions, with a pre-phylloxera Etna Rosso in 2024 and its San Lorenzo at No. 5 in 2025.
Then there is the cross-check with the other lists. When the Vinous Top 100 2026 is out, it will be the third big American ranking of the season, and the wines that appear on more than one of them are usually the ones worth tracking down.
Visiting the estates behind last year’s top wines
Castello di Monsanto, Chianti Classico. The 2025 Wine of the Year comes from Via Monsanto in Barberino Tavarnelle, on the western side of Chianti Classico. Its page on the Chianti Classico consortium site lists guided visits, guided tastings and lunch or dinner with the producer, in English. It sits within easy reach of Florence and Siena, and the rest of Tuscany wine country is close by.
Tenuta delle Terre Nere, Etna. The No. 5 wine is a single-contrada Etna Rosso from Sicily’s volcano. Our guide to Etna wine tours covers the bookable days on the mountain.
Château Brane-Cantenac, Margaux. The No. 3 wine is a second growth of the 1855 classification, in the Médoc. Our Bordeaux wine travel guide explains how the Left Bank works for visitors.
Napa Valley. Both editions put a Napa Cabernet in the top five, Philip Togni in 2024 and Frog’s Leap in 2025. For American readers it is the closest of these trips: start with our pick of the best wine tastings in Napa Valley.
For a few nights near Monsanto, our guide to where to stay in Chianti picks castle estates and restored hamlets between Florence and Siena.
Stay near Castello di Monsanto, home of the 2025 Wine of the Year
Hotels and estate rooms around Barberino Tavarnelle, in western Chianti Classico.
Using the list to plan a wine trip
The Vinous Top 100 is a buying list first, but it also maps where the critics found the year’s most exciting wines. On the 2025 evidence, three trips stand out: Chianti Classico for the No. 1, Bordeaux for the deepest French presence, and Napa Valley for the American side of the list.
Whichever you choose, book cellar visits before flights where you can. Estates that land on a top list see more requests in the months that follow, and the smaller ones take few visitors at the best of times. We will add the full 2026 list here as soon as Vinous publishes it.
Prices are “from” rates, indicative and set by our booking partners: they change with dates and availability, so check the current rate on Expedia.
