World's Best Vineyards in 2021 - Focus on Travel News

World’s Best Vineyards has unveiled the very best wine tourism destinations across the globe in a ceremony that took place on 20 September at Schloss Johannisberg, Rheingau, Germany.

The countdown of the Top 50 vineyards was announced in a hybrid event combining a real-life ceremony and digital live film to showcase the world’s best and most unique vineyards.

Argentina’s Zuccardi Valle de Uco topped the list, making it a hat trick of celebrations for the Andean winery. The stunning Bodegas de los Herederos del Marques de Riscal in Spain’s Rioja region took second place and was closely followed by Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux, France.

The 2021 Top 50 vineyards represent 16 countries and include first-time entrants onto the list from Lebanon and Russia.

The World’s Best Vineyards list aims to highlight the sheer diversity across both established and emerging wine tourism destinations and the list is voted by the Academy of 600 global wine and travel experts. This year saw 10 new destinations in the Top 50 with Karam Wines in Lebanon becoming the highest new entry and reaching number 14 in the list. There are two new Russian entries from the Krasnodar region with Sikory Winery famous for its rocky clay soil entering the list for the first time at number 20 and the Lefkadia Valley hitting number 23.

In the opening speech of the ceremony, Andrew Reed, Managing Director Wine and Exhibitions at William Reed, highlighted that “Wine tourism is hugely important to the global economy and local economies, creating jobs directly at the wineries but also encouraging visitors to the area and the associated revenue which that generates. This is more important than ever with the recent global situation, and we know that by shining the light on wine tourism as we do with the World’s Best Vineyards the message gets out to more people to come and discover the uniqueness of wine and where it is made.”

Steffen Schindler, this year’s partner from Wines of Germany commented, “We’d like to thank the organisers and the masterminds behind these awards for raising awareness of wine tourism worldwide and in Germany, of course. Wine tourism has become a very important economic pillar for many of our wine estates, and we know that the most loyal customers are those that have come to our estates and our wine regions in person.”

2021 Top 50 results:

Place	Vineyard	Country	Continent winner	Highest in country	Position in 2020
1	Zuccardi Valle de Uco	Argentina	South America	Argentina	1
2	Bodegas de los Herederos del Marqués de Riscal	Spain	Europe	Spain	6
3	Château Margaux	France		France	22
4	Bodega Garzón	Uruguay		Uruguay	2
5	Montes	Chile		Chile	4
6	Antinori nel Chianti Classico	Italy		Italy	9
7	Catena Zapata	Argentina			11
8	VIK Winery	Chile			10
9	González Byass – Bodegas Tio Pepe	Spain			18
10	Creation	South Africa	Africa	South Africa	n/a
11	Craggy Range	New Zealand	Australasia	New Zealand	17
12	Château Smith Haut Lafitte	France			7
13	Champagne Taittinger	France			28
14	Karam Wines	Lebanon	Asia	Lebanon	n/a
15	Rippon	New Zealand			13
16	Quinta do Crasto	Portugal		Portugal	8
17	Clos Apalta	Chile			27
18	Trapiche	Argentina			50
19	Quinta da Aveleda	Portugal			n/a
20	Sikory Winery	Russia		Russia	n/a
21	Chateau Oumsiyat	Lebanon			38
22	Domäne Wachau	Austria		Austria	3
23	Lefkadia Valley	Russia			n/a
24	El Enemigo Wines	Argentina			n/a
25	Henschke	Australia		Australia	25
26	Familia Torres – Pacs del Penedès	Spain			42
27	Soalheiro	Portugal			n/a
28	Viña Santa Rita	Chile			n/a
29	Quinta do Noval	Portugal			49
30	Delaire Graff Estate	South Africa			14
31	d’Arenberg	Australia			34
32	Abadía Retuerta	Spain			n/a
33	Château Mercian Mariko Winery	Japan		Japan	30
34	Schloss Johannisberg	Germany		Germany	12
35	Bodega Colomé	Argentina			n/a
36	Château Mouton Rothschild	France			33
37	Penfolds Magill Estate	Australia			24
38	Quinta do Bomfim	Portugal			n/a
39	Château Héritage	Lebanon			48
40	Robert Mondavi Winery	United States	North America	United States	5
41	Viña Casas del Bosque	Chile			40
42	SuperUco	Argentina			n/a
43	Bodegas RE	Chile			32
44	Klein Constantia Winery	South Africa			n/a
45	Viu Manent	Chile			43
46	Weingut Dr. Loosen	Germany			15
47	Ridge Vineyards – Monte Bello	United States			16
48	Château Cana	Lebanon			n/a
49	Quinta do Vallado	Portugal			n/a
50	Quinta do Infantado	Portugal			n/a