Wine & spirits
The Cellar
The great estates of wine, the vineyards worth the journey, and the distilleries whose names are spoken with reverence.
Vineyard ranking: The World's 50 Best Vineyards 2025
The great estates
Fourteen names that define fine wine. Filter by region.
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Vineyards worth the journey
The World's 50 Best Vineyards 2025, top twelve. Vik in Chile's Millahue Valley took first place; the 2026 list will be announced in Santiago in November.
- 1
Vik
Millahue, Chile
- 2
Schloss Johannisberg
Rheingau, Germany
- 3
Bodegas Ysios
Rioja, Spain
- 4
Bodega Garzón
Maldonado, Uruguay
- 5
Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Bordeaux, France
- 6
Klein Constantia
Western Cape, South Africa
- 7
Creation
Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa
- 8
Maison Ruinart
Champagne, France
- 9
Château d'Yquem
Sauternes, France
- 10
Montes
Colchagua Valley, Chile
- 11
Durigutti Family Winemakers
Mendoza, Argentina
- 12
Bodegas Salentein
Mendoza, Argentina
Sources: The World's 50 Best Vineyards 2025, 2026 announcement
The distilleries
Whisky and cognac houses whose age and craft set the benchmark.
A cellar vocabulary
Six terms you will hear at any serious table.
Terroir
The sum of a vineyard's soil, slope, climate and tradition: everything that makes a wine taste of its place.
The 1855 Classification
The ranking of Bordeaux estates made for the Paris Exposition Universelle. Its five tiers of growths remain largely unchanged; the one major revision raised Mouton Rothschild to first growth in 1973.
En primeur
Buying Bordeaux while it is still ageing in barrel, a year or more before it is bottled and delivered.
Grand cru
In Burgundy, the highest classification of vineyard, held by only a small fraction of the region's land.
The angels' share
The spirit lost to evaporation as it matures in cask, commonly around two per cent a year in Scotland.
Single malt
Malt whisky made from malted barley at a single distillery, distilled in pot stills.