Log In / Join Now News & Features Home What Am I Tasting Food & Travel Home Wine & Food Pairing Free Trial Online Membership Wine Spectator's 2017 Tasting Events Sample hundreds of the world's best wines at our annual tasting events! Grand Tour tickets are on sale now for Las Vegas, Chicago and Miami. Plus, register early for the New York Wine Experience Oct. 19-21. What should I do with a collection of wine labels? A bright South African white with honeysuckle notes ($10) A ripe, juicy Italian white with creamy tannins ($20) This finely balanced Italian red has a spicy finish ($41) 2015 Bordeaux: 250+ Reviews Top Values / Easy Finds Newest 95- to 100-Point Wines Top 100 of 2016 (free-access) Latest: News, Views & More Frost, Hail Damage Vineyards in France and Italy Vintners from Champagne to Piedmont are fighting freezing temperatures Wine Spectator's 2017 Grand Tour Is Coming Tastings in three American cities will showcase 241 wines from around the world

13 Don't-Miss Chicago Restaurants for Wine Lovers Dive into the Windy City's exciting dining scene with these stellar wine lists Piedmont’s Roero region has just delimited its best vineyards for Arneis and Nebbiolo; senior editor Bruce Sanderson takes a look 8 & $20: Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Green Beans Amandine Spring herbs and fresh goat cheese brighten this crowd-pleaser, paired with a snappy Portuguese whitewine gift bag white Contributing editor Robert Camuto talks to Chinese wine success story Robert Yang, whose 1919 has grown from one wine shop to a network of 1,000buy white cloud wine What Am I Tasting?wine for cats real Follow silky tannins to a chocolate mousse finish and this wine's secret identitybest french wine to buy in paris

Silver Oak Buys Napa Cult Winery Ovid The Duncan family obtains ultramodern winery and 15 acres of Pritchard Hill vines Actor Chris O'Donnell Delivers New Pizzeria Also in Unfiltered, go green with wine, dogs and … bugs? Somm Talk: Jon McDaniel, the "Sommbassador" The beverage director for Acanto, the Gage and three other Chicago spots is a sommelier for the people Top 100 of 2016 100 Top Values of 2016wine gift sets free shipping Our annual roundup of super-value wines: All rated 88 points or more, priced at $20 or lessbest wine from texas We've unveiled the most exciting wines of the year! best red wine removal carpetSee all 100, plus details on the Top 10best wine to buy at fresh and easy

Job OpportunityWine Spectator is hiring an assistant tasting coordinator at its Napa, Calif., office. Find out which vintages to buy in key regions around the world.Updated:» Burgundy/Côtes de Beaune Reds 4/10/17» Burgundy/Côtes de Nuits Reds 4/10/17» California/Rhône-Style Reds 3/16/17See More Vintage Charts On Sale Now: May 31 issue Matching Food & Wine » Magazine Customer Service » Buy a Back Issuebest new world wine regions » Advertise With Us The most exciting wines of the year for quality, value and availability! See top 10 profiles, plus 25+ years of Top 100 lists! 2 Vineyards, 2 Cover Crops: Strategies for Different Vine Ages at Coutet 10 Standout Virginia Wines 14 Crisp Santa Barbara Chardonnays 8 Values from Northwest Italy Our exclusive lists of the world's top wine values, value producers and easy-to-find wines. Oregon Pinot Noir for $30 or Less46 affordable picks for the state's most popular red grape

27 Italian RedsSelections from Piedmont, Tuscany and beyond in good quantities ChileFrom Cabernet to Sauvignon Blanc, 30+ producers that make the most red and white values INSIDER New for April 26 40 wines up to 95 points, including California Chardonnay and Tuscan reds ADVANCE New for June 15 Sneak peeks of Best Values, Smart Buys, Collectibles and Highly Recommended • Personal Wine List: Track your purchases • My Library: Save your favorite articles and more • My School Courses: Follow your class progressThe independent trade is the most exciting part of the wine trade. It’s got the best people – and also the best wines. We’re putting both these elements together once again with the 2017 Wine Merchant Top 100 competition. We’re on the hunt for the most interesting and enjoyable wines that the independent trade has to offer. They’ll be put before a judging panel of independent merchants and the ones that perform the best will be awarded Top 100 status and showcased at The London Wine Fair.

We’ll also feature all of them in our winners supplement, published in early summer. If you sell cracking wines to independent merchants, here’s a chance to get national recognition. Our judges are hard-headed and very demanding. The winners they choose are always exceptional, and a magnificent advertisement for the UK’s vibrant independent retail scene. All specialist independent wine merchants in the UK have now been sent the winners supplement for The Wine Merchant Top 100 2016. The digital version is here. Congratulations once again to all those who were successful in this year’s competition, when it was harder than ever to make the final cut due to the record entry level. Congratulations to all the wines that made the Wine Merchant Top 100 this year. All are available to taste on our stand (B30) at the London Wine Fair. We’ll also be profiling them in a forthcoming supplement to The Wine Merchant. The full top 100 list follows: The 2016 Wine Merchant Top 100 competition is officially under way.

Once again we’re inviting suppliers of wines aimed solely at independent retailers to submit entries – and once again we’ve held fees at £70 per wine. This is a competition with two major points of difference. As well as being the only competition devoted entirely to wines in the independent sector – a marketplace involving nearly 800 shops, worth in excess of £500m – it’s also judged entirely by independent merchants themselves. The deadline for entries is March 15 2016, with judging taking place in London a couple of weeks later. Again, all our winning wines will be showcased over three days on our free-pour stand at the London Wine Fair. They will also be featured in a special supplement sent out to all Wine Merchant readers. See the links to the left for all the information you need, and for the entry form. All winners in The Wine Merchant Top 100 are equal, but a handful are more equal than others. Every year we reward the wines that have particularly impressed the judges and award some Trophies to the highest-scoring wines in selected categories.

Here are this year’s Trophy wines … congratulations to them all. Sparkling Wine Champagne Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV White Wine : Gaia Wines Wild Ferment Assyrtiko, Santorini, Greece 2014 (Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines) Red Wine Trophy: Bodegas Navajas Gran Reserva, Rioja 2005 (Walker & Wodehouse) Best Value White : Azienda Agricola Contesa di Rocco Caparrone Pecorino, IGT Colline Pescaresi 2014 (£8.63, Boutinot) Best Value Red Trophy: Cuatro Pasos Mencía, Bierzo 2012 (£9.99, Liberty Wines) Dessert & Fortified Wine Trophy: Gonzalez Byass Leonor Palo Cortado Sherry NV (Gonzalez Byass UK) Full details of all our winners will appear in a special supplement with the July 15 edition of The Wine Merchant. There will also be an online version available on the website. The wait is over – and visitors to the London Wine Fair have already had a sneak preview. We can announce the winners of this year’s Wine Merchant Top 100 and a very deserving lot they are too.

Let’s be clear – this year’s winners had to work very hard to get their reward. Our entry field was the biggest yet. And our judges – all of them lovely people – were pretty ferocious in their judging. It wasn’t enough for a wine to be “good” or even “excellent”. Our judges are all independent wine merchants and we asked them to approach the competition entries in the same way as they would with any wines vying for a place on their shelves. This inevitably leads to the questions: is this wine worth the money? Do I already list examples of the style that offer better value? Is it a wine that I’d be happy to put my name to? In short … would I sell it? Full descriptions of all the winners, and why they won, will appear in our special supplement in the early summer. Meanwhile, here’s the list of those who made the Top 100. Yesterday 16 of the independent wine trade’s finest gathered in west London to put this year’s entrants in The Wine Merchant Top 100 through their paces.