Log In / Join Now News & Features Home What Am I Tasting Food & Travel Home Wine & Food Pairing Free Trial Online Membership The page you're looking for could not be found.  Our team has been notified of this problem. You can try searching for content by using our General Site Search tool or one of our specialized search tools: Tasting Notes DatabaseRetailers SearchRestaurant Search If you'd like more information, please contact us. We've received your email address, and soon you will start getting exclusive offers and news from Wine Enthusiast. Now you'll be the first to hear about: Exclusive discount offers on wine accessories and storage Food and cocktail recipes Wine event invitations...and more! Top 100 Wines 2015 This year, Wine Enthusiast’s tasting panel reviewed more than 19,800 wines from around the globe, spanning Old World and New World wine regions alike. In the last two issues, we celebrated wine with excellent quality-to-price ratios (Top 100 Best Buys) as well as those cellar-worthy options that need a bit of rest before they’re best enjoyed (Top 100 Cellar Selections).

So now comes the show stopper: The Enthusiast 100. This yearly roundup of the best-of-the-best showcases the incredible diversity of high-scoring wines on the market. Each was chosen for a myriad of reasons, including high quality-to-price ratios, good market availability and “buzz,” an x-factor that can’t be precisely defined. The wines span 16 countries, hitting every wine style imaginable—from dry whites and reds to sparklers, rosés and sweet wines. With an average rating of 93.84 and an average price of $38.55, this collection is sure to be your go-to list the next time you hit thewine shop. Stock up on what you can find now, since these winners will be snapped up fast. Here’s to another fabulous year of savoring the best in the glass. Something felt different this year. As I struggled to whittle down this year's Top 100 down to just 100 wines, I couldn't help but conclude that now is the best time in many years to be drinking American wine. The Top 100 is, of course, about the Best of the West.

Up and down the coast, there is better quality, and diversity, than ever. Even as the largest wine companies keep expanding, some of the best work is being done on a small scale. This year's list includes both familiar names, like Hanzell and Larkmead, and nascent ones like Jolie-Laide and Lost & Found. In all cases, they're pioneering the best of West Coast wine. The past few years have been tough for the wine industry -- a combination of the recession and a few nail-biting vintages. That's prompted a bit of soul searching, with people thinking hard about the wines they were making and about the industry's sometimes wonky economics. Out of this many winemakers found a renewed sense of purpose -- including, hopefully, a desire for honest wines that cater to our tastes not just for special occasions but also for Tuesday spaghetti nights. This regrouping has also brought a great raft of innovation. It's no surprise that has been happening at new labels like Nick de Luca's Ground Effect, which took the popular combo of Chenin Blanc and Viognier and created an artisan version.

But it's also happening at established labels; that's why Turley Wine Cellars bottled its own White Zinfandel -- not the wine you expect under that name, but one that makes an important point about Zinfandel's possibilities. This year's list brings a great set of vintages to the fore. That includes Cabernet from 2009, a beautiful year for moderate ripening, as well as Pinot Noir and Zinfandel from 2010, a trickier year in California but ultimately one with some great successes. best time to visit france wine countryWhile 2010 was also a nail-biter in Oregon, it turned out wonderfully well, with a crop of Pinots that surpasses even the beautiful 2008s.best boxed red wine 2013 For white wines, the successive cool years of 2010 and 2011 brought no end of great bottles. best way to save an open bottle of wine

That's one reason the Other Whites category is chock-full this year. Speaking of Pinot, it seems to have finally calmed down after a whirlwind dance with fame. There's still plenty of iffy Pinot out there, and the grape's stylistic clash continues between those who want it to explore scenic back roads, and those who view it as a bullet train to Flavor Town.wine magazine best value awards But the best American Pinot Noir now fulfills the dreams of pioneers like Andre Tchelistcheff, David Lett and Josh Jensen, who saw the opportunity in the New World to rival the magnitude of Pinot's purpose in Burgundy. red wine glass pngNew labels like LaRue and established ones like Littorai and Londer continue the tradition.beer n wine store near me

Wine's geography is similarly growing ever more diverse. This year's Top 100 class hails from vineyards both young and ancient. The Sierra foothills continue their revival, while a remote spot like the Margarita vineyard, 30 miles south of Paso Robles, has again proved its value. Remote coastal Sonoma and the original core of the Sta. Rita Hills remain Californian jewels, as do Oregon spots like Temperance Hill, perched at the edge of the coastal wind. Those coexist with sites like the Bedrock vineyard in Sonoma Valley, its ancient vines still alive and thriving. This year's boundaries have expanded even farther, to a frontier in Western wine just east of California. And the fields hold a diversity of grapes unlike we've seen for decades. That includes renewed attention for grapes like Malvasia and Trousseau, which may seem new but have been on these shores for more than a century. Chardonnay isn't losing a popularity contest anytime soon, but long-held assumptions about what constitutes a quality variety face some long-overdue scrutiny.