The world’s best wine destinations for 2026 have been revealed in a new long-list of candidates for this year’s Wine Travel Awards that will combine public voting and expert opinion to decide the winners by 1 May.
Spanning 48 countries and recognising excellence across 16 categories, the awards shine a light not only on outstanding produce but also on the traditions, places, people, and heritage behind it, understanding that wine travel is as much about storytelling as it is about quality quaffing.
This year the public selection places two European vineyards and one Latin American in its top three “must-visit” destinations. The top spot is taken by Georgia’s SHUMI Winery, in the Alazani River valley that forms a border with Azerbaijan. Here in Tsinandali lies a noted palace and historic winery-estate. The region is not only home to an ancient earthenware fermentation wine-making method but also boasts an oenotheque with a collection of over 16,500 historic bottles of wine and the world’s largest private collection of grapevine species.
Second in the public vote lies Venissa Estate in Italy, where the ancient art of winemaking, almost lost to the Venice Lagoon islands after the great flood of 1966, is being nurtured anew among the native grapes that grow in an atmospheric walled vineyard on Mazzorbo. The estate promises exclusivity, with only five rooms and tastings from its limited output of just 3,500 bottles a year.
The public also put forward Bodega La Luz del Vino in Argentina, where some of the oldest vineyards in the Uco Valley sit at a minimum of 1,000 metres above sea level, surrounded by the soaring peaks of the Andes.
When it comes to the year’s top wine regions, Europe managed to place three in the top five. Burgenland in Austria was the public’s first choice; California Wine Country, with its 6,200 vineyards placed second; South Africa came third; Romania, the sixth largest wine producer in the bloc was voted in at fourth; and Italy’s Verona rounded out the top five.
Some unexpected candidates also make it into the ranking. Taiwan’s climate-driven innovation in winemaking merited it a mention. Iryna Diachenkova, CEO of the Wine Travel Awards notes that it “earned its place on our list thanks to its pioneering work in underwater ageing. They are among the early innovators of deep-sea-aged wine.”
The overall winners for this year in each of the award categories will be revealed by the Wine Travel Award judging panel on 1 May 2026. And on 17 June, in Beaune, the Wine Travel Awards Ceremony will take place at the inaugural Global Wine Tourism Day.
