There are rankings that prompt reflection as much as they inspire elation. The one published each year by Drinks International — that sovereign classification of the fifty most admired wine brands in the world — is precisely such a ranking. Reading it, I find myself moved by a satisfaction tempered with unsentimental clarity. For while the pleasure of advising some of the most illustrious names in this firmament is genuine, the lessons to be drawn from the 2026 edition deserve particular and careful attention.
A single French estate in the Top 10. The observation is severe, yet it is fair, and it would be futile to deflect it onto some jury caprice or geographic bias. France, with fourteen representatives in the rankings, remains a viticultural nation of the first order. But appearing in the rankings and appearing in the Top 10 of global desirability are two realities of an altogether different nature. Spain, for its part, places four estates in the Top 10. Italy, two. This relative retreat of our great French domaines is not the work of chance; it is the fruit of an intellectual history — of a relationship to the concept of the brand that our European neighbours grasped, far earlier than we did (Champagne excepted), in its full strategic dimension.
The brand: that asset deemed intangible, yet whose effects are thoroughly concrete. When I founded VitaBella twenty years ago, with the conviction that the world of fine wine belonged fully to the universe of luxury and deserved to be treated as such, the reception in French cellars was, to say the least, circumspect. The association of the word luxury with that of brand provoked more questions than consensus. The Italians, the Spanish, the Germans, the Portuguese proved, by contrast, remarkably receptive. The 2026 ranking stands, in this regard, as a form of eloquent epilogue.
For what this ranking reveals, beyond individual positions, is the triumph of a vision: the understanding that an estate cannot prosper on the sole excellence of its terroir and its craft. It must also build, over time, a brand possessed of its own desirability — one capable of transcending borders, generations, and trends.
What makes this endeavour particularly demanding — and, one must confess, deeply absorbing — lies in the complexity of the brand architectures that these champions must orchestrate. The task is not, in fact, one of managing a single brand, but rather of conducting a constellation of brands, each of which must radiate with its own light while contributing to the coherence of the whole.
Consider CVNE, whose extraordinary Urrutia family administers with consummate mastery a portfolio encompassing, alongside the eponymous label, Imperial, Contino, Viña Real, and many others besides. Consider Vega Sicilia, whose prestigious corpus — Alion, Pintia, Macan, Valbuena, Unico, Oremus, and soon Deiva — demands an architectural vision of goldsmith-like precision. Consider Antinori, that Florentine house whose centuries-old history has in no way dulled its appetite for modernity. Consider, finally, Symington — Graham’s (since 1820), Warre’s, Dow’s, Cockburn’s — whose eighth place in this ranking stands as a well-deserved tribute to the momentum of a new generation that has, with intelligence and audacity, profoundly renewed the brand narrative of a venerable house.
These estates share the distinction of being family-owned. And it is here, precisely, that I find what moves me most in this profession: working alongside families who understand that their heritage alone cannot guarantee their future, and who accept, with lucidity and courage, to undertake genuine and substantive work on their brand.
A particular mention is owed to Catena Zapata, once again at the summit of this ranking, and to Penfolds, one of the jewels of Australian viticulture. I have never had the good fortune to work alongside them — Buenos Aires and Adelaide are, it must be said, rather distant from Paris. Yet what they have accomplished commands admiration. Their trajectory demonstrates with brilliance a universal truth: while tactics may change, strategies remain the same on either side of the hemisphere. Only one constant endures, permanent and unalterable: mindset. The mindset of those determined to build powerful brands of global ambition, with a view to handing down an enduring legacy to the next generation.
In the end, this ranking fills me with sincere gratitude. Gratitude towards the families who have placed their trust in us over the years, and several of whom now figure among the most admired brands in the world. Gratitude, too, towards this rare profession, which demands constant rigour and perpetually renewed curiosity. For it is, above all, a responsibility: that of reminding, tirelessly, that the greatness of a wine without the greatness of a brand is a promise only half kept.
Read the 2026 Drinks International Palmares
Contact Guillaume Jourdan via LinkedIn
