Another year come and gone – and what a year that was. As if there wasn’t enough going on in the world in 2020, Winexpert went through a complete and total wine portfolio overhaul last Spring. Although the process of rebranding and refurbishing an entire wine catalogue has its challenges, one of the things we have been looking forward to is seeing how all those changes impacted our yearly Top Ten Wine List. So without any more fanfare, let’s take a look:
Wine | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | Times In
Top 10 ** |
Winexpert Classic Chilean Diablo Rojo | 10 | 9 | 7 | – | – | – | 3 |
Winexpert Reserve Australian Cabernet Sauvignon | 9 | T5 | T8 | – | – | – | 3 |
Winexpert Classic California Pinot Noir | 8 | 4 | 10 | – | – | – | 3 |
Winexpert Classic Chilean Sauvignon Blanc | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Winexpert Reserve Argentine Malbec | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 4 |
Winexpert Reserve Australian Traminer Riesling | 5 | – | – | – | – | T10 | 2 |
Winexpert Reserve Italian Luna Rossa | 4 | 7 | 5 | – | 4 | 2 | 11 |
Winexpert Reserve Italian Pinot Grigio | 3 | T5 | T8 | 5 | 3 | T3 | 12 |
Winexpert Private Reserve Napa Valley Stag’s Leap District Merlot | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
Winexpert Classic Italian Pinot Grigio | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | T3 | 12 |
Wines are listed in descending order with the previous years’ rankings included. Where applicable, this year’s numbers have been adjusted with consideration to Winexpert’s wine portfolio overhaul so totals include the former incarnation of a particular wine (for example: the current Winexpert Reserve Italian Pinot Grigio includes totals from the former Selection Italian Pinot Grigio and Stag’s Leap Merlot includes sales numbers from both the current Winexpert Private Reserve series and the now defunct Eclipse series).
**Total Number of Appearances in the Top Ten Since tracking was started in 2009 (the maximum number of appearances is 12)
“-” Not Ranked That Year
“T” Tied
Points of Interest:
- After some upheaval on the list, the last two to three years has seen the return of some stability as far as which wines are consistently showing up and where.
- Proving it was no fluke, Winexpert Classic Italian Pinot Grigio confidently holds on to its top spot.
- With the 4-5week and 6-8week versions holding down two of the top three spots, Pinot Grigio is far and away our most popular style of wine. This follows trends found in the commercial wine sector as well.
- After dipping for a few years, Luna Rossa climbs back to a familiar place near the top of the chart.
- Stag’s Leap Merlot remains our most crafted red wine. The other reds on the list remain consistent with only one from last year’s top ten falling off (Winexpert Reserve California Enigma).
- Australian Traminer Riesling returns to the top ten with a bullet and providing a suitable replacement for the bumped 6-8week Gewurztraminer. Having flirted with the top sellers list almost on a yearly basis, Traminer Riesling only cracked the chart once before in 2015. It jumped all the way to 5th last year – and for good reason, it’s delicious!
- Our only newcomer this year is Winexpert Classic Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. While the Winexpert Private Reserve Marlborough New Zealand Sauv Blanc remains ever popular, this is the first appearance in the top ten for the 4-5week Sauv Blanc.
- The ratio of of reds to white in the Top Ten flips back again to 6:4.
- Demand for off-dry (or slightly sweet) reds continues with the presence of Diablo Rojo. It’s 6-8 week counterpart Winexpert Reserve California Enigma fell back out of the top ten by just a bit. If you enjoy the style of Apothic Red and Bodacious, these wines are for you. Enigma, in particular, has been reformulated this past year and the tweaks bring it much closer in style to Apothic.
- Private Reserve Reds continue to show strongly year after year. Outside of the Stag’s Leap Merlot, their popularity is split fairly evenly keeping most of them just on the outskirts of the most popular list.
- For anyone wondering, almost every one of our annual LE series wines (white & red) would show up in the yearly top ten. We do not include them because the release of each yearly LE series overlaps two calendar years and they are available by pre-order and while “extra” quantities last only. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend seeing what all the fuss is about. Ask us for details on this year’s LE20 vintages and their availability.
Just Fine Wine aims to provide you with the very best craft winemaking experience each and every time you come through our doors. A major part of achieving that goal is to ensure you are crafting the very best wines available on the market. This is the reason we exclusively use Winexpert products and offer you a 100% satisfaction guarantee on every Winexpert wine kit made on-premise. Just Fine Wine has over eighty Winexpert varietals and styles to choose from, sourced from the finest vineyards around the globe.
With such a vast selection of top quality wines to make, it’s a sizeable task to try them all. Our facebook page is a great place to connect with fellow wine lovers who may want to swap a few bottles or even start a new winemaking partnership/group to share a batch of something new.