Britain may not be the first country that comes to mind when you picture an award-winning, globally-renowned vineyard. You probably imagine the dry heat of southern France, rolling Californian hills or misty New Zealand valleys – but it turns out that you don’t need to venture so far to access world-class wine production.
World’s 50 Best Vineyards has just revealed its 2025 list, and two of the entrants are right here in the UK. Created by a panel of industry experts from sommeliers and connoisseurs to tourism boards, hundreds of testimonies and reviews were compiled to determine the final order. There’s no specific set of criteria that judges are looking out for; instead ‘each vote is a nomination for a vineyard experience open to the public that they deem to be truly among the best in the world’. This is the first year the list has been managed by the ‘World’s 50 Best’ brand, so the ranking is bigger and more notable than ever before.
Britain’s top ranking entry was Gusbourne in Kent, which came 28th – a huge jump from last year when it came 50th. The vineyard opened just over 20 years ago hoping to produce world-class sparkling wines, but today is ‘a bucket-list destination’ for oenophiles the world over. During your visit you can sample its wine ‘as part of its on-site tasting menu pairing or within a picnic lunch hamper in the picturesque vineyard’.
West Sussex’s Nyetimber was a brand new entry for this year, debuting at 32nd. It was one of only 11 first-timers on the 2025 list. According to World’s 50 Best Vineyards, Nyetimber has been ‘a driving force behind the burgeoning English sparkling wine sector’ since 1988, and judges were impressed by its ‘idyllic, rural grounds’ and ‘exclusive chef-paired dinners’.
Those aren’t the only British vineyards worth visiting. In fact, Time Out has an entire list of the nation’s top winemakers that you can visit – check out our guide here.
The best vineyard in the world was Vik in the Millahue valley of Chile. The World’s 50 Best panel praised its ‘futuristic architecture, pioneering wines and pristine landscapes’, describing it as a ‘golden place for winemaking’.
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