Our Top 100 Wines of Chile 2025 waves the flag for the country’s evolving premium wine sector and highlights the extreme boundaries that winemakers have been exploring within the challenging yet rewarding terroirs found here.

Although cabernet sauvignon, Bordeaux blends and carmenere have long dominated our Top 100 Wines of Chile list, this year marks a shift toward greater diversity at the pinnacle of the rankings, underscored by an exciting array of premium white wines as well as outstanding expressions from Rhone varieties, some carignans and a few other Mediterranean grapes. We whittled our Top 100 down from the 1,300 wines we rated from Chile over the past year, including wines we reviewed during a two-week sojourn to the country in April, when we visited dozens of producers.

As with all our Top 100 lists this year, quality and value were paramount in ranking Chile's Top 100. Each wine's “wow” factor, along with production volume and availability, were also factors. Some may find the absence of renowned Chilean names at the top of our rankings surprising, but their lofty price tags put them out of reach in several instances. On the other hand, within Chile's premium wine sector, remarkable value exists. This year, we spotlighted wines that scored 96 points or higher but retail for under $60, and also have a distinct sense of place or unique identity.

Among our Top 10 wines, half are whites – an unprecedented development in the history of our Chilean Top 100 lists. These include three chardonnays, one viognier and one sauvignon blanc, signaling the burgeoning quality of white wine production.

Until recently, Chilean white wines mostly told the story of crisp, easy-to-drink sauvignon blancs and round, dependable chardonnays, all representing good value for money and generally well-received on export markets. But today, the country’s winemakers are spending much more time and effort to produce world-class whites with unique identities that are even competing with fine white Burgundies that are three or four times more expensive.

In a nod to this development, we have selected the Tabalí Chardonnay Valle de Limarí Caliza 2023 as our Chilean Wine of the Year for 2025. Crafted by winemaker Felipe Muller and viticulturist Hector Rojas, this exceptional chardonnay embodies the vigneron spirit, showcasing the individuality from a unique coastal-desert climate.

This wine originates from a modest 0.7-hectare site, a lieu-dit called Caliza (“limestone”) that is characterized by the high content of the mineral found. It sits amid a larger 3.7-hectare vineyard in Talinay, a coastal town in the Limarí Valley, that was planted in 2006. The vineyard thrives in its arid, desert-like landscape, benefiting from the cooling effect from the nearby Pacific Ocean, just 12 kilometers away.

The result is a unique chardonnay with a saline touch that illustrates the essence of Chile's coastal desert. Its seamless, fine-boned texture and bright acidity are complemented by distinctive chalky, limey flavors with an intriguing note of crushed shells, inviting anyone who drinks it to appreciate the merits of this unique terroir. While the light salinity of the wine reflects the challenges faced by its growers due to the water stress, it also brings a positive sense of place to the glass.

Tabalí winemaker Felipe Muller explained that before their breakthrough in finding a clean source of underground water for irrigation, the wine was too salty and was previously blended into Tabalí’s broader Vetas Blancas range. Now, however, it’s the restrained salinity that defines the wine and gives it a strong personality – it’s definitely not for those who seek the middle ground in their chardonnay picks.

Two other chardonnays make a repeat from last year’s Top 10. At No. 3, the Errázuriz Chardonnay Aconcagua Costa Las Pizarras 2023 hails from a vineyard rich in schist in the Aconcagua coast, while the Baettig Chardonnay Traiguén Selección de Parcelas Los Primos 2023, in sixth place, comes from the Malleco Valley in the southern region of Traiguen. Both chardonnays deserve recognition as among the country’s finest.

These two wines, sourced from distinctly different regions – one in the north, the other in the south – have been shaped by the warmer 2023, resulting in richer profiles that contrast with the more austere offerings of previous years. The current vintage exhibits a touch more roundness, texture and completeness, moving slightly away from the crunch and chiseled precision often associated with cooler years.

Chile is also well known for churning out refreshing, quantity-driven sauvignon blancs. At their best, these are commendable, crisp wines with prominent gooseberry or guava flavors, made in a direct, simple style and meant for early consumption. But a new wave of premium sauvignon blancs is emerging in Chile, transcending the mundane tropical fruitiness to highlight texture, salinity and mineral qualities tied to specific terroirs.

The Laberinto Sauvignon Blanc Valle de Maule Colbun Trumao Sur 2022 (No. 9) offers a unique take on sauvignon blanc, with a freshness from the Andean foothills where it is grown as well as from the nearby Lake Colbun. This serious rendition, crafted by Rafael Tirado from a special south-facing vineyard with soils rich in volcanic ash, is both sharp and textural – a true gastronomic delight for those who seek savory, mineral and complex sauvignon blancs.

Hints of the Mediterranean are evident in the Top 10 thanks to some of the top carignans we rated. Derek Mossman and his wife, Pilar Miranda, delivered one of their best vintages from their exciting Truquilemu vineyard in Empedrado, Maule. Their Garage Wine Co. Cariñena Empedrado Cru Truquilemu Vineyard Field Blend 2021, our No. 2 Chilean wine, is a “cru” bottling notable for its unique characteristics derived from a triangular block that gives less natural yield. Co-fermented with a touch of syrah and a higher proportion of stems, it is a deep, naturally concentrated and brooding wine that still brims with energy and complexity. Expect flavors of sour black cherries and fresh blueberries, complemented by engaging herbal notes and mineral undertones. It delivers a vivacious and succulent palate representing a radical expression of carignan that marks a step up from their richer, riper 2020 vintage.

Another standout carignan is the No. 14 Carter Mollenhauer Maule Truquilemu Viñedo Truquilemu 2022. This wine offers a more pristine and elegant profile, characterized by radical acidity, low pH and naturally bright, succulent blue fruit flavors. It emerged as one of the major discoveries in our Hong Kong tastings, alongside their soulful cinsault and pais wines, which are all sourced from extremely old vines. Its slightly lower ranking stems from limited production, with only about 2,000 bottles produced, impacting its availability, a factor that this list considers as one of the parameters after quality, value for money and the “wow” factor.

This year’s Top 100 also features the Rhone side of Chile. Leadings the charge among the reds is the Ritual Syrah Valle de Casablanca Alcaparral Block 2022, our No. 5 wine. This syrah exemplifies how Casablanca Valley, with its cool climate, might become a prime location for Rhone-style wines, despite challenges like water stress and leafroll virus. The 2022 vintage stands out as perhaps the best expression yet, signaling a notable improvement in quality.

Lapostolle’s Clos du Lican Apalta Côte de Madame 2024 (No. 10) is a striking viognier paying homage to fine Condrieu, featuring a touch more acidity to balance its lightly waxy mouthfeel. The wine comes from two parcels within the high-elevation Clos du Lican syrah vineyard, which benefits from a slightly cooler microclimate. To maintain both freshness and breadth of complexity, two separate harvests are done. The result is a wine that’s seductively spicy, with floral and honeyed aromas and a palate that combines fragrant freshness with an irresistible lushness. This exceptional viognier will be released in March 2026, through La Place de Bordeaux.

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In the realm of cabernet sauvignon blends, the Los Vascos Valle de Colchagua Le Dix de Los Vascos 2022 stands impressively in seventh place, marked by its depth, complexity and quintessential cabernet character full of paprika and cigar box, which find beautiful integration with the unintrusive oak. With a full body and powdery tannins, it represents one of the finest iterations of Le Dix, benefiting from a balanced, cool 2022, a vintage where some Colchagua wines have outperformed the more elegant and acclaimed 2021, especially where they show more concentration and greater depth without being overly fruity or chewy.

Finally, our top Chilean cabernet sauvignon this year, the Morandé Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Itata Ranquil La Capilla 2021, comes in at No. 8. This exceptional wine is crafted from some of the oldest cabernet vines in Chile, originating from a rare 1.97-hectare plot of bush-vine cabernet on its own roots, planted around 130 years ago in Ranquil, in Chile’s Itata wine region, at very low density. Its unique profile includes savory, balsamic notes with hints of iron and blood orange, setting it apart from more conventional offerings. The tannins are precise and refined, finishing with a persistent, savory aftertaste – likely the result of these ancient vines and quartz-rich granitic soils.

As you explore this list, we encourage you to embrace the quality and exceptional value presented by the new waves and the emerging stars of Chile’s premium wine scene.

– Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team over the past year. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

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