News> TOP 100 Wine of the World... 3rd year in a row!


In 2002, Wine Spectator editors tasted 11,616 new releases, more than in any year previous. Of those, more than 2,000 rated outstanding (at least 90 points on our 100-point scale). This number represents more initial candidates for the Top 100 than ever before. Our final ranking was determined by evaluating each wine on four criteria: quality (as represented by score); value (as reflected by price); availability (measured by case production, or for international wines, by the number of cases imported); and an X-factor we call excitement.

In 2000 and 2001, the Rust en Vrede Estate 1996 (92/100) and 1998 (91/100) made the Top 100 list respectively - making Rust en Vrede the first Estate ever to claim a place in the Top 100 three years in a row.