Torres named World's Most Admired Wine Brand

Torres has retained its title of the World’s Most Admired Wine Brand for 2015.

The family owned brand fought off new competition this year from fellow Spanish brand Vega Sicilia, which jumped eight places to second in Drinks International’s annual poll.

More than 200 of the world’s top masters of wine, sommeliers, educators and journalists took part in the annual poll, which pits wine brands from all regions, styles and qualities against each other.

For the digital magazine click here and for more on the methodology scroll down to How We Did It.

In third to fifth were Australian brand Penfolds, up two this year, New Zealand’s Villa Maria, a re-entry to the list, and the French Château d'Yquem, which gained a place.

Concha y Toro’s Casillero del Diablo slid four places and now resides at number six.

The Chilean company’s Cono Sur brand finished tenth, making it the only company to possess two top 10 admired wine brands.

Ridge from the US and French brands Margaux and Guigal all displayed staying power and kept hold of top 10 positions. 

Seven brands lost a foothold in the 2015 list, while Villa Maria, Brancott Estate, Duboeuf, Lindemans, Felix Solis, Woodbridge and Fetzer, who all returned.

Holly Motion, editor of the World’s Most Admired Wine Brands said: “With no debutants in the top 50 this year it would appear the Academy is no longer turning to new brands, but rather drawing from a pool of established names that have proven themselves to be consistent, respected global leaders.

“When branding relies so heavily on reassurance it is an even greater achievement to not only appear in this list but keep hold of a position in it.” 

 

How we did it

Admired Wines has grown. Year on year the report has sought to improve and expand and this year is no different.

However, improvement and expansion has not been as dramatic as seen in 2014.

The Academy of masters of wine, sommeliers, educators and journalists has increased slightly to 202 and the number of winning winemakers recognising Most Admired Wine Brands in their marketing has increased exponentially. 

The voting criteria and methodology are unchanged. Once again academy members had three choices and were provided with a list of previous winners and other well-known brands.

Should their admired brands fail to appear in the list, the members put forward their own for inclusion.

They were also able to give reasons for their choices or remain anonymous if they wished. 

The list shows a diversity of styles as Academy members were asked to base their three votes on the following criteria: 

  •  The wine should be of consistent or improving quality 
  •  It should reflect its region or country of origin 
  •  It should respond to the needs and tastes of its target audience 
  •  It should be well marketed and packaged
  •  It should have strong appeal to a wide demographic 

In the case of a tie, a small jury of key voters was assembled to decide final positions, but it should be known this did not affect any of the top 10 brands.