Best Old Vintage Awards: Terre de Vins reveals the top 20 of its second edition

What happened

Terre de Vins has unveiled the top 20 results of the second edition of the Best Old Vintage Awards, a blind tasting competition dedicated to aged champagne. The event took place at restaurant l'Arbane in Reims, where an international jury of champagne specialists evaluated bottles from three celebrated vintages: 1995, 1996, and 1998. Thirty-two domaines submitted their wines to the competition, with rankings determined entirely through blind assessment.

Why it matters

The Best Old Vintage Awards occupies a distinctive position in the champagne calendar. By focusing exclusively on mature vintages and insisting upon blind conditions, the competition removes the influence of reputation and label recognition from the judging process. For a category as nuanced as aged champagne — where provenance, storage history, and time in bottle all bear upon the final result — this rigour lends the rankings particular authority. The results offer a meaningful indication of which producers and which years are sustaining their quality over the long term, information of direct relevance to collectors and those active in the secondary market.

Context

The three vintages at the heart of this edition are widely regarded as among the most significant of the 1990s in Champagne. The competition's blind format, adjudicated by international specialists rather than a single national panel, reflects a growing appetite within the fine wine world for transparent, methodology-driven evaluation of older bottles. Now in only its second edition, the Best Old Vintage Awards is establishing itself as a reference point for the assessment of aged champagne, with participation from 32 domaines demonstrating the competition's reach across the appellation. The announcement of the top 20 was made by Terre de Vins on 5 October 2026.