Five unexpected stars of DWWA 2026: The regions and grapes to watch

With nearly 17,000 wines judged blind from 58 countries, Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) is, on one level, a roll-call of the usual greats. France, Italy and Spain dominate the medal charts every year and 2026 was no exception.

But the real thrill of the world’s largest wine competition lies in its margins: the grape you can’t pronounce, the region you couldn’t place on a map, the style nobody expected to triumph.

Every wine is judged blind within its own flight, grouped by country, region, colour, variety, style, vintage and price point, then measured against the very best examples of its type from around the world. It is within that rigorous structure that a handful of wines from unexpected places manage, every year, to seize the moment. Here are five of the most exciting discoveries from the 2026 results.

1. Hungary’s hue of red

Hungary is a country that many oenophiles file under sweet wine, and with reason: the honeyed Tokaji Aszú remains one of the world’s great dessert wines and it duly delivered the country a Best in Show this year. But the more surprising story was a red.

For the first time, Hungary earned a Platinum for a red wine: Heumann’s La Trinità, Villány 2019, a 100% Cabernet Franc, part of a banner haul of eight Platinums, up from three last year. It was a wine that turned heads in the judging room.

Dr Caroline Gilby, a Master of Wine who has followed Central and Eastern Europe for decades and was the Regional Chair for the Balkans, Central & Eastern Europe, and Croatia & Slovenia this year, picked out ‘a superb Hungarian Cabernet Franc’ among her personal highlights of the competition. A grape most drinkers associate with the Loire and Bordeaux is finding a second home on the Pannonian plain.

2. Brazil’s breakthrough

Brazil had the best year in its DWWA history, with record numbers of both Gold and Silver medals. More striking than the count, though, was the spectrum.

A first-ever Gold went to a sparkling Moscato, Vinícola Salton’s Ouro Moscatel NV, a gently sweet aromatic style that plays directly to Brazil’s strengths, while another broke new ground for a red, Casa Geraldo’s Signature Cabernet Franc, Serra da Mantiqueira 2023.

The country’s reds caught the judges’ attention too. Paz Levinson, the acclaimed Argentine sommelier and Regional Chair for Argentina and the Rest of South America (except Chile), was struck by the leap in quality:

One Brazilian Tannat, she added, was an outright ‘wow moment’. A wine industry long overshadowed by its neighbours is finding its own voice and coming up roses.

3. Žilavka, and the rise of the Balkans

Some of the most thrilling discoveries at DWWA come from grapes you have never heard of.

Bosnia and Herzegovina turned in its best-ever Gold performance this year, led by its indigenous white Žilavka. Vino Milas’s Žilavka, Mostarsko Vinogorje 2024 earned a 96-point Gold, a remarkable score for a variety almost unknown outside the western Balkans.

It is part of a wider regional surge. ‘Bosnia & Herzegovina had a couple of really exciting flights, far more top medals than I recall previously,’ noted Dr Caroline Gilby MW, who also pointed to neighbouring Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia as ‘real hotspots of exciting wines’.

Her advice to drinkers doubles neatly as the spirit of this whole list: ‘Be brave and go off the beaten track.’ These are not always the cheapest bottles on the shelf, but they offer true character for the price and the chance to taste something nobody else at the table will recognise.

4. The orange wave

Skin-contact white wines, left to ferment on their skins to take on colour, texture and grip, have travelled from natural-wine curiosity to a category in their own right and the 2026 results confirm it.

Georgia, the spiritual home of the style, where wine has been made this way in buried clay qvevri for millennia, led the way with 28 orange wines awarded, including two Golds.

But the more telling story was how far the style has spread. Oregon earned a first-ever orange-wine Gold for bhn’s amphora-matured Riesling 2023 and Argentina took its first for a skin-contact Torrontés.

From the Caucasus to the Pacific Northwest to the foothills of the Andes, orange wine is no longer a novelty act. It is a global movement, and one well worth exploring.

5. Pico: A wine from the volcano

For a final discovery, few places are more improbable than Pico. On this tiny volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic, part of Portugal‘s Azores, vines are grown in thousands of small enclosures of black basalt, hand-built over centuries to shelter the fruit from salt wind and ocean storms. The landscape is so unique that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This year, Pico earned its first-ever DWWA Gold for Tarelo’s Monumental 2018, a wine made from 100% Arinto, a salty, mineral, sea-sprayed white that could come from nowhere else on earth.

It is the perfect note to end on, a reminder that some of the world’s most distinctive wines come from its most unlikely corners, and that the map of fine wine is still being redrawn, one surprise at a time.

The unexpected stars of DWWA 2026

Hungary

Heumann, La Trinità, Villány, Dél-Pannónia 2019
Platinum, 97 points
Distinctive red cherries and raspberries sit alongside attractive herbal notes, adding layers of complexity. Judicious oak gives structure and depth, with shapely tannins and juicy acidity bringing vibrance. Ageing beautifully, with more to come. Alcohol 14.5%

Kővilla, Syrah, Villány, Dél-Pannónia 2024
Top Value Gold, 95 points
Spicy blackcurrant, smoky blueberry and damson are lent extra complexity with violet florals and a minty zing. Fulsome and firm, concentrated and impressively long. Alc 15.5%

Brazil

Casa Geraldo, Signature Cabernet Franc, Serra da Mantiqueira 2023
Gold, 95 points
Black cherry, blueberry, plum and fresh herb aromas sit within a mineral structure, with gravelly tannins, plump acidity and intriguing balsamic complexity. Alc 14.3%

São Patricio, Udu De Coroa Azul Grande Reserva Cabernet Franc, Vale do São Patrício 2023
Gold, 95 points
Fresh menthol leaf and violet florality seeps into sage and thyme perfume, conjoining with the crunchy bramble fruit base, bolstered by nervy acidity and graphite tannins. Alc 14.2%

Vinícola Salton, Ouro Moscatel, Serra Gaúcha NV
Gold, 95 points
Gloriously fresh lychee, grape and jasmine florals introduce an appealing sweetness, balanced by sustaining acidity that adds dimension and calibre. Very well-defined, articulate and lengthy. Alc 7.5%

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vino Milas, Žilavka, Mostarsko Vinogorje 2024
Gold, 96 points
Bursting with honeyed peaches, nectarines and yellow plums, layered over a waxy texture and lime pith acidity. Striking mineral energy carries through the long finish. Alc 13.5%

Vinogradi Nuić, Žilavka, Mostarsko Vinogorje 2025
Value Gold, 95 points
Impeccable aromas of apple blossom, white peach and melon with a rush of saline and citrus freshness on the palate. Vibrant and precise with a stony finish. Alc 13.5%

Orange Wines

bhn, Riesling, Oregon 2023
Gold, 95 pointsA compelling style, layered with oolong tea, saffron, ginger and floral nuance over subtle oxidative depth. The result is an evolving aromatic spectrum with savoury poise. Alc 15.5%

Susana Balbo, Blanco De Raiz Skin Contact, Paraje Altamira, Mendoza, Argentina 2024
Gold, 95 points
Sensational stone fruit, lychee and turmeric nose with hints of bitter citrus bringing complexity to the palate. Unique and focused with a textured saffron length. Alc 13.5%

Portugal

Tarelo, Monumental, Pico 2018
Gold, 95 points
A deep dive into dried mango, honeyed ginger and layers of nuts. Bold and smoky, with garrigue freshness to the acidity and a smooth finish. Alc 12%

Tarelo, Arinto-Verdelho, Pico 2019
Silver, 91 points
Orange, seaweed and white flower bring savoury complexity, followed by salty peach, grilled nuts and a long, saline finish. Alc 12%