4 Top COLLECTIBLE WINES to Buy in 2026!

In this video, I'm going to reveal some of my favorite collectible wines that are available in the market today. Located in Saint-Julian on Bordeaux's left bank, L'Éville Poivre is a second growth in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux. In the late 1970s, they embarked on an ambitious 19-year replanting program in their vineyard. Among other things, they gradually replanted their vineyard and also greatly expanded the size of it. Once they were finished, the vineyard was nearly double the size at around 80 hectares. Within the past two decades, they have also completely renovated their winery. These investments have paid handsome dividends, and quality at L'Éville Poivre has never been higher. One of my favorite all-time vintages of L'Éville Poivre is the 2009 vintage. That's a vintage that received a couple perfect 100 point scores, and it's long been one of my favorites. But recently, I had the chance to sit down and try the 2022 vintage, and I think that this highly acclaimed wine rivals or compares very favorably to the epic 2009 vintage. The 2022 L'Éville Poivre received a perfect 100 point score from Jeb Dunick, and a 99 point score from James Suckling. Everyone sitting around at the table enjoying this wine thought that Mr. Suckling was definitely too conservative, and that it deserved a higher score than 99. This wine is a blend that consists of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 4% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. They matured this wine for 18 months in 75% New Oak. Despite its youth, this wine is opulent, flamboyant, and already extremely enjoyable. Descriptors include blackcurrant, graphite, forest floor, cedar, floral notes, and mixed spice. There's refined tannins and an incredibly long finish. This wine is an absolute no-brainer, particularly given how enjoyable it is young, but it certainly has a long life ahead of it as well. I've seen this wine selling for as little as $115 per bottle in the United States, but definitely shop around, as some places sell it for much more than that. Heitz is an iconic historic Napa Valley producer that was founded back in the early 1960s. It's perhaps most famous for its iconic Martha's Vineyard bottling, but they also make an outstanding Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I just tasted this wine at the winery a couple days ago, and it was extremely impressive, so much so that I picked some up from my cellar. The 2021 Vintage is their current release because they matured a little bit longer, two years in Oak, and then another couple years in the bottle before they finally release it. This wine is made from some of their single vineyard fruit that did not make it into their single vineyard bottlings, so this wine does include some fruit from Martha's Vineyard, Trailside, and more. Another thing I like about this wine is that the alcohol by volume is extremely reasonable, only 13.5%. This wine was extremely well received by critics, and even received a 99 point score from Decanter. This is wine that's already showing well, but will cruise your cellar for 15-20 years or more. Better still, this wine is a tremendous value that sells for as little as $65. Cheval des Indes represents a remarkable fusion between Bordeaux heritage and Andean terroir. Conceived as a grand cru of the Andes, it unites the winemaking expertise of legendary right bank Bordeaux producer Chateau Cheval Blanc with the mountain terroir of Terrazas de los Andes in Mendoza. The inspiration was to craft a wine using fruit from ungrafted Malbec vines planted at high elevation in the Andes foothills. Much of the fruit comes from the historic Las Compuertas vineyard that was planted way back in 1929. The fruit from these old vines adds remarkable depth and authenticity of character. In most vintages, the fruit will be a blend of around 50% Malbec and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2022, however, they used a higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, right around two-thirds or so, because in that vintage Cabernet Sauvignon performed better. In some vintages, they may add a little bit of Tiber d'Eau as well. I recently attended a master class for Cheval des Indes, and I learned that the key to creating truly elite wines that rely heavily on Malbec is to make sure that you aggressively control the yields for Malbec. Without yield control, you can get some wines that are a little bit uninspiring and that lack concentration and intensity. But that's certainly not the case with this wine, particularly in 2022. This is an intensely concentrated, powerful wine, but one that also has extremely refined and polished tannins. While I enjoyed all four vintages of Cheval des Indes that we tried at the recent master class, in my view, the 2022 was definitely the standout of that quartet. This highly acclaimed wine features flavors and aromas that include mixed red, blue, and black fruit, mixed spice, menthol, and an intriguing floral note as well. This wine has a long, complex finish and refined, polished tannins. This is wine that will cruise in your cellar for 12 to 15 years or more, and it's definitely one that I hope to revisit down the road. While the price for this wine has been creeping up in recent years, quality for this wine has been improving even faster. In fact, in my opinion, the quality of this wine compares extremely favorably to many of the Bordeaux blends from South America that you'll see selling for around $150 or so per bottle. So certainly from that standpoint, this wine represents extreme relative value. Next up is a wine that I tried for the first time about five months ago when I visited Riojas, Spain. This is wine that comes from a historic producer that was founded back in 1879. Despite this producer's long history, in my view, production quality has never been higher than some of the wines they've been producing in the past 10 or 15 years. This is Campaña Vinícola del Norte de España, or CV&E for short. So the next top collectible wine is the CV&E La Virgen, aka Pagos de Viña Real. This wine is 100% Tempranillo. The fruit for this wine comes from a very special, small two-hectare plot that's located in Rioja Eleveza. This small parcel is called La Virgen, and there's vines that average an impressive 40 years in this plot. The conditions at La Virgen are ideal for the production of world-class Tempranillo due to the soil conditions, the sun exposure, and the temperatures. These conditions combine to allow the Tempranillo to ripen gradually and slowly over an extended growing season. That helps to preserve freshness and acidity in the fruit, and to ensure consistent ripening year after year. For that reason, I'm not too concerned about specific vintage recommendations for this wine, although I did enjoy the 2020 vintage when I was at the winery. This wine matures for around 12 months in oak, and I found the purity of fruit to be impressive. There were flavors and aromas that included black fruit, anise, cedar, and cloves. This is wine you should be able to find for around $80 to $90 per bottle. Rioja is absolutely one of the very best sources in the world for collectible wines that offer compelling value. Following my visit, I did a detailed deep dive into Rioja and also covered a number of top collectible wines that I recommend. To learn more, please be sure to watch this video that's linked above.