Looking back: the best of 2025
Looking out across the vines of Suertes del Marques in Tenerife
It’s a cliché, I know, to reach the end of December and pause – to look back at the last 12 months and consider what the next 12 will hold. It’s even more of a cliché to share such thoughts – but here I am.
Flicking through my Instagram feed, it seems almost everyone is happy to be saying goodbye to the year of the snake. But I’m not one of them: as I scrolled through my phone looking at snaps of the year, I couldn’t help but think how great it was.
In a world where we’re always looking for what’s next, striving for something new, looking back feels indulgent – a luxury that we don’t have time for. But it’s a luxury we all deserve, a chance to review, reflect and appreciate what we’ve got – before hunting once more for what we don’t.
And so, in that spirit… these are just a few of the things I loved in 2025. I finally made it to Copenhagen (and visited more bakeries than most thought possible in three days – find my food-and-wine hit list for the city here) and Edinburgh (oh, Lannan and The Palmerston, you exceeded my extraordinarily high expectations). My annual hot cross bun adventures reached new heights (bring on 2026’s rendition – set to be bigger and better). I started a monthly column in Decanter reviewing wine books up a monthly slot in Decanter reviewing wine books (find all my Decanter features here). I vowed to read 52 books over the year (excluding those reviewed) – and managed to do it. A trip to Tenerife was one of the most exciting of the year – keep your eyes peeled for some writing on that soon. I made my podcast début. There were many brilliant tastings, many brilliant bottles (I’ve picked out my top 10 below), and even more brilliant friends, both old and new.
So, farewell 2025, yes, but bring on 2026: I can’t wait to taste more, read more, learn more, write more – and be better at bringing it all to your inboxes.
The best bottles I tasted in 2025
“Best” is tricky to define when it comes to wine and these aren’t necessarily the smartest, most expensive or sought-after wines that passed my lips. They are, however, the ones that I’ve kept thinking about – wines that surprised or delighted me, wines that I loved and wines that inspired.
1983 Cos d’Estournel in magnum
Late in 2024, I stumbled across a post about some old wine on Facebook Marketplace. It was the cellar from a house clearance sale, and in amongst some wine that should never have been aged were some glorious things. But levels were questionable, in some cases labels were missing or marked and the vintage unknown. Nevertheless, a friend and I took a gamble on a botch lot. We arranged a lunch to uncork a selection of Bordeaux in magnum – and this was the unashamed star, supple and sweet-fruited, alluring in its combination of fruit and savoury complexity, with a depth that spoke of its class.
1999 Rossi’s Chardonnay
From that same selection, there were a whole host of things I thought worth a punt – at worst offering academic interest, I thought. One was a bottle of 1999 Rossi’s Chardonnay from New South Wales. I couldn’t find out anything about it, but cracked it pen with a friend: and boy, did it deliver. I was pretty certain it would be going down the drain, but it had zingy acidity driving through its core and a weight of ripe orchard fruit, verging on the tropical, vibrant yet textured with a honeyed richness. (The Berry Bros. & Rudd own-label 1966 Aloxe-Corton, enjoyed alongside, was also a surprising win!)
2018 CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva
In June, I attended a remarkable tasting of CVNE’s Imperial back to the 1940s – it was a special event and one I wrote about soon after, diving into the wine, its style and evolution over the last century. While of course it was a privilege to taste some of the older vintages, I fell hard for the 2018 – a crystalline, floral and elegant expression of the style. (Another brilliant vertical I attended in 2025 was of Te Mata’s Coleraine and I very nearly put one of those wines in this list – but keep your eyes peeled for a write-up of that soon.)
2022 Trait Chardonnay
Alongside my book coverage for Decanter, I had the chance to put the spotlight on Trait Wines – writing about a Margaret River producer that I’m particularly excited about. I met winemaker Theo years ago when I did a harvest at Pierro, and his project with his wife is one I can’t wait to follow. He managed to get a few bottles over to me, and I have a few more to taste in the coming months – but it’s already clear that you should be paying attention to what they’re doing. Not yet imported into the UK, but find a bottle wherever you can.
The wines of Kamil Barczentewicz
Polish wine, you say? Striking labels (yes, I am a sucker for marketing), a hands-off approach and lighter styles – as well as reasonably priced? It was an instant order from me. Imported by Elevage, I bought a couple of Barczentewicz’s wines from The Wine Society – the 2023 Chardonnay Béton and 2020 Dobre Modre, a Blaufränkisch. Both needed time and air to reveal themselves fully, something that also indicates the ageing potential here, but I was blown away. This is definitely a name to follow.
2022 Bodegas Ponce La Estrecha
Bobal isn’t a grape I taste a lot. It is, however, one of Spain’s most widely planted. Thick-skinned, much of it goes into bright, bold, straightforward wines. But Bodegas Ponce makes wines that shoe a whole different side to the grape – one that I love. La Estrecha is a single parcel of old vines (between 30 and 70 years in age) and they tame the tannins of Bobal to make perfumed and delicate wines. I’ve got to get my hands on more of these in 2026. This was consumed at Lower – my favourite place to drink wine, and one that you must make it to if you haven’t yet been.
2022 Momento Riebeekberg Grenache Noir
I remain obsessed with South African wine and I have followed Momento from afar for too long – and finally got to sit down with winemaker Marelise Niemann this year, to talk about her graceful Grenache. (She was in town partly for the exciting 10-year-on tasting.) This bottle of her 2022 Riebeekberg Grenache was a suitcase import from a friend, one that was the perfect warmup for our conversation and tasting – unfurling over several days to reveal its layers of beauty.
Condrieu (and specifically Georges Vernay’s 2021 Coteau de Vernon)
Cool wine people hate Condrieu. Its flamboyance isn’t deemed chic - and yet its unashamed, overt style and power, as well as its ability to age, are what makes it so great. It’s also hard to get right, especially with the climate’s warmer summers; Viognier needs a careful hand to retain its freshness, the right site to give it a serious, saline, mineral undertone. I spent some time working on a feature, diving into the region – and talking to those that make some of the best wines, as well as tasting them, and it was an utter treat. (Read the resulting feature here.) Vernay’s wines are easily some of the region’s finest, especially from this flagship site. Astounding stuff.
2024 Petit Chablis, Samuel Billaud
Samuel Billaud’s wines are consistently impressive, but when I went to taste his 2024s in the summer I was astounded. The vintage had been so widely panned – long before its release – that the quality on show blew me away. Punishingly tiny volumes were made, suffering from both hail and wet weather that led to mildew issues, but there is a reason that Samuel compares the style to that of 2014. Taut, bright, piercingly mineral in all the right ways: this is proper Chablis. I bought some of the Petit Chablis as soon as I could, a wine that is a real bargain, and especially in this vintage. Get some if you can.
Bodegas Arautava Canary Sack
I already mentioned this year’s very special trip to Tenerife – one that has only made me want to explore the wines of the Canary Islands more. There are almost too many wines to choose from, but Bodegas Arautava was a delight to discover with an array of brilliant wines. They make tiny volumes (50 bottles a year each of the Listán Blanco and Negro) of epic fortified wines, a throwback and tribute to the islands’ history – Canary Sack. These were remarkable. I’m hoping to see some of their wines landing in the UK soon. Watch this space.
