Sylvia Wu
Editor Decanter China, and Regional Editor for Asia, Northern & Eastern Europe
As Decanter’s ‘rest of world’ Regional Editor, this year I had the pleasure of visiting some unusual yet fascinating wine regions and discovering the unexpected. In China, during my first return to Ningxia since 2019, my top discovery was Hongsipu, the cool, southernmost sub-region. Winemaker Li Cai’s Qianhongyu Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, from Huida Sunshine Ecological Winery, features bright fruits with an ethereal freshness rarely found in sun-blazed, continental Ningxia. Sadly, Hongsipu is prone to severe spring frosts, and some of Li’s top plots, used for making this wine, have already been wiped out.
Back in Europe, a short trip to the Istria peninsula in the Adriatic brought me to legendary Croatian producer Kozlović. Here we learned how the nuanced expressions of Malvasia Istriana reflect the subtle differences in vintage conditions and terroir. The Santa Lucia 2015 was one of my favourites – the gentle texture and delicately woven flavours remind me of Grace Wine’s Misawa Vineyard Koshu from its high-altitude Akeno site at the foothills of Mount Fuji in Japan. The same could be said for the Domaine Sigalas, Santorini Assyrtiko 2023 (£33.30 Vinvm), which offers a perfume and mellow texture reminiscent of lemon essential oil.
On the sparkling front, this year’s Hungarian Wine Summit took me to the lakeside region of Balaton, where traditional-method sparkers such as Garamvári’s Optimum Brut 2019 shine. Back home, from the unmissable annual WineGB showcase, Ridgeview’s Blanc de Noirs 2015 (£60) and Nyetimber’s 1086 Rosé 2013 (£175) were among my top picks. Both bear witness to how English wines can age gracefully, developing texture and depth while the spine of acidity still points straight at the future.
James Button
Regional Editor, Italy
Sassicaia may be an obvious choice for a wine highlight of the year, but in my opinion the 2021 (£280-£350 Frazier’s, Hedonism, Songbird, The Oxford Wine Co, Valvona & Crolla) really is one of its best-ever vintages: breezy and super-fresh, it dances across the palate effortlessly but has the structural underpinnings for a long and joy-giving life. Il Marroneto’s superb Brunello di Montalcino 2019 (£98-£120 Armit, Averys, Hic, Wine Republic), and its equally spellbinding single-vineyard Madonna delle Grazie 2019 (£389 DBM Wines), are in a similar vein and exemplify the beauty of restrained winemaking from Montalcino’s north slopes.
Meanwhile, Italian importer Vinexus’ annual London-based anteprima tasting of Brunello, Barbaresco and Barolo, conceived by its late owners Nicolas Belfrage MW and Nick Bielak MW, has become an annual pilgrimage to preview more than 100 wines from soon-to-be-released vintages. This year, two wines stood out: Famiglia Anselma’s Le Coste di Monforte Barolo 2021 for its seductive blood orange and cherry perfume, grippy tannins and precise, ferrous palate; and Canalicchio di Sopra’s Vigna Montosoli Brunello di Montalcino 2020, which combines earthy cherry and dark fruits soaked in bitter herbs with beautiful lifted potpourri and sage notes. (Look out for the Brunello di Montalcino 2020 vintage report in our March 2025 issue, which will also cover the 2019 Riservas.)
I visited Etna several times this year; my highlights included Pietradolce’s dark, perfumed and brooding Barbagalli 2019 (£142.40 Armit, Vinvm), Ciro Biondi’s generous, saline and fragrant San Nicolò 2022, Cottanera’s effortlessly classy Etna Bianco 2022 (tasted alongside a 2013 that demonstrated this wine’s graceful ageing arc), Passopisciaro’s unique Franchetti 2022, and Girolamo Russo’s Feudo 2022, which I declared in my notes to be ‘in another league’. And then there’s Sciara’s 1520 Metri 2021, the first vintage from Europe’s highest vineyard, way above the Etna DOC limit. Imagine a punnet of red fruits spilt onto the pavement, wet after the rain, and crushed underfoot. Read more in my Sicily report, available on Decanter Premium. What a year!
Clive Pursehouse
Regional Editor, North America
The afternoon sun on Brashley Vineyards near Philo, Anderson Valley
I followed the Bohemian Highway past Occidental and towards the further reaches of the Sonoma Coast. Where the Russian River spits you out at Jenner, you follow the dizzying curves of Highway 1 north past Fort Ross and Sea Ranch, and eventually you’ll find the lighthouse at Point Arena. You head inland just past Elk along the Navarro river, following 128 into the so-called Deep End of Anderson Valley. The valley sits between steep coastal hills dense with coastal redwoods and Douglas firs, and the rocky, oak-dotted hills of the warmer interior – a sweet spot for wine, and life at a different pace, even for coastal northern California. There’s even a local dialect: Boontling.
At the beginning of autumn, the region’s vintners hosted me for a few days of tasting and vineyard tours. It was still hot, even in the cool, bohemian town of Boonville, but the cool nights and the region’s warm hospitality make me pine to return. My favourites from a comprehensive regional tasting spoke to both its history and its bright future. The Filigreen Farm Pinot Gris 2017 from Smith Story Cellars comes from a biodynamic farm, vineyard and orchard that gives off Eden vibes. It shows a deft approach to winemaking, certainly, but also speaks to the region’s origins and the ageability of the wines. Gorgeous depth, complexity and richness in a variety that’s often dismissed. The Clow Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 from Drew (US$70), which makes wines throughout Mendocino County, comes from the Deep End, where the marine influence is amplified. It balances generous sweet red berries with the region’s signature savoury maritime influence, dried lavender and fir tips. The sparkling wines from Lichen Estate speak to the region’s strength in the style. The Grand Cuvée Late Disgorged 2012 flexes serious muscle; elegance and depth with toasty richness and honeyed fruit – a flashy wine that shows off the wonderful terroir.
Georgie Hindle
Editor, Decanter Premium and Regional Editor for Bordeaux & Burgundy
Being pregnant for half the year (my baby was born on 6 July) and on maternity leave for the other half, tastings were more sparse than usual. Beyond my articles for the annual Bordeaux guide – including the 10-year-on appraisal of the 2014 vintage and assessing the 2010 Médoc grands cru classés – my 2021 in-bottle report (March 2024 issue) and the 2023 en primeur report (June & July 2024), I had the chance to sit down for two fabulous vertical tastings.
The first, with Jean-Baptise Audy, was a rare vertical of Clos du Clocher in Pomerol going back to 1947, in celebration of 100 years of family ownership in 2024. Wines from nine decades were tasted and discussed, charting the evolution of style, viticulture and vinification over the years. From weathering the 1956 frost, in which almost all of the vineyard was destroyed (some original vines remain from the 1920s), to different family members at the helm, the tasting was a reminder of how well Bordeaux wines can age, the power of Pomerol’s plateau terroir and just what it means to continue a legacy passed down from generation to generation. Highlights included the incredibly vibrant, subtly excellent, super-charming and certainly not past-it 1947, the fresh, perfumed and complex 1989 and the outstanding 2016. The 2005 or 1985 would be great to open for Christmas Day!
The other was with Henri Lurton, owner and winemaker at Château Brane Cantenac, and covered the last 20 years of the Margaux second growth. It’s hardly an unknown estate, but is one that’s enjoying its time in the spotlight of late as one of the appellation’s most exciting wineries. While it understandably excels in the best years – 2005, 2010, 2016 and 2020 – it has remarkable consistency over time, producing eminently drinkable wines in 2008, ’13 and ’14. One to open, drink and enjoy today: the 2006 (£71-£85 Balthazar, Four Walls, Hedonism).
Julie Sheppard
Spirits Editor, and Regional Editor for Australia, New Zealand & South Africa
In my first year as Regional Editor for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it has been an equal joy to taste with winemakers from established producers who’ve been on my radar for years, and to discover new gems. In the former camp, highlights included the latest (2023) vintage of Hamilton Russell’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Hemel-en-Aarde in South Africa and a memorable vertical of Chardonnays from New Zealand’s Kumeu River. Including vintages of the Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay stretching back to 2002, the tasting with Paul Brajkovich celebrated 80 years of the Brajkovich family in Kumeu. There were more anniversary celebrations: Australia’s oldest family-owned winery Yalumba notched up 175 years and shared some stellar back vintages – including a 1974 FDR – as well as the latest releases from its Museum Collection in a London tasting with winemaker and head of sustainability Louisa Rose.
My new discoveries highlighted some of the experimentation that’s shaping the exciting wine scene in the southern hemisphere at the moment, as wine-growers explore new styles, regions and varieties or create beautiful bottlings from cherished old vines. Take the Holism, Palomino 2021 (£25-£26 Hay Wines, Roberts & Speight, The Dorset Wine Co, Wines with Attitude), from dry-farmed vines planted in 1964 by Rudiger Gretschel in rugged Piekenierskloof in the Western Cape, South Africa. Or bottles I tried on my recent trip to Australia, where Italian and Portuguese varieties are gaining ground. A few stars among many include LAS Vino’s Pirate Blend 2022, a combination of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao and Souzao from Margaret River; Gentle Folk, Sangiovese 2023 from Charleston in the Adelaide Hills; and Delinquente Wine Co, Weeping Juan Pink Pet Nat 2024 (2023, £19-£21.95 Forest Wines, Seven Cellars, The Sourcing Table), a zippy blend of Nero d’Avola and Vermentino from the Riverland.
Natalie Earl
Regional Editor, France (excluding Bordeaux)
Some of the most interesting, jarring, saddening, vexing, uplifting and inspirational things I’ve learned this year have come from research for my new monthly column about sustainability in wine, ‘The ethical drinker’ (see p110). It’s a tough topic to delve into and has its highs and lows. From Krug’s new Exceptional High Environmental Quality-certified winery; many conversations about worms and soil; wines made from disease-resistant hybrid grapes available in UK supermarkets (Tesco Finest Floréal white, £8); a bottle-reuse scheme that collects empties from London bars and restaurants and cleans and distributes them to small vineyards in the UK (Wines Under the Bonnet); cork recycling schemes (Waitrose); retailers helping to fund wineries’ sustainability initiatives, such as organic conversion (Newcomer Wines) or tree and hedgerow planting (The Wine Society); to the other end of the spectrum, with producers insisting that a heavy bottle indicates quality (news flash: categorically untrue) and an invitation from a prominent organic Provence winery for lunch at the estate via private jet (needless to say, I declined – and was shocked to have to explain why).
To some readers, it may seem as though a lot of wine discourse nowadays ends up on climate change. Visiting winemakers and seeing the impact on their land and livelihoods, it’s easy to understand why. It’s impossible, and in some ways does a disservice, not to write about it, to bear witness, to read about and listen to the struggles, innovations and triumphs, because that’s the reality and that’s where the stories arise. ‘A real change of mindset, culture and methods is necessary if we’re to have a sustainable future in the drinks trade,’ said Jancis Robinson MW during a keynote speech at the inaugural Sustainability in Drinks conference in London in October, adding: ‘The approach needs to be holistic, and if we can all aim in the same direction together, we’ll accelerate the changes needed.’
Collective action pushes progress much quicker than one person shouting into a void.
Ines Salpico
Regional Editor for Spain, Portugal & South America
Ines at Ode Winery in Tejo, Portugal, with Jim Cawood and Maria Vicente, general manager and winemaker
What a year this has been! In a way – with the matter of who will be the new tenant at the White House finally settled – it merely served as the prelude for further turbulence. Farming has – along with reproductive rights, energy, healthcare and education – been dangerously appropriated, on both sides of the Atlantic, by the kind of campaign trail rhetoric that has led us all down a very messy path.
As my dear friend and winemaker extraordinaire Tiago Teles eloquently put it during the Lisboa masterclass I hosted in April at this year’s edition of the Real Wine Fair: ‘What we do is, inevitably, political, and it makes us part of a big, important network that needs to stand up for sustainability (environmental and social) and for a sense of community.’ This is the thread that connects all of the wines and projects that stood out for me in 2024: socio-economic power alongside winemaking craftsmanship and poetic meaning.
From Portugal, in addition to Teles, I could mention Constantino Ramos (Vinho Verde), Ode (Tejo) or XXVI Talhas (Alentejo). In Spain, the relentless focus of Comando G (profiled in our annual Spain guide with the November issue) is always a source of inspiration. It was also fascinating to discover the transformative power of the Ribera del Duero projects – such as Magna Vides, Bendito Destino, Quinta Milú and Dominio del Aguila – featured in our September issue. In Argentina and Chile, the energy is of similar talent and commitment, stirred by projects such as Edy del Pópolo’s PerSe (Uco Valley, Mendoza), Sebastián Zuccardi’s Cara Sur (Calingasta Valley, San Juan) or Marcelo Retamal’s RETA (Limarí and Maule valleys).
The work these producers do is the opposite of rhetoric: they keep their land productive and meaningfully employ scores of people while producing outstanding wines that tell important stories and are pure pleasure to drink – because satisfaction and purpose have never been so political.
