My Top 15 Wines of 2025: Narrowing Down 649 Tasting Notes Was Nearly Impossible!
Six hundred forty-nine tasting notes.
That is what 2025 looked like in numbers.
Six hundred forty-nine moments.
Six hundred forty-nine bottles opened.
Six hundred forty-nine entries that represent people, places, conversations, generosity, and occasionally disbelief.
Cutting that down to fifteen felt borderline irresponsible.
Four wines from this year now sit in my all-time top ten.
And here is the crazy part.
My first DRC did not make this list.
My first Pétrus did not make this list.
A 2012 Salon at 97 points did not make this list.
A 2008 Krug did not make this list.
That is how absurd this year was.
Also, still not doing Dry January. That tradition remains retired.
Let’s talk about 2025.
THE YEAR THAT RAISED THE BAR
Dio served as co-chair of the 2025 High Museum Wine Auction. Watching her lead that effort was one of the highlights of my year.
I passed WSET Level II in February.
We attended Littorai's 30th anniversary celebration with Ted Lemon guiding us through vintages back to 1997.
We spent a week in Pomerol with the American Friends of Cité du Vin. It remains the greatest wine region trip of my life.
We visited:
Vieux Château Certan
Château Le Pin
Château Séraphine
Château Clinet
Château Petit-Village
Château Beauregard
Château La Fleur-Pétrus
Château Belair-Monange
Château La Conseillante
Château L'Évangile
Château Gazin
Château de Sales
Château Haut-Bailly
And more.
Our group with Édouard Moueix at Château Belair-Monange.
Photo by Alice Vasconcelos (@monbentointerieur_)
Tasting at Château Haut-Bailly with Véronique Sanders
We had dinner in Saint-Émilion that changed my understanding of what old Bordeaux can be.
We dined at Épicure in Paris.
We spent time at MACDONALD in Oakville.
We closed the year honoring friends we lost at our annual New Year’s Eve Wino Fest.
This list is not just about quality.
It is about gravity.
THE LIST
#15 - 1974 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo (96 points)
Found in Milan at Enoteca Cotti.
The owner had acquired it directly from Rinaldi on release. It had never really moved.
We opened it at Lincoln Ristorante during Vinous Icons weekend.
Fifty-one years old. Still ruby. Still vibrant. Duck pasta alongside it.
It reminded me that Barolo ages like myth.
#14 - 2021 Fairest Creature "Sine Fine" Cabernet Sauvignon (97 points)
Poured at our High Museum winemaker dinner featuring Benoit Touquette and Jasmine Hirsch.
Fairest Creature is a collaboration between Touquette, Philippe Melka, and Thomas Rivers Brown.
This bottling was Benoit’s.
After ninety minutes open, it showed balance that felt effortless. Dark fruit. Subtle cedar. Integrated tannins.
Chef Farough Vakili of Le Bon Nosh paired it with strawberry and rhubarb pavlova.
It worked.
It was my wine of the night.
#13 - NV Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único Reserva Especial 2010, 2011, 2012 (2024 Release) (97 points)
At Coque in Madrid, one of the most immersive wine and food experiences we have ever had.
Six rooms. Six stages. Controlled theatrical precision.
The sommelier walked us through the philosophy of Vega-Sicilia’s Reserva Especial. Multi-vintage. Long aging. Deep tradition.
Paired with suckling pig and Sichuan pepper.
It was one of the best wine and food pairings of my life.
#12 - 2011 Château Le Pin (97 points)
My first visit to Le Pin.
Tiny production. Deep gravel soils. A wine Diana Berrouet-Garcia described as perfume.
Decanted two and a half hours.
Violet aromatics. Supple tannins. Length that lingered for nearly a minute.
I finally understood the mystique.
#11 - 1970 Château de Sales (97 points)
Tasted at the estate.
Lunch in the family dining room.
Stories about tapestries hidden during the French Revolution. Stories about financial survival in the 1970s.
The magnum had never left the château.
Brown hue. Fresh mint. A whisper of fruit still alive.
History in liquid form.
The label had fallen off the bottle years ago…
#10 - 2008 Cardinale (97 points)
An intimate dinner at Warhorse’s Arbitrage Room in Atlanta with Christopher Carpenter’s wines.
Anne Cawley surprised us with this mature bottle.
It smelled like old Bordeaux. Still fruit-driven. Fully resolved.
Cheese on the table. Laughter everywhere.
Legendary night.
#9 - 2009 Château Pontet-Canet (97 points)
Opened with Dain in Atlanta.
One hour decant.
Red cherry aromatics that jumped out of the glass.
Grilled Tomahawk ribeye beside it.
Aged Bordeaux still defines structure for me.
#8 - 1985 Oddero Barolo (97 points)
Acquired from Enoteca La Cantina di Gariboldi in Lake Como
Opened at our 13th annual New Year’s Eve Wino Fest.
This gathering carried weight. We honored friends Fred and Howie.
Dried cherry. Singing aromatics after double decant.
Barolo has a way of commanding silence when it shows like this.
#7 - 1995 Joseph Phelps Insignia (97 points)
Also at Wino Fest.
Gary from the Somm Guild brought it.
I caught the last pour.
Chocolate on the nose. Complex aromatics. Fully alive.
The wine was beautiful.
The stories shared that night mattered more.
#6 - 1996 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil (97 points)
From magnum at an intimate Austin Wine & Food Foundation dinner.
Chicken with Chardonnay sabayon.
Perfect acidity. Mineral tension. Layered yeast complexity.
It exceeded expectations, which is saying something for Krug.
#5 - 2022 MACDONALD Cabernet Sauvignon (98 points)
Second visit to MACDONALD in Oakville.
Alex MacDonald walked us through the history. The handshake agreement with Mondavi. The To Kalon name dispute. The Labor Day heat spike in 2022.
Old dry-farmed vines survived.
After two hours open, the wine showed red fruit precision, acid structure, elegance.
Restraint in a difficult vintage.
Integrity in both vineyard and philosophy.
#4 - 2007 Salon Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut (97 points)
BYOB dinner at noreetuh in New York.
Reunion with our Pomerol travel group.
Four Champagnes on the table. This one stood above.
Medium weight. Precision. Perfect balance with mochiko fried chicken.
It reminded me that Champagne is often the quiet assassin at great dinners.
#3 - 1989 Château Beauregard (99 points)
Also at noreetuh.
I brought it because I had just met Vincent Priou in Pomerol.
He told me it was drinking at peak.
He was right.
Double decanted. Fresh. Cassis. Perfect tension between maturity and life.
It stunned the table.
It stunned me.
#2 - 1953 Château Latour Grand Vin (99 points)
Le Jardin in Saint-Émilion.
Eight of us. No formal programming. Just trust in a négociant who spent months sourcing bottles from 1952 to 1998.
The 1953 showed elegance I did not expect from Latour.
Leather. Herbaceous notes. Zero fruit. No tannin.
It improved with the second pour.
I will never forget that table.
#1 - 1952 Château Mouton Rothschild (100 points)
Also at Le Jardin.
The first wine I have ever scored 100 points.
Produced when Mouton was still a Second Growth, decades before its 1973 promotion.
Chocolate. Fresh mint. Faint lingering fruit.
Perfect balance. Endless finish.
I almost cried.
It was not just the wine.
It was the setting. The friendships formed in Pomerol. The quiet realization that you are tasting something that has survived seven decades and still moves you.
That is the summit.
When I scroll through those 649 tasting notes, the scores matter less than the context.
Winemaker dinners in Atlanta.
Vineyard walks in Oakville.
Reunion dinners in New York.
Château lunches in Pomerol.
Quiet toasts to friends we lost.
The Pomerol trip was the best wine region experience of my life.
But the real headline of 2025 was connection.
Wine continues to be the vehicle.
People are the destination.
Here’s to 2026.
More curiosity.
More generosity.
More moments that feel bigger than the bottle.
Cheers.
If you're interested in detailed tasting notes for any of these wines, you can find them on my CellarTracker profile. Cheers!
