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Alsace 2023: Astonishing Whites and Splendid Reds from a Complex Year
France: Alsace, featured
, Apr 2025
Dry, dry, dry. This is how Alsace growers remember the 2023 vintage. Sandy, gravelly sites on the plain suffered and stony slopes struggled, but sites with more water-retentive soils fared much better. In 2023, the Rieslings have concentration, moderate alcohol, ripe acidity and great aging potential. The stylistic spectrum of Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer is as broad and diverse as ever, while Pinot Noir is getting finer and finer.
Southern Italy: Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria & Molise
featured, Italy: Center & South
, Mar 2025
The wines of southern Italy present many challenges for the discerning consumer. While the potential for excellence exists, winemakers often focus on making forward, easy-drinking wines. A number of cultural factors may contribute to this trend, including wineries prioritizing local sales and a general reluctance to embrace innovation. Nonetheless, many exceptional estates are widely deserving of considerable attention.
Strutting Peacocks: Raymond-Lafon 1979-2021
featured, France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured
, Mar 2025
This vertical tasting focused on recent vintages, with several older bottles dating back to the 1979 vintage. Raymond-Lafon can produce exemplary Sauternes that equal the elite.
New Zealand Whites: Never Gonna Give You Up
featured, New Zealand
, Mar 2025
An island nation at the bottom of the earth renowned for its native flightless bird as well as "Flight of the Conchords," New Zealand has made a name for itself around the world for its light-filled interpretations of Sauvignon Blanc. As Marlborough looks back on half a century of Sauvignon, it seems the country has a complicated relationship with its star performer.
Behind the Red Curtain: Penfolds Special Bins from the Vault
featured, Australia Featured, Australia
, Mar 2025
Winemaker trials are key to the pursuit of exceptional wine. Small batches can allow creativity to flourish. The genesis of truly fine wine at Penfolds began in the 1940s with a program of wines that became known as Special Bins. A rare tasting of Penfolds Special Bins stretching back to the 1950s offered a glimpse deep into the historic past and showcased modern Australian benchmarks.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: The Lightness of Being
featured, France: Burgundy
, Mar 2025
I admit I approached the 2022s from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with some trepidation. Given reports of extreme, record-setting warm and dry weather, I feared a repeat of 2020, a year in which the wines were unusually dark and concentrated. Those concerns were quickly allayed as soon as I started tasting the 2022s. The wines are absolutely brilliant. Elegant and poised, the 2022s are not only captivating, but they also offer that most elusive of all qualities in fine wine: the ability to convey the essence of site.
The Murakami Wine: Royal Tokaji Essencia 1993-2017
featured, Hungary, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Mar 2025
If Haruki Murakami’s books featured wine instead of whiskey, the protagonist would drink Tokaji Essencia then suffer an existential crisis, pondering whether it is “wine” at all. Maybe this remarkable vertical tasting of every vintage of Essencia ever produced by Royal Tokaji helps answer that question...
Unearthing Tuscan Gems: Carmignano, Montecucco and Beyond
featured, Italy: Tuscany
, Mar 2025
Tuscany offers a wealth of exceptional wines, from Sangiovese to international varieties, that thrive throughout its lesser-known locations. This report highlights nearly 200 wines, many from emerging terroirs, aiming to uncover hidden gems and showcase the full breadth of Tuscany's winemaking potential.
Rías Baixas & Ribeiro: The Beating Heart of White Wine in Galicia
Spain, featured
, Mar 2025
Located in Northwest Spain, Galicia is home to wines with an Atlantic soul. Among the region’s white wine DOs, Rías Baixas and Ribeiro present contrasting yet equally intriguing styles. From Albariño to Treixadura, the 300 wines reviewed in this report offer a journey through Galicia's diverse terroirs.
2023 Burgenland and Austria’s East: Gorgeous Reds, Aromatic Whites and Killer Sweets
featured, Austria
, Mar 2025
The 2023 growing season kept winemakers in Austria’s east on their toes. Rain that had been so sorely missed in 2022 came in abundance, as did heat. However, a golden autumn ensured long ripening and yielded reds and whites with bright acidity and aromatic nuance. Producers who specialize in nobly sweet wines were able to pick concentrated fruit with super-clean botrytis. What’s more, Austria’s east was spared from frost and hail, as well as from the many flood events that did so much damage throughout Central and Eastern Europe.