Anne Krebiehl MW
Wine highlights 2024
In 2024, there’s one wine that is utterly memorable – because it was the fizz we toasted our wedding with: Silverthorn, The Green Man Cap Classique 2021 (£24.25 Carte-du-Vin). My South Africa-born husband and I visited the wine farm and this exquisitely cool, luminous and creamy blanc de blancs was just perfect, as all the pre-wedding tension melted away. With happy tears still in my eyes and rose petals in my hair, this wine just hit the spot. Rarely has a glass of wine tasted so good. We had many more fabulous wines later, but none had quite the same impact.
Wine wishes 2025
In 2025, I hope to visit more producers closer to home, namely in southern England. Work meant that my focus has been very much on the Continent and I feel I’ve slightly lost track of all the exciting developments over here. There are so many new projects and producers, I really feel I have to catch up. Of course, I’m very drawn to the sparkling wines, but I’m also looking forward to exploring more English Pinot Noir.
Jonathan Cristaldi
Wine highlights 2024
One of my first tastings in 2024 was with Donelan Family Wines at their tasting room in Santa Rosa, California, with founder Joe Donelan, son Cushing and winemaker David Milner. Their Judge Vineyard Syrah 2021 (US$80) from Bennett Valley is a wine I can’t get out of my mind – it’s one of the most complex Syrahs from California I have ever tasted.
A few months later, I was in Italy being hosted by Natale Simonetta and his family at Cascina Baricchi in the Langhe. Natale opened a Barbaresco Riserva 2004 and as I prepared to take notes, he stopped me. ‘No work today, just drink and enjoy this,’ he said. It was such a gorgeous wine, supremely elegant and layered. Much later, back in California, I paid my first visit to Dunn Vineyards to taste several vintages of their Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignons. Interestingly, the 2019 releases (£133.33 in bond, Berry Bros & Rudd), which are medium-bodied, mineral-intense and energetic, left me thinking about Barolo.
Wine wishes 2025
As I plot out 2025, I’m aiming to cover even more ground in Napa Valley, Sonoma and Santa Barbara, and also plan to visit up-and-coming American wine regions in Texas and Michigan to understand how climate change is affecting growing conditions. A trip across the pond to Bordeaux is in my sights as well – because we always need to taste the benchmarks.
Jonathan Cristaldi with Natale Simonetta, Cascina Baricchi
Tom Hewson
Wine highlights 2024
Every time I visited Champagne in spring, the sun shone. ‘I’ve brought the English weather,’ I joked to the winemakers. By early summer, the charm wore off; 2024 was an onslaught, from the moment I heard hail clattering down onto the roof of an ancient Renault taxi hurtling through Aÿ to the sight of vineyards stripped bare of grapes by downy mildew in the Aube. Beyond a slew of top 2012s, tasting Louis Roederer’s upcoming Cristal 2016 – a year that 2024 has, in some ways, recalled – in Reims with chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon was a reminder of just how fantastic the wines from difficult years can be.
Wine wishes 2025
As I head over in the spring to taste the vins clairs (the still base wines that will be blended into Champagnes), there’s optimism that 2024 may eventually be remembered for the right reasons in the region’s north, at least. The producers of the Aube might disagree – but despite this, I’m immensely excited about bringing their less-understood region to light for a major Decanter report in the spring. There are more hectares of vineyard here than in the Côte des Blancs, yet even the most hardened Champagne fans usually struggle to name more than a couple of villages or producers. It’s high time to change that.
Michaela Morris
Wine highlights 2024
My favourite commission this year was a piece on Barolo in the Noughties. As research, I enticed close friends to share wines from their…
Source : https://www.decanter.com.master.public.keystone-prod-eks-euw1.futureplc.engineering/magazine/wine-highlights-and-wishes-looking-back-looking-ahead-545026/
