If there is one thing to hold onto in this crazy, changing world, it’s that there is always a new bottle of wine to taste, a new restaurant to check out, a new wine region to explore or a new recipe to try. While 2025 was a year of change and turmoil for many, that also meant it was a year of “new”—new projects at landmark wineries, new faces at beloved restaurants, new energy put into previously underappreciated products, markets and destinations. Wine Spectator’s top features of 2025 highlight the topics that marked the year. Read on to see which stories got our readers’ attention in 2025!
Top Restaurant Stories
This year proved to be a dynamic one for restaurants, packed with exciting openings demonstrating renewed attention towards the creation of world-class wine collections. Wine Spectator recognized three new Grand Award winners in 2025—each boasting impressive wine lists, exceptional wine service and deep cellars—along with more than 3,800 other Restaurant Award winners around the globe. We highlighted 11 of those restaurants on our Rising Stars list, recognizing a diverse set of spots that elevated the quality of their wine programs in 2025. And our new interactive list of all 97 of our current Grand Award holders allows you to track which you’ve visited and which are on your bucket list!
We did lose one longtime Grand Award winner, when Tribeca Grill in New York City announced its closure on March 1, shocking the wine lovers and wine-industry stars who long patronized the restaurant for its collection of aged wines at reasonable prices. Owned by restaurateur Drew Neiporent and actor Robert De Niro, the temple to Rhône wines had shaped the Tribeca neighborhood for 34 years and attracted celebrities from film, music and sports. Beloved wine director David Gordon helped mint many in the new generation of leading sommeliers.
Over in Napa Valley, luxury resort and restaurant Auberge du Soleil welcomed new wine director Katharina Marrapode, who shared with Wine Spectator how she is engaging with younger wine lovers at the long-running Best of Award of Excellence winner.
For those who enjoy planning their travel around where they are going to eat and drink, we updated our list of Dream Dining Destinations in the U.S. for Wine Lovers, offering top-notch cellars and rare wines, adventurous gastronomy, impeccable service and jaw-dropping surroundings ranging from the Smoky Mountains to a historic Manhattan Art Deco building to the heart of Napa wine country. Explore more from our Restaurant Award winners!
For restaurant opening news and features on restaurants with exciting wine lists, subscribe to our twice-monthly Private Guide to Dining newsletter.
Top Sommelier Roundtables
Restaurant Award–winning sommeliers love to uncover hidden gems to make their wine lists stand out, so we asked them to share some of their favorite finds of 2025. Some were hiding in plain sight, like their suggestions for 13 top wines to buy at the supermarket, from Provence rosés to affordable, entry-level Burgundies. Value picks were what readers wanted most; while any somm can recommend an outstanding bottle that costs three figures, it takes real pros to come up with interesting, excellent, crowd-pleasing bottles for Thanksgiving under $30 and to unbox what’s worthwhile among box wines.
Even when people aren’t spending big, they still love stories about costly bottles, so sommeliers spilled about the most expensive wines they ever sold—with at least one reaching six figures! And in their search for wine treasures, somms also traveled through many up-and-coming wine regions worthy of an entire vacation trip, from the Jura in eastern France to Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe. See more sommelier recommendations and tips!
Wine Experience Favorites
This October, thousands of wine lovers from around the world gathered for Wine Spectator’s 44th New York Wine Experience. While guests got to experience pinch-me verticals of Château Cheval-Blanc and Opus One, readers who couldn’t make it to the weekend event still enjoyed the wisdom of the winemakers and winery owners who graced the stage. Quintessa’s Rebekah Wineburg shared the philosophy behind the sustainability-focused Napa winery and its stunning Illumination Sauvignon Blanc, while South African billionaire and Anthoij Rupert Wynes owner Johann Rupert imparted lessons on wine and business. And Seghesio winemaker Andy Robinson presented the Top Wine Value of the Year, explaining how the Sonoma County winery was able to make an outstanding, easy-to-find Zinfandel for under $30. Explore more from this year’s Wine Experience!
Top Recipes & Wine Pairings
Wine and food go hand-in-hand, and many readers wanted guidance on how to find enjoyable pairings with some of their favorite dishes, from a juicy and creamy Caprese salad to different preparations of rack of lamb, both covered in our popular “Which Wines Pair Well With …” series.
Readers also wanted to enjoy easy-to-make weeknight meals with wine, turning to our 8 & $20 recipes, based on common pantry items and no more than eight other ingredients, paired with wines for $20 or less. The 2025 favorite was the one-pan, 30-minute, all-in-one dinner of crispy gnocchi, mushrooms, sausage and arugula, paired with a juicy Pinot Noir. Get more dinner inspiration here!
For more wine-and-food pairing tips, easy weeknight recipes and dining tips from world-class chefs, subscribe to our weekly Sips & Tips newsletter.
James Molesworth’s Winery Intels
As senior editor James Molesworth headed out into the vineyards and cellars of California and Bordeaux, he brought us back his winery intel, highlighting boundary-pushing wineries, new faces at established players, cutting-edge winegrowing practices, notable upcoming releases to watch and insights into how leading wines are aging. California Cabernet comeback stories seized readers’ attention in particular, as Molesworth made the case that Farella is one of Napa’s best old-school Cabernet values and that it’s time to revisit Nickel & Nickel in Napa, where winemaker Joe Harden is hitting his stride with changes to the lineup of single-vineyard Cabs. And he reported on the massive makeover underway at Spring Mountain Vineyard, which had been devastated by the 2020 wildfires; there, 200 acres of vines are being replanted in a demonstration of how California wineries are preparing for a changed future. Dive into our full archive of Winery Intels!
Robert Camuto Meets…
Throughout the year, Wine Spectator’s roving contributing editor, Robert Camuto, took readers to the hidden corners of wine in Italy and beyond. Camuto trekked to Alto Adige, where a leading producer, housed inside a nearly 1,000-year-old abbey in the dramatic Tyrolean Alps, is leaning into an underappreciated grape of Austria. Among the medieval towers and steeply sloped vineyards, Camuto explains how the Sylvaner grape “converted” him.
In early 2025, Camuto issued a call to action to winemakers and wine lovers alike: That wine, inevitably, must change. “For wine (paired with great food) to remain at the center of a beautiful world for future generations, it needs to be shaken up,” he writes. “And the wine world is ripe for it.” Find out what he has in mind!
Wine Spectator Games
Do you want to play a game? Every month, Wine Spectator editors prepare a fun, new way for readers to test their own wine knowledge. The top wine quiz of the year was all about Sauvignon Blanc, from New Zealand to California to France. And week in and week out, the “What Am I Tasting?” games is one of our most-visited pages, challenging you to try to nail a wine’s region, grape and vintage just from the Wine Spectator tasting note. Play here!
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