In Best of the Best, we honour the brands and people behind the most covetable products. Here are our favourite wines that topped the 2025 list
White burgundy (and Wine of the Year): Domaine Parent Corton 2022 Grand Cru Blanc
Representing the 12th generation of their family, winemaker Anne Parent and her sister Catherine Fages-Parent are the first women at the helm of Domaine Parent. After picking the grapes from a privileged site on the Corton hill, the duo fermented the juice with indigenous yeast and barrel aged it on the lees for 16 months. Aromas of Bartlett pear, nectarine, and toasted almond open for flavours of Granny Smith apple, lemon zest, and a touch of oyster shell. Despite the hot summer of 2022, the lively acidity of this wine (US$399) is the first thing that you’ll notice—and the last impression this truly stunning wine will leave on the palate.
Rose Champagne: Nicolas Feuillatte 2008 Palmes d’Or Rosé Intense
From the house that produces the number one champagne in France comes a limited-edition rose made with 100 per cent pinot noir from two cru vineyards. According to chief winemaker Guillaume Roffiaen, Palmes d’Or Rosé Intense (US$230) “is only made when the vintage is remarkable and promises a high ageing potential”. The coldest year of its decade, 2008 provided freshness and vitality that are evident in its vivid aromas of peach and pomegranate. Pale apricot in the glass with a persistent column of fine bubbles, this elegant sparkler offers flavours of lemon, red plum, and lavender with a delicate structure and brilliant acidity.
White Champagne: Dom Pérignon 2015
The singular house to produce only vintage champagne, Dom Pérignon has bottled its 46th declared vintage since its inaugural release in 1936. Cellar master Vincent Chaperon attributes the 2015’s “bright, focused character and the signature texture” to a season of extreme weather, including a prolonged summer drought. With aromas of peach, brioche, and espresso bean, this luscious dram (US$295) washes over the mouth with flavours of apricot, vanilla, lemon zest, and rose petal. Well structured and offering gorgeous acidity, this blend of pinot noir and chardonnay energises the palate with a sense of precision and focus.
Rose: Château d’Esclans 2022 Garrus Rosé (Côtes de Provence, France)
If you closed your eyes before sipping, you might think you were drinking an elegant white chardonnay from Burgundy, but this amazing Provencal rose wine (US$125) is made using deep-garnet Grenache grapes grown on 100-year-old vines. Fermented in 600-litre temperature-controlled oak barrels, it undergoes twice weekly batonnage—in which settled lees are stirred back into the wine—for 11 months, which imparts structure and creaminess. Reminiscent of a Saint- Tropez sunset, it is pale pink in the glass and has aromas of vanilla, strawberry, and red raspberry. A backbone of minerality supports flavours of red plum, white citrus blossoms, and honeydew.
Aromatic white: Trimbach 2018 Clos Sainte Hune Riesling (Alsace, France)
The 2018 bottling (US$499) represents the 99th anniversary of Trimbach’s Clos Sainte Hune Riesling’s first release. Located in the unique terroir of Rosacker Grand Cru in Hunawihr, the monopole vineyard has been owned by one family for over 200 years and is a little larger than 1.6 hectares in size. Its limestone soils are studded with broken-down seashell remnants, which impart a unique minerality to this stunning wine. It has aromas of verbena, Bartlett pear, and mango, with balanced acidity and flavours of freshly sliced apricot, yellow peach, and yellow plum.
Dessert wine: Kopke 2022 Quinta São Luiz Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal)
This delicious port (US$87), made from fruit grown on old vines, is composed of a field blend of 35 varieties of grapes, with touriga nacional accounting for 30 per cent of the finished wine. It is deep red-purple in colour with aromas of red plum, black pepper, and blackberry pie. Silky-smooth with just the right levels of sweetness and acidity, it offers flavours of raspberry jam, vanilla, and red currant on the palate. Enjoy this perfectly balanced sweet wine with strong cheeses—like Stilton—or with fruit-based desserts.
American pinot noir: Arista 2021 Ulises Valdez Lucky Well Vineyard (Sonoma, California)
“The U V Lucky Well Vineyard, and frankly the entire line-up of pinot noirs from 2021, are without a doubt the most deeply and vibrantly coloured wines we have produced,” says Arista’s winemaker, Matt Courtney. That intensity carries through to the aroma and palate thanks to a season noted for ideal growing conditions and Courtney’s incorporation of whole-cluster fermentation into the winemaking regimen. Deep ruby to the eye, this wine (US$104) has aromas of pomegranate, vanilla bean, and black tea. Flavours of cranberry, pomegranate, milk chocolate, and juniper berry are wrapped in a sheath of polished tannins and brilliant acidity. best wines
American Cabernet Sauvignon: Sullivan Rutherford Estate 2021 J O Sullivan Founder’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California)
Drought-like conditions in 2021 created a vintage marked by 30 per cent less fruit and petite, intensely flavoured grapes that were vinified to make this exceptionally concentrated wine (US$350). A blend of 89 per cent cabernet sauvignon and 11 per cent petit verdot, it was aged for 22 months in 85 per cent new French oak. Densely coloured in the glass, it smells like black raspberry and brown baking spices and has a silky tannic backbone that supports flavours of elderberry, black plum, cassis, and powdered dark cocoa. Only 500 cases were produced.
American white wine: Chalk Hill 2021 Founder’s Block Chardonnay (Sonoma, California)
Situated in the Russian River Valley’s Chalk Hill region, this 607-hectare estate of the same name is planted with a one-of- a-kind proprietary chardonnay clone developed in partnership with UC Davis’s esteemed viticulture and oenology department. Courtney Foley, executive vice president and owner of Foley Family Wines & Spirits, says this was the favourite wine of her father, Bill, who founded the company. Winemaker Darrell Holbrook fermented the juice with native yeast and matured it in 92 per cent new French oak for 15 months. With flavours of Gala apple, Bartlett pear, and nutmeg, it is full textured and bursting with acidity (US$125). best wines
Bordeaux: Château Angelus 2022 Le Majestueux Saint Émilion
Made with 60 per cent merlot and 40 per cent cabernet franc, the 2022 edition of Angelus is called Le Majestueux (The Majestic, US$530) thanks to the unprecedented resistance the vines showed during the season’s severe drought. Château Angelus CEO and owner Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal points to the years of work her team has done in the vineyard to “reliably produce magnificent, ripe berries”, resulting in a wine with “a remarkable sense of freshness, energy, and tension”. Its black-fruit and violet aromas, flavours of purple plum, cassis, and candied violet, and gorgeous polished tannins make for a beautiful pour. best wines
Red Burgundy: Domaine Faiveley 2020 Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley Grand Cru Monopole
One of only two grand cru monopoles in Burgundy that also bear the name of their owner—and the only grand cru site for red wines in Côte de Beaune—Domaine Faiveley is a special locale. Its seventh-generation proprietor, Erwan Faiveley, praises this vintage (US$492) for its “astonishing ripeness”. A bouquet of black cherry, clove, rose petal, and river rock gives way to raspberry, dried-cranberry, and nutmeg flavours with hints of white chocolate and orange zest. Velvety tannins and well- integrated acidity mean you can drink it now or hold it for the next 20 years.
