VinePair Podcast The Top 50 Wines of 2025
Nov 17, 2025
Join Keith Beavers, VinePair's tastings director and a seasoned wine expert, along with Hannah Staab, the managing editor, who organizes tastings and provides editorial insight. They dive into the assembly of the Top 50 Wines of 2025, revealing the year's unique trends and why American wines are taking the spotlight. Highlights include standout producers, diverse selections, and the surprising number one wine: Oregon's Division Wine Co.'s single-vineyard Gamay, showcasing the region’s exciting potential.
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How The Top 50 Is Selected
- VinePair builds the Top 50 by tasting across categories year-round and choosing wines that defined the year's tasting experience.
- The list intentionally highlights small producers and emergent regions rather than only legacy big names.
Tasting As A Team Experience
- Keith described the Top 50 tasting as a collaborative, non-blind session where the team debates and orders wines together.
- He values the group dynamic and the organic, non-mathematical way they assemble the list.
Why American Wine Feels Fresh
- American wine showed up strongly because younger producers experiment with nontraditional varieties and sites.
- Limited multi-generational land ownership in the U.S. lets small sites and new voices drive diversity.