We recently rounded up our favorite new American whiskeys and winter-ready microbrews, but no end-of-year celebration is complete without a good bottle of wine (or two.) Here’s a list of some of our favorite new wines of 2024, from California to Hungary and beyond. Consider it a portrait of the bottles we’ll be thinking about (and wish we were drinking) well into 2025.
Vinos Finos de California Sabroso 2023
Somm-turned-winemaker Ted Glennon’s project is a love letter to California wine history. He explores historic vines and vineyards, highlights deep-cut California grapes like Cabernet Pfeffer, makes a strong case for Zinfandel and bottles ethereal Chardonnays from the Santa Lucia highlands. His Sabroso is bright and breezy in energy but serious in quality—a wine nerd’s party favorite. This year’s blend is Grenache, Cabernet Pfeffer, Zinfandel, alongside Barbera and Ruche (two lesser-known but excellent northern Italian grapes). It channels bright red fruit and sandalwood, juicy berries and baking spice. $32
Royal Tokaji Mezes Maly
If you’re saving Tokaj as a once-in-a-while, after-dinner drink, don’t. Foie gras and Tokaj? A guaranteed good time. Mezes Maly is one of two great first-growth vineyards in Hungary’s Tokaj region, so expect excellent, elegant wine. You have two option when it comes to Royal Tokaj’s Mezes Maly wines: the single vineyard Aszu ($99), a legendary sweet wine bursting with notes of pear, pineapple, and honey, or the dry furmint ($42), which shows off Hungary’s potential for satiny, waxy white wines.
Lokoya Mountain Cabernets
If your vision of the Napa Valley is warm, sun-slicked valleys and pedigreed tasting rooms, it’s time to indulge in the region’s wilder terrain. Chris Carpenter works in wind-swept pockets well above the fog line. He explores Napa’s surrounding mountains (Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain) and captures their essence in single-mountain wines. It’s not an easy task. The vineyards are remote, demanding, and susceptible to wild weather. Lokoya’s Cabernet Sauvignons consistently land 100-point scores from top critics, and it’s easy to see why. They’re powerful and enthralling, romantic but precise. $550
Clau du Nell Blanc de Noir 2021
At the center of Clau de Nell’s Loire estate is a stained glass window of a phoenix, flying upwards from its ashes. While some of the vineyards are up to 100 years old, many of them were struggling and left to wild, until the renowned Anne-Claude Leflaive (of Puligny-Montrachet’s landmark Domaine Leflaive) caught wind of the property and took over the estate. The Chenin Blancs are beautiful, the Grolleaus (one of the Loire’s deep-cut grapes) are electric, but the Blanc de Noir is something that stuck with me. It’s made with Cabernet Franc—the Loire Valley’s signature red grape—transformed into an opulent, unctuous white wine. $74
Lester Vineyards Francisco 2021
Instead of having one winemaker at Aptos’ Lester Estate Wines, Steve Johnson assembled an Avengers-style panel of winemakers. Dan Person (a Schramsberg graduate) is on bubbles, Emiddio Justin Massa works on single-estate reds. As does John Benedetti (who also makes excellent wines at Sante Arcangeli), who’s doing some brilliant work with the Francisco Pinot Noir. Made with the Vosne-Romanée clone, it’s perfumed and elegant, soft, earthy and lengthy with notes of strawberry and rhubarb, and a tingle of thyme. $125
Brewer-Clifton 3D
Greg Brewer would be an excellent sushi chef. He approaches winemaking as a sincere and meditative process. His goal is to let the raw ingredients do the talking, so he picks and seeks to present each grape in the best possible form—no loud oak or other overly manipulative processes. His Diatom (a Santa Barbara Chardonnay) is shining and pure, but I come back to the fattiness and weight of the 3D, a wine made with five different clones of Chardonnay grown on a sandy bit of land. It’s lemony and shimmering, like a sunny California day. $75
Sandar & Hem Peter Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Made up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this Cabernet showcases the versatility of the grape. It’s ethereal, elegant, and finessed—kissed with minerality. The legendary vineyard it comes from, Peter Martin Ray, dates back to the early 1800s and is thought to be one of the most historical sites of Pinot Noir plantings in all of California. $58
Honorable Mentions
- M. Mathis Godello: Marty Mathis’ is enamored with odd Spanish grapes, and this Godello explores is waxy and fresh, unctuous and citrus-driven. $55
- French Bloom: Founded by Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and model Constance Jablonski, French Bloom shows that great wine doesn’t need to have alcohol—the line of bubbles are all completely zero-proof. Try La Cuvée, a vintage-date aged sparkling wine. $119
- Maison en Belles Lies Hautes Cote de Beaune: A killer Pinot Noir made by a former banker turned biodynamic winemaker. It’s ethereal and elegant, with bright cherry and delicate floral notes. $45
Kate Dingwall is a WSET-trained sommelier and spirits writer. Her work has appeared in Wine Enthusiast, Eater, Forbes.com, and Food & Wine, and she pours wine at one of Canada’s top restaurants.
