Wines of the Year 2025 | Michelle's Top 2

This is a serious Valpolicella—vibrant, generous, and full of character. Pietro Zardini’s Valpolicella Classico pours a lively ruby red with just a flicker of garnet ...

This is a serious Valpolicella—vibrant, generous, and full of character. Pietro Zardini’s Valpolicella Classico pours a lively ruby red with just a flicker of garnet at the rim. On the nose, it’s velvety and elegant, laced with hints of dried fruits, a touch of hay, and a subtle rustic charm. On the palate, it’s smooth, full-bodied, and supple, with that lovely Italian food-friendliness.  This is proper Valpolicella—grown in the heart of a region that’s been producing wine for over 2,000 years. Today, Valpolicella is one of Italy’s most important wine zones, with over 8,000 hectares under vine, producing more than 60 million bottles a year—but Pietro Zardini is still doing it the old-fashioned way. His family has worked these red and brown soils since the 1600s, and every bottle tells a piece of that story. The grapes—Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara—are hand-harvested, gently macerated on their skins, and aged for up to 10 months in oak to bring out texture and spice, followed by time in steel for freshness.

This is Sauvignon Blanc at its finest - a wine that captures the power, precision, and elegance of Marlborough’s coastal terroir. Aromas of guava, passionfruit, and ci...

This is Sauvignon Blanc at its finest - a wine that captures the power, precision, and elegance of Marlborough’s coastal terroir. Aromas of guava, passionfruit, and citrus leap from the glass, layered with a distinctive oyster shell minerality. Aged on its lees, this wine has a silky, creamy texture that adds depth and complexity, balancing its bright acidity and saline edge. The result? A class act—focused, structured, and deeply expressive, with a long, lingering finish that sets a benchmark for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Blank Canvas, founded by Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson and winemaking consultant Matt Thomson, is all about single-vineyard precision and minimal intervention winemaking. The Holdaway Vineyard, farmed by the same family for generations, sits on the coastal fringe of the Wairau Valley, where deep alluvial silts and regenerative viticulture create a Sauvignon Blanc of exceptional balance and purity. Harvested at night to preserve freshness, cool-fermented and aged on lees, this wine is a true expression of its site—refined, textural, and seriously sophisticated.