Although our March tastings didn’t uncover any perfect-scoring wines, they did underline that exceptional examples can always be found from a broad array of wine countries and regions, and spring from an equally effusive mixture of varietals and blends.

The four wines that we gave our top rating of 100 points to in February all came from California – three from Sonoma County and one from Napa. Surprisingly, only one was a cabernet sauvignon-based, the Colgin Cellars Napa Valley IX Estate 2022.

We rated 1,479 wines in our first tasting month of 2025 – not including all the bottles we rated for our Bordeaux 2022 Vintage Report – and found two perfect-scoring wines, as well as a bounty of goodness from regions such as Napa Valley, the Rheingau in Germany, Barolo and Greece.

We rated 2,270 wines in December to increase our total for 2024 to a record-breaking 42,377, surpassing the previous high of 41,063, set in 2023, with some newly released Napa Valley cabernet sauvignons among the headliners.

The JamesSuckling.com tasting team rated 2,744 wines in November, with the three perfect scorers during the month all coming from Germany but with additional heaps of goodness to be found from California, Australia, Italy, China and more.