In the first few weeks of 2023, Sonoma County, California, was deluged with record amounts of rainfall. Although scary at times for residents, the rains also laid the foundation for an outstanding wine vintage for the region’s chardonnay and pinot noir.

After rating almost 1,300 New Zealand wines this year at JamesSuckling.com – the most we’ve ever tasted from the country in a single year – it became clear that 2024 may be the greatest vintage New Zealand has ever produced. It’s rare for the island nation to deliver an across-the-board outstanding year, and 2024 is shaping up exactly that way.

Many German wine lovers are trumpeting the 2024 vintage as a return to the Golden German Age when all the nation’s wines were delicate and racy. And at first glance it looks like they’re right, but dig deeper – and we always do! – and a more complex picture emerges.

JamesSuckling.com has added two new U.S.-based executives to its team as the company grows in all aspects of its business.  

In our second major tasting of Texas wines this year, we found the same fascinating diversity in grape varieties and growing regions in the state, but what stood out was our exposure to numerous high-quality producers that were new to us, as well as the huge span of wine styles and types.