New Zealand’s Sterling ’24, Plus the Fruits of To Kalon

New Zealand wines have featured prominently throughout the year in our tastings as James has traveled throughout the country, visiting widely with producers and winemakers and tending to his own vineyard in Martinborough with the help of his viticultural team. Be sure to check out our Top 100 Wines of New Zealand 2025 report, which will be released next week, but the Kiwi wines we tasted in October showed great promise, especially from the 2024 vintage.

The reds and whites, James said, displayed "striking intensity and precision, the gift of a dry yet fresh season,” with the quality in bottle outstanding. In fact, 2024 was a story of across-the-board success, according to the producers James talked with

Overall, there were standouts from both the South and North Island in James’ and the team’s tasting during the month, from several vintages. These included Bell Hill’s Chardonnay Canterbury 2021, Felton Road’s Pinot Noir Central Otago Block 3 2024 and Pinot Noir Central Otago Cornish Point 2024, Bilancia’s Syrah Hawke’s Bay La Collina 2024 and Kumeu River’s Chardonnay Kumeu Mate's Vineyard 2024.

Of special interested to James was a microwinery in Napier City, Chateau Garage, which is run by former Villa Maria chief viticulturist Ollie Powrie. He now crafts amphora-aged “Super Tuscan”-style blends of sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. His Chateau Garage Hawke’s Bay Lorenzo The Magnificent 2024 is just one great cool-climate rendition of a Super Tuscan we uncovered in October.

While New Zealand continues to deliver wines with character and freshness that only a cool-climate region can produce, Australia has its own take on cool-climate wines by way of Tasmania, whose pristine environment and maritime influence are helping produce wines with clarity, energy and quiet intensity.

Stafano Lubiana, who in the early 1990s established his family estate on the banks of the Derwent River just north of Hobart, has helped define a generation of winemakers focused on purity and texture. Today, his son Marco continues that legacy, crafting small-lot wines from select parcels in the Derwent and Huon Valleys that reflect the natural tension and transparency of Tasmania’s landscape.

One, the Stefano Lubiana Pinot Noir Tasmania La Roccia 2023 ,shows intense, perfumed aromas of dark cherries, raspberries and dried roses, finishing with a subtle, earth-driven complexity that places it among the finest pinots in the new world, while the Marco Lubiana Pinot Noir Derwent Valley One Terroir 2022 follows suit and is showing beautifully. Fragrant, detailed and precise, it's a wine that will appeal to Burgundy lovers for its tension and restraint.

Classically To Kalon

Napa Valley led our California tastings during October with two perfect-scoring cabernet sauvignons from Schrader, both harvested from the historic To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. Executive Editor Jim Gordon tasted with winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, who highlighted the vineyard’s “neighborhoods” and their individual signatures. The Schrader Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Oakville To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone 2023 and Old Sparky 2023 showed explosive fruit, monumental tannins and classic To Kalon depth, firmly placing them among the finest young cabernets from the site in years.

Stalworth, a newer Hess-Persson project, came close behind with two striking 2023 cabernets from Rutherford and Oakville – wines combining plush fruit with surprising finesse.

Winemaker Luc Morlet also impressed with his late-released 2021s, including two powerful, full-bodied cabernet francs: the Morlet Family Vineyards Cabernet Franc Napa Valley Force de la Nature 2021 and Force Tranquille 2021. His beautiful, complex Oakville Coeur de Vallée 2021, an estate-grown wine across from To Kalon, was among the finest of the lineup, showing completeness and polish. A mini-vertical of earlier vintages confirmed Coeur de Vallée’s consistency, with the 2020 and 2018 particularly noteworthy.

In Sonoma, Staff Writer & Taster Courtney Humiston tasted through the 2023 harvest as fruit arrived at crush pads under the threat of rain. CIRQ’s Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2023, shaped by a long, cool growing season, stood out for its precision and structure. Blue Farm also delivered an outstanding set of 2023 pinots, especially the Fort Ross-Seaview King Ridge Vineyard bottling, which captured the wild coastal character of the site.

Chardonnay shined as well – from the inaugural Platt Vineyard Chardonnay West Sonoma Coast Estate Reserve 2023, which is a rich yet saline offering, to Hartford Court’s Seascape Vineyard 2023, a vivid expression of the extreme Sonoma Coast.

One of the month’s biggest surprises from California was The Sounds Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Fort Ross-Seaview The Goldener 2023, a salty, intense and deeply mineral chard that James described as “plucked fresh from the Pacific.” Winemakers Jason Exposto and Lauren Strojny also delivered a tightly wound, high-altitude chardonnay from Atlas Peak under their Napa label.

On the Central Coast, Staff Writer & Taster Brian Freedman found standout pinot noirs from Calera’s 2022 vintage, which were elegant despite the challenges of the season, as well as superb expressions from Kutch in the Santa Cruz Mountains, including the detailed and forest-driven Mindego Ridge Vineyard Ridge Top 2023.

And Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery highlighted the latest releases from Keplinger, where Helen Keplinger’s deft touch with Rhône varieties shined in the warm 2022 vintage. The Amador Lithic 2022 – a grenache, syrah and mourvèdre blend – was the top performer, layered and powerful yet fresh.

Spain's Regional Diversity

Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade underscored Spain’s immense regional diversity this month. From Tenerife, the Suertes del Marqués Listán Negro Valle de la Orotava Edición 2 2023 showed tension, floral lift and volcanic purity. In Bierzo, the Michelini i Mufatto Mencía Bierzo Post Crucifixión 2021 offered a unique blend of mencia with Galician varieties, producing an ethereal and approachable wine from an ancient vineyard in Santalla.

From Cebreros, the Pegaso Sierra de Gredos Arrebatacapas 2022 – grown on schist at high altitude – balanced the heat of the vintage with remarkable finesse, once again reinforcing garnacha’s ability to convey site.

Portugal’s top wine of the month was the Niepoort Port Bioma Vinha Velha 2022, a single-vineyard Port aged in traditional pipas and released later than conventional vintage Ports. Its concentration and tension made it one of the most compelling wines of 2022 from Portugal. Graham’s Port 80 Year Old Tawny, a tribute blended by Charles Symington, also left a deep impression with its extraordinary depth.

Jacobo also highlighted Antonio Madeira in the Dao, whose tiny but expressive single-vineyard reds – the Vinha da Serra 2022 and A Centenaria 2022 – continue to set a benchmark for granitic mountain wines.

Multidimensional Rieslings

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott spent October in the Nahe, where the severe April frost made 2024 one of the lowest-yielding vintages in memory. Jakob Schneider’s wines from Dellchen and Hermannshöhle rose above the challenges, including the multidimensional Riesling Nahe Norheimer Dellchen Trocken 2024 and the concentrated, herbal Riesling Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Magnus Trocken 2024.

Further downstream, Kruger-Rumpf produced one of Germany’s best village-level wines of the year: the Riesling Nahe Bingerbrücker Trocken 1937 2024, showing wild herb complexity and a long, stony finish. Their Grosser Strom 2023, which blends fruit from GG sites in both the Nahe and Rheinhessen, is unusually structured and mineral.

The debut vintage from Haus Rothenberg, spearheaded by Julia Rumpf, also impressed, especially the expressive Rothenberg Trocken 2024, from a long-forgotten site.

China's Mastery Tier

Senior Editor Zekun Shuai traveled extensively across Huailai, Ningxia and Yunnan, finding both promise and variability shaped by China’s extreme climates. In Huailai, Canaan Winery's Chapter and Verse Syrah Huailai Mastery 2022 was a standout – vibrant, peppery and the finest Mastery-tier syrah Zekun has tasted from the estate.

In Ningxia, the Ren Yi Yuan Cabernet Sauvignon Dao 2020 showed the region’s power and depth at 15% alcohol yet retained balance and complexity. In contrast, Yunnan’s Xiao Ling Shangri-La 2022 offered finesse and lightness in a style closer to pinot noir.

Among Ningxia’s strongest releases was the Copower Jade Ningxia He 2021 – a restrained and polished marselan enriched by a touch of petit verdot—and the Helan Qingxue Jiabeilan Reserve 2022, which confirmed winemaker Zhang Jing’s preference for freshness and early picking. Her 2024 Jiabeilan Chardonnay highlights the region’s stylistic shift as cooler vintages begin to redefine Ningxia’s wines.

– Vince Morkri, Editor-in-Chief

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

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