2025 was a year with some great tastings, showing that fine wine continues to be hugely attractive. My selection is very classic again this year: 4 x Bordeaux, 3 x Champagne, 3 x German Riesling, 1 x Burgundy and 1 x Tokaj. Other charts (such as Wine Spectator and James Suckling) also place Bordeaux in first place this year. This is reminiscent of what the Robb Report reported this year, namely that, despite the crisis in the en primeur market, mature Bordeaux wines are still experiencing a boom on the auction market. This is precisely because they offer a relatively safe, enormous enjoyment value. On the other hand, I hardly need to mention that German Riesling is still undervalued internationally. As the quasi ‘official’ taster for the VDP auction in Bad Kreuznach, I was able to taste some of the absolute pinnacles this year. They were simply sensational wines.
1. Champagne: Bollinger La Côte aux enfants 2012
I have appreciated Bollinger’s single vineyard champagne ever since I had the opportunity to taste it at its first presentation in Aӱ. The Blanc de Noirs is part of Bollinger’s Pinot Noir offensive. It is intended to one day replace the Vieilles Vignes Françaises, whose ungrafted vines are becoming increasingly scarce. After all, its pedigree is hardly less noble. It comes from a 4-hectare, steep monopole vineyard, whose 100 or so individual plots were bought up by Jacques Bollinger in the 1930s. Since the late 1980s, the southern parcels have been used to produce Aÿ rouge, a still red wine. The grapes from the northern plots, on the other hand, were used in champagne cuvées such as La Grande Année. With the premiere vintage of 2012, a single-vineyard champagne from these northern plots was then introduced in 2022. ‘Fullness, complexity and a perfect mouthfeel,’ I noted at the time. Now I have encountered it again at the “rare champagne tasting” I hosted at KaDeWe in Berlin. It outshone all the other cuvées – despite (as can be seen in the picture) – stiff competition (97 P.).
2. Champagne: Roederer Cristal Vinothèque 2004 (Magnum)
I was also invited to the first presentation of Roederer’s Cristal Vinothèque series in Reims. That was in 2017 with the presentation of the 1995 and 1996 vintages. It was an incredible event that culminated in an unforgettable ‘Diner Surrealiste’, which is probably only possible in France. At that time, I awarded 100 points to a champagne for the first time for FINE – Das Weinmagazin (1995 Rosé). I then repeated this for the 2002 Rosé Vinothèque last year. 2025, I had the opportunity to taste the 2004 Cristal Vinothèque in Reims a month before its official release (more here), both as a Blanc and a Rosé. This time, the Blanc was my favourite. It combines incredible freshness with endless depth. A simply sensational champagne! (98 P.)
Interestingly, last year in London, the 2002 and 2004 champagne vintages were compared in a large tasting. The somewhat overshadowed 2004 showed greater potential than the legendary 2002. Time will tell how the Roederer Cristal will rank in the future.
3. Champagne: Taittinger Comte de Champagne 2002
Nevertheless, 2002 remains one of the greatest vintages in Champagne ever. And Taittinger’s prestigious cuvée Comte de Champagne from that year is considered one of its highlights. In the aforementioned 2002 vs. 2004 comparison tasting, it achieved the highest individual rating of all the champagnes tasted, with 19.5 points (here). The 2002 was also the star of the grand Comtes vertical spanning 17 vintages, which Armin Diel organised in June 2025. I wrote about it on Sur-la-pointe (here). Nevertheless, let me quote once again the tasting notes written together with Armin Diel: ‘Pale golden colour, generous bouquet: candied fruit and pastry cream, complemented by citrus fruits, pear and almonds. Perfect balance, ageless beauty, great ageing potential (98 points).’ The still young 2008 vintage shows the same potential for such greatness. No wonder Comtes is currently very popular with collectors all over the world. Incidentally, the bottle of the 2002 vintage is not visible in the picture because Bundestag President Julia Klöckner had previously snatched it away.
4. German Riesling: Weingut Keller Riesling Pettenthal GG 2024
Klaus-Peter Keller had put together a brilliant trio for this year’s VDP auction in Bad Kreuznach. Choosing my favourites for my top 10 from this selection was the most difficult decision of all. The two (Mosel!) wines from Schubertslay were breathtaking and are among the best I have tasted in their category. The Kabi is perhaps a little lighter. The Spätlese, produced for the first time, is probably the darker and more profound wine. The Pettenthal GG can only be described as a revelation. My tasting note: “A sphinx. Probably the most inaccessible and mysterious of all the wines at the auction. Still very closed, reductive nose. On the palate, it is less the acidity that fascinates than the enormous, almost oily density. Again, there is hardly any fruit, but with almost bottomless depth.” In a word: perhaps one of the greatest dry Rieslings ever produced in Germany (99 P.). There is only one barrel here, and it is available exclusively as an auction wine.
5. German Riesling: Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Final 2024
The Final comes from a slate-quartzite parcel with vines over 60 years old in Bockenauer Felseneck, a VDP Große Lage. For Tim Fröhlich, it is the ultimate expression of this terroir. My tasting note was: ‘Powerful herbal-spicy spontaneous notes on the nose, accompanied by flint, yellow fruit and Amalfi lemon. Very impressive, even if it’s hard to penetrate at the moment. Beautiful texture, yet enormously clear and bone dry despite all the complexity. So salty that it crystallises on the lips.’ (97 P.) Unfortunately, there is only one barrel available, and it is exclusively available as an auction wine in Bad Kreuznach. Incidentally, 258 0.75-litre and nine 1.5-litre bottles were put up for auction. The hammer finally fell at €499.80 (including surcharge and tax) and €1,749.30 for the magnum. Only marginally behind the final, I saw Emrich-Schönleber’s ‘Auf der Ley’ and Wittmann’s ‘La Borne’. However, at prices of over £300 each, they were not exactly bargains.
6. White Burgundy: Albert Grivault Meursault Clos des Perrières 2010
The 0.95-hectare Clos des Perrières plot is the heart of the Premier Cru Meursault Perrières. This is undisputedly considered the best vineyard in Meursault. In addition to its particularly good drainage, it has the highest lime content of all the sites in Meursault. Wine critic and winemaker Alexis Lichine once wrote about the Clos: ‘In Meursault les Perrières is the best vineyard plot and the wine from the heart of this cru, the Clos des Perrières, stands up to the incomparable Montrachet.’ The plot is owned by Domaine Albert Grivault, which is fighting for a higher classification as a Grand Cru. In any case, 2010 was a spectacular year for Chardonnay in Burgundy – and a glorious moment for the winery. My expectations were correspondingly high – and they were fully met. Timeless in traditional style, i.e. not very reductive, but with noticeable oak, creamy, powerful and complex, with the lively acidity of the vintage (96 P.).
7. Bordeaux red: Château Mouton-Rothschild 2005
Two remarkable Bordeaux tastings in 2025 shaped this year’s top 10 selection. The first was the Bordeaux Rarities Event at Berlin’s KaDeWe. This year’s theme was ‘Great Fifths’. In fact, no other number has produced such significant Bordeaux vintages. Just think of 1945, 1955, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, 2015 and probably also 2025.
The youngest highlights of the tasting and a final triumph (among the reds) were the 2005 duo Château Margaux and Mouton-Rothschild. Both are ‘modern’ Bordeaux wines, meaning they have powerful but extremely ‘polished’ tannins and (still) deep dark ruby red colour with final purple reflections. The Cabernet dominance, also a sign of climate change, is more noticeable in both wines than in older vintages. Both are accessible, yet very young and exceptionally fresh. The Mouton currently has the edge due to its combination of aromatic spice and powerful pressure on the palate (98 P.).
8. Bordeaux red: Château Latour 1985
The second highlight featuring red Bordeaux in 2025 was the horizontal tasting of the 1985 vintage as part of Armin Diel’s 47th rare wine tasting. A separate article on all 25 wines tasted is in preparation. However, I will discuss at least two of the wines here. 1985 is generally considered a good, but not great vintage. In addition, until a few years ago, it was generally accepted that the wines should be drunk relatively early due to a heat spike in August. For several years now, collectors report a second plateau phase for many wines. The Diel tasting confirmed this, too. In any case, I saw three wines sharing second place in the tasting: Pichon Comtesse, Le Pin and Latour. My favourite of these was the majestic Château Latour, which literally presented itself like an iron fist in a velvet glove. Still with a hint of espresso and vanilla in the bouquet, very structured on the palate and with great length (96 P.).
9. Bordeaux red: Château Haut Brion 1985
1985 was a year in which both the right and left banks were equally impressive. The particular success of Merlot was demonstrated by a fantastically beautiful, hedonistic Le Pin, with a surreal fruit perfume and a surprisingly transparent colour. Armin Diel saw it at the top – I was a little more conservative because of its somewhat slender structure on the palate. We were certainly united in our enthusiasm for Château Haut Brion (still without a hyphen in 1985). Perhaps the most refined and complex wine in the tasting, it had an unusually high Merlot content of 45 per cent. This was complemented by 44 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 per cent Cabernet Franc and the remainder Petit Verdot. A “handkerchief wine”, as they say in Andalusia, with classic cedar and cassis notes, but also delicate floral notes. Added to this is a silky texture that fills the entire palate. The wine does not overpower – and in this respect is the counterpart to Latour. For a moment, the wine transported us to the rococo magic of Versailles (97 P.).
10. Bordeaux red: Château Trotte Vielle 1955
When talking about the great turning points in Bordeaux, the 1982 vintage is often mentioned as a more recent date. After all, it was after this vintage – boosted by wine critic Robert Parker – that the modern style of Bordeaux emerged. Another turning point was the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century. At that time, too, the switch to American rootstock marked a before and after. In contrast, a third date remains in the shadows, one that is particularly relevant for the right bank: the great frost of February 1956. It destroyed nearly 90 per cent of the vineyards in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, after which, with government support, vigorous and low-quality clones were planted across the board.
The 1985 and 2005 vintages show that Château Trotte Vieille still produces very good wines today. Before 1956, however, they were on a different level: an old edition of Cocks/Féret’s ‘Bordeaux et ses Vins’ refers to the ‘absolutely wonderful location’ of Trottevieille (sic). Thanks to expert care, most of the ‘vielles vignes françaises’, i.e. the ungrafted vines from before the phylloxera crisis, had also been preserved (at that time). Therefore, its body, colour and bouquet would ‘place it at the top of the 1ers Grands Crus’. In any case, the 1955 vintage was a revelation at the KaDeWe tasting – and at the same time urged collectors not to place too much trust in modern hierarchies (97 P.).
11. German Riesling noble sweet: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium Falkensteiner Hofberg Riesling Eiswein 2002
One could also speak of simplistic hierarchies with regard to this ice wine from the Saar. The 2004 GaultMillau Wine Guide withdrew the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium’s ‘grape’ rating in 2002 due to its allegedly poor performance. This placed the winery among the ‘other recommended establishments’ in the distant ranks. A Himmelreich Auslese was named the best wine with 85 points. The winery itself then temporarily sold off its wines through sales communities such as Vente-Privée. Because some mature, fruit-sweet wines shone here at spectacular prices, I also purchased this ice wine in 2018 for €59.90.
The winery probably realised soon afterwards what madness this was. In any case, the same wine is now back on the price list at a proud €250. It is – almost inevitably, one might say – the only ice wine, which could once again be cause for lamenting the extinction of this wonderful German wine category. This is not the place for that, however. But it is the place to rave about this wine. Bright golden yellow in the glass, radiant acidity, crystal-clear fruit aromas – and a texture that became creamier day by day in the opened bottle (97 p.).
12. Tokaj noble sweet: Tokaj Classic Essencia 2013
I had already written extensively about Tokaj before 2025, but exclusively from a wine history perspective. In practical terms, my experience was limited to random tastings and winery presentations at major trade fairs. Last year, during a trip to Hungary, I delved deeper into the world of Tokaj. I learned a lot about the stylistic diversity of the region, about which I wrote a separate article (here). Of course, I also tasted some benchmark wines, and I was particularly fascinated by the trend towards single-vineyard Aszús from Mád.
I didn’t get to taste the crowning glory on site or during a master class at the Hungarian Wine Summit, but rather at a wine festival within the castle walls of Buda. There, András Bruhács from Tokaj Classic presented his wines: after top wines such as the perfectly matured 6-Puttonys from 1999 and the Aszú-6-Puttonyos Selection Quintessence from 2018, the Essencia 2013 followed as the finale, literally taking everyone’s breath away. Also from the Kiraly vineyard, the wine contains 538.5 grams/litre of residual sweetness and 3.5 per cent alcohol with an electrifying acidity. In it, one really felt one had come close to the essence, the inner being of Tokaj (98 P.).
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