Each year, Wine Spectator’s editors release a wide range of Tasting Reports, adding valuable context, guidance and recommendations to our wine ratings while revealing some of the most exciting developments in the vinous world. Readers had a lot to discover in 2024, much of it leading up to November, when we announced our list of the most exciting wines tasted over the past 12 months, including the Top 10.
All through the year, our Tasting Highlights featured acclaimed wineries and wines across a range of categories, from Oregon Pinot Noirs to California Cabernets to New Zealand stunners. Great values could be found throughout our ratings, especially in our Top 10 Values of 2023.
As we continue to guide readers through established and emerging categories, we’re excited for you to join us in 2025, as we look at which paths wine is taking in the new year!
Keep up with our scores and tasting notes for recently rated wines and subscribe to our Ratings Flash to get a preview of the Buying Guide from each issue of Wine Spectator!
Top Tasting Reports of 2024
1. Top 100 Wines of 2024
Every November, Wine Spectator announces the Top 100 Wines tasted over the past 12 months, those that stood out the most for their mix of quality, value, availability and excitement. For our readers (and us too!), it’s one of the most thrilling moments of the year. It all starts with the countdown reveal of our Top 10 list, leading up to the Wine of the Year: In 2024, a Chilean red wine, Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Puente Alto Vineyard 2021, earned this top honor. The Top 10 also featured fantastic bottlings from global wine leaders, including Antinori’s Tignanello from Tuscany, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the Rhône Valley and Beaulieu Vineyard’s Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, as well as a Napa Cabernet from Faust, a newcomer to the top tier. The lineup also featured wines priced under $45 like an Oregon Pinot Noir from Drouhin Oregon Roserock and a Barolo from G.D. Vajra. Indeed, about a quarter of wines on this year’s Top 100 are priced $25 or less. What’s more, 35 wines earned spots on the list for the first time!
2. 2023 Wine Value of the Year
At the start of 2024, for the third year, our editors named the Top 10 Wine Values among all wines tasted over the past 12 months. This list honors wines that represent the character of specific styles or regions at wallet-friendly prices: Each wine is priced $40 or less and made in large enough volumes to be widely available for purchase. At the top of the 2023 list is the Wine Value of the Year, a title our editors gave to La Crema’s Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2021. At 91 points and just $28, and with 203,000 cases made, this wine represents serious value. It also comes from one of the United States’ most significant vineyard landholders, Jackson Family Wines. (For even more values, subscribe to our Sips & Tips newsletter; and don’t miss our editors’ “Great Values Around the Clock” from the Oct. 15, 2024, issue.)
3. 7 Outstanding Oregon Pinot Noirs at $36 or Less
As our Tasting Highlights consistently show, the quality of Oregon Pinot Noir, and consumer excitement for it, continues to grow. With each vintage, Beaver State wineries offer a lineup of impressive bottlings from across the acclaimed Willamette Valley’s subappellations and beyond. Compared to most Pinot Noir from Burgundy, Oregon Pinot remains a category that offers excellent value among high quality wines. In February, we celebrated these reds with a lineup of seven wines that scored 90 points or more at $36 or less. This was not the only time Oregon Pinot Noir stood out in 2024; we’ve collected fantastic, value-driven examples throughout the year, like these eight exciting reds rated up to 93 points. Keep an eye on Oregon wines, including Pinot Noirs; it’s a category not to be missed!
4. 8 Exciting Napa Cabernet Wines at 90+ Points
California Cabernet continues to be one of the most popular styles of wine among our readers, and for good reason: In recent years (with the exception of the challenging 2020 vintage), Golden State wineries have offered complex, concentrated Cabernet Sauvignons of high quality. Although Napa Cabernet has become an elite category with many collectible wines with three-digit prices, this category also includes relative values priced $100 or less, like the seven impressive wines in this Tasting Highlights lineup. Those are far from the only Napa Cabernet values. 2024 also brought us highlights like these eight reds at 90+ points and these 10 priced as low as $55.
5. 2024 Beaujolais Nouveau: Exciting Wines from a Challenging Vintage
On the third Thursday of every November, the wine world experiences a fun holiday: Beaujolais Nouveau Day, when wineries in France’s Beaujolais region release their Nouveau bottlings to offer a preview of the year’s harvest. Gamay fans had a lot to celebrate with the 2024 Nouveaus, which were fun and tasty sippers that showed off hallmark red fruit and floral notes with fresh acidity. While the vintage may have been a difficult one, well-known producers like Château du Moulin-à-Vent and Georges Duboeuf made sure there was a delicious crop of wines to pair with holiday festivities.
6. 9 Fantastic New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs Under $25
Sauvignon Blanc may originate in France, but it has steadily become a leading international grape over the decades. Since the 1970s, when it gained a foothold in New Zealand, it’s become the most widely grown white variety in the country, to fantastic results. U.S. consumers have taken notice: The Sauvignon Blanc market is booming. As this Tasting Highlights shows, leading wineries like Astrolabe, Babich and Dog Point are able to produce outstanding-rated wines in widely available quantities. Each year brings a new bounty of crisp, refreshing, mouthwatering white wines from New Zealand, and, even better, these Sauvignon Blancs often offer fantastic value.
7. 9 Sensational West Coast Red Wines Up to 93 Points
The West Coast is home to some of the wine world's best-known regions, from California's Napa Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley to Washington's Columbia Valley. Not only do these regions produce wines of high acclaim, they’re also home to wineries and winemakers innovating with styles and grapes, including hallmark varieties such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. These grapes took center stage in this lineup of wines priced $50 or less. From well-known wineries like Ridge, Mark Ryan and Ken Wright, these wines show just what the coast can do!
8. 11 Amazing Pinot Noirs from France, California, Oregon and Beyond
Pinot Noirs are made by a multitude of wineries in regions across the globe—meaning a lot of opportunities to find great Pinot Noir values, but a lot of wines to sort through! To help, we put together these 11 stellar bottlings from some of the grape’s key regions, including France’s Burgundy, California’s Sonoma, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and farther afield. Not only do these wines—from producers like Château de Chamirey, Lemelson and Sean Minor—show off the grape’s delicious characteristics, they also offer fantastic value at prices under $40. Even better, you’ll discover a wide range of styles in this lineup, from the bright and punchy to the appealingly fleshy to the dark-fruited and smoky.
