Where to Find the Best Wines in the World Right Now
GettyTasmania | Pinot Noir
One of Australia’s fastest-growing wine regions, you won’t find any big, bold shiraz on cool-climate Tasmania. Instead, the island is gaining attention for its sparkling wine, chardonnay, riesling and, surprisingly, pinot noir. In fact, Tasmanian pinot is increasingly being exported and found on savvy wine lists, like at Public in New York City. In warmer years, pinot here can be elegant, pleasant, and lively with red berry and spice flavors, with Domaine A, Dalrymple and Josef Chromy leading the pack.
AlamyCanary Islands | Tinto Tradicional
If you want to feel like you’re on a different planet, visit the windswept vineyards of this Spanish archipelago off the coast of Morocco. The winds are so bad, in fact, that the local farmers craft walls from the volcanic soils to protect their precious cachet of vines, to delicious effect. The region’s output—particularly blends of native red grapes listán negro and negramoll grown near Tenerife—has translated into more wines making it into the U.S. These wines are generally bold, earthy, and inky, with smooth black fruit (think plum) and a hint of salinity. Bodega Tajinaste and Suertes del Marqués are worth noting, and are increasingly stocked in the best wine shops.
GettyPortugal | Vinho Verde
Portugal’s Vinho Verde region, alternatively known as the Minho, is a lush, emerald landscape of dramatic mountains and river valleys that produces the region’s inexpensive, slightly fizzy bottles, the country’s answer to pinot grigio. While red and rosé varieties exist, it’s predominantly white bottles that make it stateside. Fifteen grape varieties are permitted for Vinho Verde production, but newer styles using alvarinho and native loureiro make the most interesting bottles, with riper, creamier textures compared to their thinner counterparts. Casa do Valle makes a wood-aged, almost chardonnay-like expression, while Anselmo Mendes and Quinta do Ameal are also memorable.
GettyRheingau | Dry Riesling
Germany’s picturesque Mosel gets a lot of love—and for good reason—but some of the country’s most interesting rieslings are coming from sleepy Rheingau. Roughly 45 minutes from Frankfurt and on the banks of the Rhine, Rheingau only accounts for three percent of Germany’s total wine production, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in beautiful bottles. Weingut Georg Breuer, managed since 2004 by Theresa Breuer, is a family-run artisan operation out of Oppenheim, producing explosively aromatic rieslings boasting mouth-stripping acidity, sourced from the steep hillside vineyards overlooking the hamlet.
GettyLoire Valley | Cabernet Franc
Known as “the Garden of France,” the Loire Valley is a short jaunt from Paris, with Orléans only an hour away by train. A verdant land of châteaux and pastoral riverlands, the Loire is best known for its white Sancerre, Vouvray, and Muscadet, but the region’s food-friendly cabernet franc is a new favorite on many a somm’s wine list. Underrated compared to its more popular offspring, cabernet sauvignon, cab franc is available in number of styles, from refreshing bubbly to light and fruity to complex and spicy. Wines from Bourgueil and Chinon are typically the latter: velvety, concentrated, and even smoky. Catherine and Pierre Breton, in particular, produce some of the Loire’s most expressive, exciting wines.
GettyBasque Country | Txakoli
Home to San Sebastián and Bilbao, Spain’s Basque region currently boasts some of the world’s most exciting cuisine, art, and design. Indeed, the region’s complex history has produced a robust culture of tradition and innovation, with cobblestone streets leading to medieval castles and temples to gastronomy alike. Famous for its earthy, rustic sidras (cider), the Basque region also produces the zesty, briny, and low-alcohol txakoli, a wine screaming for seafood if ever there was one. Look for anything by Txomín Etxaníz winery for its pure, zippy bottles.
GettyFinger Lakes | Sparkling Wine
Five hours northwest of New York City, the Finger Lakes wine region of upstate New York is finally coming into its own. Attracting a coterie of top winemaking talent—from Bordeaux to New Zealand to Germany—the region's producers are unafraid of experimentation, modernizing winemaking and bucking the myth that New York can't produce world-class wine. Known for its diversity of styles, the region’s sparkling wine production is in particular worth paying attention to. A spate of producers like Nancy Irelan at Red Tail Ridge Winery are experimenting with new varietals (like Italy's native red teroldego), while others like Hermann J. Wiemer produce traditional style blanc de noir, blanc de blanc and rosé. Sommeliers are beginning to notice.
GettyItaly | Franciacorta
Prosecco, Italy’s most famous bubbly, may be all the rage but it’s not the only sparkler on the block. Enter Franciacorta, the country’s answer to Champagne. Hailing from the celeb-friendly Lake District in Lombardy—George Clooney famously summers at his villa off Lake Como—Franciacorta is made metodo clasico (traditional method), the same labor-intensive process as its French counterpart. Translation? Fantastically creamy wines that smell of brioche and orange blossoms, with energetic bubbles. Seek out bottles from Ca’ del Bosco, a historic house that has led the region’s revolution, or Monte Rossa, a family-run estate founded in 1976 by husband-wife team Paolo and Paola Rabotti.
GettySantorini | Assyrtiko
A land of sun and sand, Santorini is likely to be the last place you’d think of as a wine-growing region. Travel beyond the Instagram-famous blue-and-white architecture of town, however, and you’ll find what look like baskets growing out of the ground. These low-lying ampele are actually assyrtiko, the volcanic island’s signature grape, trained to grow in this tradition to protect against the island’s fierce winds. A fan of crisp sauvignon blanc? Excite your palate with value-driven, bone-dry assyrtiko, ripe with a panoply of citrus flavors from kumquat to satsuma. Sigalas and Gaía are among the best producers, but many throughout Greece are now growing the variety.
GettyThe Wild Card: Swartland, South Africa
Located about an hour’s drive from Cape Town, Swartland is the Cape’s traditional breadbasket, with wine taking a backseat to wheat until recently. In 1997, South African wine pioneer Charles Back purchased vineyards for his Spice Route project, immediately garnering buzz for the nascent region. Since then, The Swartland Independent Producers association has been a major force in celebrating the region’s unique terroir, while winemakers like Eben Sadie, the brain behind Columella and Palladius, continue to shine a light on the area’s potential for head-spinning wine.