The year is slowly but surely coming to an end. Like a good bottle of wine. With a touch of wistfulness, we are all looking at the last sip of 2025. At the little puddle of the remaining year that has collected at the bottom of the glass.
There it floats, another chapter of life: days like drops that slowly evaporate. I remember the first sip. Now I’m thinking of the second sip. Reminiscing of how everything has developed, as I’m looking back at the last sip, swirling it gently in the glass, smelling it one last time, taking a sip and swallowing the last drop.
With a touch of wistfulness, we are all looking at the last sip of 2025. At the little puddle of the remaining year that has collected at the bottom of the glass.
My personal wine highlights this year? A 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Clos St. Jacques” from Domaine Fourrier. A Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Folatieres” 2009 from Bernard-Bonin. Or a Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru from Leflaive from 1999. A Clos de Tart Grand Cru 1997 was also quite wonderful. But the Trousseau “Plein Sud” 2022 and the Chardonnay “Les Chamois du Paradis” 2019 from Jean-François Ganevat also have a place on my list of favorites, as do the wines from Clos Rougeard, a Nebbiolo from the Dislivelli winery, and a bottle of Gamay from Lucas Madonia.
Three wines from Germany particularly appealed to me: all of them Pinot Noir. A bottle of “Kanzel” 2019 from the Wasenhaus winery, the ‘Berg’ 2023 from kleines gut in Uhlbach, and a “Sommerhalde” 2012 from Bernhard Huber. Solid company, that’s right. But credit is given where credit is due.
The year for the industry? Overall? Like a great wine: It came with multi-layered complexity. Economically speaking, a difficult one. In contrast to sea levels, per capita consumption is falling, climate change is bursting into vineyards uninvited, the WHO is annoying, the general health craze continues to boom, and then there's a completely backward, inward-looking media landscape that annoys me so much that I'd like to throw Molotov cocktails made from wine bottles into the editorial offices of the republic.
Three wines from Germany particularly appealed to me: all of them Pinot Noir. A bottle of “Kanzel” 2019 from the Wasenhaus winery, the ‘Berg’ 2023 from kleines gut in Uhlbach, and a “Sommerhalde” 2012 from Bernhard Huber. Solid company, that’s right. But credit is given where credit is due.
The year for the industry? Overall? Like a great wine: It came with multi-layered complexity. Economically speaking, a difficult one. In contrast to sea levels, per capita consumption is falling, climate change is bursting into vineyards uninvited, the WHO is annoying, the general health craze continues to boom, and then there's a completely backward, inward-looking media landscape that annoys me so much that I'd like to throw Molotov cocktails made from wine bottles into the editorial offices of the republic.
The year for the industry? Like a great wine: It came with multi-layered complexity.
For 2026, I hope that we will be less dismissive of fungus-resistant grape varieties. That we will talk less about terroir, tastable origin, and sandstone like boy scouts, and instead make wine a fucking real experience. Journalism for new target groups. In fresh language. Fewer auctions, more pop-ups. Less Kloster Eberbach, more like backyard. Easier chit-chat, no masterclasses. A lot needs to happen in 2026 if we want to survive as an industry. In every respect. Actually, and I am convinced of this, we should completely forget how we learned to approach wine and then start all over again. As if someone had given us a fresh start. How fitting that every turn of the year is a little new beginning.
Milton Sidney Curtis, wine influencer and freelance writer, brings wit, edge, and charm to the world of wine with his writing. Whether it’s fine drops from small wineries or branded wines from global players: Sidney tastes, reviews, and stirs up debate. A self-proclaimed “silly ass” for everyone who loves wine!
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