2025 is turning out to be a great year for wine

By Elin McCoy, Bloomberg News

On Aug. 28 in Saint-Emilion, France, pickers fanned out into the vineyard at Château Troplong Mondot. It was the earliest harvest start in the estate’s history.

Record-breaking early picking was a key feature of harvest 2025. In Alsace, the date was Aug. 19; in Champagne, Aug. 20; for the white grapes in the Rhône Valley, mid-August, two weeks earlier than last year. In Germany’s Rheingau region, some grapes were picked at the end of August, three weeks earlier than the long-term average.

In most European wine spots, harvests were speedy too. At first-growth Château Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux, the first red grapes came in on Sept. 5, and picking wrapped up historically early, on Sept. 20.

It’s clear that rising temperatures and the extreme weather of climate change are compressing the growing season and shifting the harvest timetable. The good news this year is that winemakers from France to Germany to Spain (with some exceptions) are excited by the promise of high-quality wine, even though yields are lower than they would like.

For that, blame the extended heatwaves, drought and destructive wildfires that now regularly play havoc with both quantity and quality and seem to affect different wine regions around the world every year.

According to a global study released in May by two French agricultural research institutes and the University of British Columbia, wine-growing regions have warmed, on average, by the equivalent of nearly 100 extra growing degree days over the past 70 years. Growing degree days are a measure of the cumulative heat vines are exposed to, which influences growth and ripening. Europe has felt the biggest impact.

In every vintage the effects can be uneven. Take France. When it comes to quality, Bordeaux lucked out in 2025. A hot, dry summer brought good ripeness, and cooler weather and a bit of rain at the end of August restored balance. The grapes at Mouton Rothschild were rich and in good condition, and the team expects a classic vintage with great structure, concentration and aging potential.

By contrast, in the south of France, the local producers’ organization in Corbières dubbed 2025 “the summer of hell.” In mid-August, the largest wildfire in France in more than 70 years destroyed 80% to 90% of some vineyards, including those of organic Clos de l’Anhel and Cellier des Demoiselles.

Extremely hot, dry conditions help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely, as they also did this year in northwestern Spain, on Napa’s Howell Mountain and in Portugal’s Douro Valley. Winemakers worry that wines from vines that didn’t burn will be affected by smoke taint and end up with ashy flavors.

The roller-coaster of what happens during harvest is why it’s a high-emotion season for winemakers.

Oregon winemaker Maggie Harrison of Antica Terra described the stress this way: “I didn’t sleep a wink last night. But I always know that when I step up to the sorting table, there is a reserve of energy, a switch-on kind of magic that happens, and I can’t flipping wait.”

Translation: Deep down winemakers are always optimists.

Climate change isn’t the only challenge for harvest 2025. Consumption is down, and tariffs promise price hikes. Vineyards are being pulled out everywhere from Sonoma to Bordeaux. Even if the wines this year are excellent, the big question is: Will people buy them?

Here’s an overview, by region:

ENGLAND

No frost and a long, even summer meant perfect ripening for both chardonnay and pinot noir. The warmest summer on record brought both exceptional quality and abundant quantity, a far cry from last year. Although 75% of English wine is sparkling, ripeness levels were high enough for producers to make more still wines to fulfill growing demand from the 55% increase in vineyard visitors over the last 12 months.

FRANCE

Alsace

According to the Alsace Winegrowers Association, it was the earliest harvest ever recorded. A warm spring, followed by back-to-back summer heat waves with rain at just the right moments, speeded up ripening. Expect rieslings with crystalline acidity and concentrated pinot noirs with beautiful balance.

Bordeaux

“The growing season unfolded with remarkable serenity,” said Veronique Sanders of Château Haut Bailly in Pessac-Léognan over e-mail. “A dry hot summer resulted in small berries with a striking concentration of aromas and structure.” Jean-Philippe Delmas of first-growth Château Haut-Brion cited the wines’ vibrant acidity and remarkable balance. It’s a sharp contrast to 2024, with its spring frosts, mildew and the lowest level of production since 1991. Will 2025 continue the tradition of great years ending in “5”?

Burgundy

“Small but beautiful and similar in style to 2020 and 2022” is the assessment of Frédéric Drouhin, president of Maison Joseph Drouhin, which owns organic vineyards all over Burgundy. Although the crop is down 30% compared to a “normal” year, he says, “the premiers crus reds of the Côte de Beaune are really fantastic and homogeneous, while the whites show intense aromatics.” Add in great aging potential.

While many domaines had finished picking by Sept. 5, others, especially in the Côte de Nuits, delayed, looking for more ripeness, so it will be a vintage of contrasting styles.

Still, the Macon region suffered hail and almost tropical heat, so some producers lost as much as 80% of their crop.

The overall low quantity comes at a time of high demand for Burgundy, so expect even higher prices.

Beaujolais and Jura

In Jura, the mood is upbeat because of a 200% quantity rebound after 2024 when the region experienced devastating frosts.

The tale in Beaujolais is the reverse: Heat waves, drought and mildew cut yields to their lowest level in 35 years. What’s left is good, though. For the winemaker at Château des Jacques, the vintage compares with charmers like 2005, 2015 and 2020.

Champagne

Talk about enthusiasm! Producers are hailing 2025 as the best vintage in 30 years. It was so rapid that chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, who presided over Champagne Louis Roederer’s 250th harvest, refers to it as “the Formula One vintage” and had presses going around the clock. “The year will remain etched in the memory of great winegrowers and winemakers,” crows Sébastien Le Golvet, chef de cave at Champagne Henri Giraud. “The first wines are extraordinary.” The excellent ripeness of pinot noir and pinot meunier suggests great potential for rosés in 2025, according to Taittinger’s vineyard director.

Loire Valley

“What a vintage!” says Loic Cailbourdin of Domaine Cailbourdin in Pouilly-Fumé, who calls the quality in this record early harvest “superb,” a huge improvement over last year. Nights and mornings were cool, afternoons not too hot. In Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre, sauvignon blancs have good acidity, freshness and that salty mineral character aficionados love, while cabernet franc is also a success, with production up 26% over last year.

Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon

Don’t worry about Provence rosé. There will be enough—if you’re willing to pay higher prices because of tariffs. At Château d’Esclans, as at other estates, night harvesting to maintain freshness and acidity was key to the wines’ purity, refinement and harmony.

But in the Languedoc, August heatwaves, hail and wild boar reduced the crop, and disastrous fires with flames that reached 10 meters (33 feet) high torched some vineyards in Corbières. There are worries about smoke taint, but some producers say reds that are left are velvety and fresh.

The Rhône

Harvest started 10 days earlier than in 2024, thanks to an intense heatwave in August and no rain. Stephane Ogier of the eponymous domaine in Côte-Rôtie says wines show “great finesse and magnificent concentration, with roundness and density rather than tannic power.” In Crozes-Hermitage, reds have good balance and acidity, says Yann Chave of his eponymous domaine, but volumes are down 30%.

GERMANY

High quality, but the smallest vintage since 2010, reported the German Wine Institute. Earlier yield predictions were more optimistic, but heavy mid-September rains reminded winemakers that harvest isn’t over until it’s over. A high level of ripeness and concentration in both pinot noir and riesling bode well for rich, collectible wines.

ITALY

Great expectations of exceptional quality from north to south. Some regions produced 10% less than last year, but in quantity, Italy is the leading wine producer this year, surpassing France.

Prosecco

Franco Adami, president of the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Consortium, the premium subregion for prosecco, says the vintage is exceptional in terms of quality, one of the three or four best of the last three decades, especially when it comes to aromas.

Tuscany

A very good vintage of high quality, thanks to slow ripening and striking contrasts between hot days and cool nights.

In the Chianti Classico wine region, Isole e Olena posted, “all signs point to a vintage of remarkable character.” Expect wines with brightness and freshness, subtle floral hints, delicate fruit notes and elegance.

Cristina Mariani-May, the chief executive officer of her family’s Italian winery Banfi, which makes wines in Montalcino and other parts of Tuscany, emailed that the reds in Montalcino are richer in color than last year, which promises superb, collectible Brunellos.

And at Ornellaia in Bolgheri, winemaker Marco Balsimelli said over Zoom, “I’m very happy. The character of the vintage is a lot of concentration, merlot with freshness, lots of elegance and silky, velvety tannins.”

Piedmont

A great vintage, perfectly balanced.

It started as an early vintage, but winemakers were able to wait for perfect ripeness and achieve elegance and precision, along with gorgeous rose petal aromas. Speaking to Italian website WineNews, enologist Gianlucca Torrengo at Prunotto said, “The grapes are of a quality we haven’t seen in years.” This will be a vintage to collect.

Sicily

Antonio Rallo of Donnafugata winery sees “2025 as a return to normalcy.” He adds: “It’s better than last year, and the quality of the grapes looks promising.” Along with good rainfall, Rallo cites no prolonged heat extremes or drought, unlike last year. It was a vintage that didn’t require an early harvest. A high point is the delicious Frappato.

PORTUGAL

The 2025 growing season was one of the most challenging in recent decades. In the Douro, land of vintage port, Charles Symington, head winemaker at Symington Family Estates, cites drought and severe heatwaves, with 10 days above 40C (104F). Grapes are tiny, 30% smaller than average, which means a lot less wine, though it will be very concentrated and potentially very good.

SPAIN

It’s complicated. Quantity is generally down, and wines in many regions will be excellent, but disaster struck in Galicia. Catastrophic fires charred vineyards and poured out thick clouds of smoke in Valdeorras, Bierzo and trendy Ribeira Sacra. Some wineries, like Alvaredos-Hobbs, won’t release any 2025 wines.

Parts of Rioja faced a difficult growing season, with some hail, but at CVNE, Irene Bonilla, head of viticulture, describes the harvest as “ideal,” with ripening and reds with deep color and firm tannins, fresh and expressive.

In Catalonia, the home territory of Familia Torres, rainfall in the spring was welcome after three years of severe drought. Torres sees reds with promising red fruit flavor profiles, length, freshness and good acidity, compared to previous years. And in Ribera del Duero, Vega Sicilia reports the year is outstanding.

US

Napa

An unusually cool growing season and no extreme heat spikes resulted in bright but rich wines with complex flavors and aromas. Matt Crafton of Chateau Montelena finds the vintage is similar to 2018; winemaker Dan Petroski of Massican, sees lighter, brighter, fresher whites.

But the year was still brutal. The lack of demand means some grapes will rot on the vines.

And on Howell Mountain, the August Pickett Fire damaged grapes with heat or smoke at more than a half a dozen wineries. Robert Craig Winery lost about 90% of production; Dunn lost it all.

Sonoma

“The 2025 vintage is a special one,” says Jesse Katz of Aperture. He says cooler weather—the coldest July since 2010—resulted in whites with incredibly complex flavors and aromas, and cabernets with balance and elegance. And on the Sonoma coast, pinot maker Jamie Kutch of his eponymous winery explains that a cool, foggy summer slowed ripening and preserved freshness and acidity. He’s “cautiously optimistic” for elegant, nuanced wines.

Paso Robles

A plentiful vintage from one of the coolest growing seasons on record, yet an early harvest. At Tablas Creek, picking started on Aug. 24, and by mid-October only about 15% was left to bring in, mostly unusual varieties like counoise and terret noir. “The fruit that’s come in looked terrific,” winemaker Jason Haas posted on his blog. The consensus: Multiple varieties benefited from the long, slow ripening.

Oregon

Optimism reigns for a spectacular vintage. Early and fast made for a crazy-busy harvest. A warm dry summer, then a series of 95F-plus days pushed things along quickly. Winemaker Piper Underbrink of Sealionne Wines and Privé Vineyards sees the perfect concentration, balance and excellent acidity needed for a vintage to age. Think rich, ripe wines. The biggest challenge: shortage of labor.

Washington State

Sarah Hedges Goedhart, director of winemaking at Hedges Family Estate in Red Mountain AVA, predicted, “This could be one of those vintages that people talk about for decades. We’re seeing deep color, high acidity, balance and great flavors across a range of varietals.” Winemakers talk about near-perfect growing conditions. The wines, says David Merfeld of Northstar winery in Walla Walla, will be lush, soft, jammy and fruity.

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