Decanter’s Top 50 US Wines: Part one – 50-31

Top Wines of the Year lists are far from novel, with most major publications compiling a list of their various takes on a ‘Top 100’ wines tasted in a given year. They may elicit controversy and second-guessing; but you know what they say about opinions, after all.

In my second year in this role, as our US coverage has continued to expand, it felt important to find a way to emphasise our commitment to both the depth and breadth of US wine.

In 2024, we’ve featured vintage reports from both the Sonoma Coast and Sonoma County separately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley that spans both Washington and Oregon.

Of course, we covered Napa, Paso Robles, New York State, and, for the first time, the Anderson Valley on California’s northernmost coast.

Scroll down for scores and reviews of the Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one

There’s more to do, of course. We’re just getting started, and this countdown, revealed over the course of this week, will feature wines highlighted by several correspondents and contributing writers.

Jonathan Cristaldi, in Napa; Vanessa Rason, located in Santa Barbara County; Brianne Cohen in Paso Robles; and Maiah Johnson Dunn, up in the Finger Lakes, along with contributing writer Anna Lee Ijima and yours truly.

I personally enjoy these lists because of the conversation they create, the rare bit of controversy, and the attention that often results for smaller, out-of-the-way regions and producers. My aim with this list is to show that beyond the perfect scores of our Napa Valley vintage report, there are remarkable wines and winemakers across the US.

I made the final ranking decisions, and I’ve personally tasted most, but not all, of these wines, even if I haven’t scored them myself. I recognise that it’s not perfect, but I feel like it’s a great start for us, a very small team on this side of the pond.

My hope is that you may discover a new producer or three and enjoy exploring this list as much as I did putting it together.

The first 20 wines on our list include the only wine from outside the West Coast. I believe places like New York and Virginia make compelling wines, and hope that as we taste more of them, you’ll see them showing up on this list more frequently.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: 50-41

Tasting notes and scores are below

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

49: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California 2021

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

46: Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills, Washington 2021

45: Cain Vineyard & Winery, Cain Five, Spring Mountain, Napa Valley, California 2021

44: DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

43: Drew Family Cellars, Faite de Mer Farm – Radiolaria Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge, California 2022

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

41: Pahlmeyer, Pièce de Résistance, Napa Valley, California 2021

Here are a few wines I’d like to highlight.

50: Apollo’s Praise, Riesling, Finger Lakes, New York 2023

The team at Apollo’s Praise is husband and wife, Kelby James Russell and Julia Hoyle, who also make the wines for the Finger Lakes outfit Hosmer. KJR was the longtime winemaker at Red Newt and is among the country’s most talented and exciting winemakers. This Kabinett-style Riesling and his drier bottling exemplify New York’s Riesling sweet spot. The Dry Riesling turned heads when I tasted it in London at our Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in November.

48: Delmas, Viognier, The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Oregon 2021

My top white wine from the 2021 Columbia Valley vintage report. Honestly, I find domestic Viognier too often tedious. It tends to lack freshness and minerality and, in the worst cases, can move towards the flabby and fat side of the spectrum. The Viognier from Delmas shatters that boring mould. Brooke Delmas Roberston says: ‘We pick this Viognier when the skins are orange and freckly, and it’s at 25 brix.’ She also gives the wine 8-12 hours on the skins to build texture. The result challenges conventional thinking about ripeness and the variety itself. The honeyed palate of ripe apricots and macerated yellow peaches is shot through with streaks of salinity and bright, soaring piques of fresh ginger.

47: Hirsch Vineyards, Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

The Hirsch Rosé of Pinot Noir is a very exciting wine. While I scored several of the Pinot Noirs and the Chardonnay higher when tasting with Jasmine Hirsch in the spring, this wine stands out. It is, I believe, America’s best rosé by some distance. Over vintage and made in the same fashion as the Pinot Noirs at Hirsch. Harvested at full ripeness with time in barrel, Jasmine Hirsch isn’t convinced that pink Pinot Noir should be made in a Provençal style, and after tasting this wine, it’s hard to argue with her.

42: RAEN Winery, Royal St. Robert Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California 2022

My love for the Sonoma Coast was cemented in January at a tasting there with several West Sonoma Coast Vintners member wineries. I was focused on producing a 2021 vintage report, but this preview of 2022 from Carlo Mondavi’s team at RAEN was a sterling wine. The Seafield and Bodega vineyards comprise this wine dedicated to Robert Mondavi. The smoky aromatics and pungent floral aromas of this wine are about the microflora of the vineyard. All native yeasts, unfiltered and unfined, with 10% new oak, it’s a wine of intensity and elegance and undeniably coastal.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Wines 40-31

Tasting notes and scores are below

40: Liminal, WeatherEye Vineyard Block 47 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

38: Kinsman Eades, Hierothesion, Napa Valley, California, 2021

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon 2023

36: Cristom Vineyards, Louise Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

35: Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, Washington 2021

34: Diamond Creek, Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District, Napa Valley, California 2021

33: Bethel Heights, Casteel Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2022

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

31: Scarecrow, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa Valley, California 2021

39: Read Holland Wines, Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2021

An exciting Chardonnay was a personal highlight among the 1300+ wines I tasted this year. It can be rare in this business to discover a complete unknown. I was tipped off to Winemaker Ashley Holland for an August feature about how California Chardonnay challenges the stale stereotypes associated with the variety. Holland brings a real exuberance to her ability to make wine from such a historically important vineyard. A charming and complex Chardonnay that comes from nearly 50-year-old Chardonnay vines, head-trained in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

37: Cadence, Coccinelle Bis Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Oregon, USA 2023

This wine is a one-off for Cadence winemaker Ben Smith, who makes his wines exclusively from his Red Mountain estate vineyard, Cara Mia. A fun project made for charity, the humble Smith here shows that he can make some of the Northwest’s most compelling wines from anywhere he chooses. Walla Walla’s Christophe Baron gave Smith some fruit from one of his younger plots, and Smith showed his deft hand in producing one of the most compelling Syrahs from the region I’ve tasted, even in its youth.

32: Corison, Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California 2021

Cathy Corison has remained a Napa Valley icon since she opened her doors in 1987. Consistently crafting benchmark wines, in this case from the Kronos Vineyard, planted in 1971. Embraced by long-time Napa Valley purists, sommeliers, and wine geeks, Cathy Corison is the winemaker’s winemaker, focusing on benchland sites between Rutherford and St Helena. Cathy’s quiet confidence and unwavering belief in what she’s doing has her never chasing style or trend but instead sticking to what she knows and has done, better than nearly everyone else, for almost 40 years. The 2021 Kronos Vineyard Cabernet is about terroir and vintage, embraced by her signature lightness, purity and precision.

Top 50 US Wines 2024: How the selections were made

The selections for Decanter’s Top 50 US wines were chosen from the over 3,000 wines tasted and reviewed between January and November of 2024. To be considered, they must be current or soon-to-be-released wines; library wines are not eligible.

They were selected to show a range of styles, places and exciting and emerging winemaking talent. This is not intended to be a list of the top-scoring wines of the year but wines that show the brilliance and diversity of America’s winemaking talents and regions.

Decanter Top 50 US Wines: Part one –Wines 50-31

Wines are listed in reverse order from 50 to 31

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