Despite the ever-growing challenges confronting the wine industry, each year an enthusiastic, innovative new crop of producers steps up, eager to move the category forward.
This up-and-coming generation of winemakers pushes the boundaries of what’s expected, experimenting with unconventional growing sites, grape varieties, and techniques. Many, especially producers based in the U.S., are also finding creative solutions to the harsh economic realities of building a winery today. Others are reimagining the potential of old family estates that have been around for generations or even introducing American drinkers to emerging winemaking countries.
This list spans winemakers just getting started to world-class producers just reaching the U.S. for the first time. Whether it’s an Arneis from California, Sekt-inspired sparkling from the Finger Lakes, or Chardonnay from Japan, these winemakers’ persistence and commitment to shaping a bright future is tangible in the glass.
With countless new and exciting wineries popping up around the world every year, this list is by no means exhaustive. Nevertheless, here are 15 noteworthy winemakers to keep an eye on in 2025.
Birdhorse Wines — Sonoma, Calif.
Winemakers Katie Rouse and Corinne Rich met while studying viticulture and enology at UC Davis. After graduating they travelled to South Africa to work the 2018 harvest at Mullineux, where they found their inspiration for Birdhorse Wines in an old-vine Verdelho vineyard. Now the two work in California, sourcing thoughtfully farmed grapes from lesser-known regions like Suisun Valley, Amador County, and Mendocino. They make energetic wines from grape varieties like Verdelho, Arneis, Barbera, and Valdiguié, showing the potential for these underappreciated grapes and regions.
Domaine Lagille — Champagne, France
Winemaker Vincent Lagille’s family has a long history in Champagne, growing and producing wines in the village of Treslon since 1818. Vincent started working at the winery in 2012, looking to experiment and reinvent the estate while paying respect to his family’s traditions. In 2019, he and his sister, Maud, converted the estate’s 18 acres of vines to organic viticulture. With such a deep connection to the land in Treslon, Vincent believes in making each wine as a true expression of the area’s terroir, focusing on single-varietal bottlings. Though Domaine Lagille is by no means new, the wines arrived in the U.S. for the first time in 2024, ready to quench the thirst of grower Champagne enthusiasts looking for their next favorite 100 percent Pinot Meunier.
Domaine Mie Ikeno — Yamanashi, Japan
Japanese wine isn’t widely available in the U.S. yet, but the category is slowly gaining steam in major markets. Mie Ikeno is considered one of the greatest winemakers in Japan, and her wines were just imported to the U.S. for the first time in 2024. She makes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Merlot from the highest elevations of Japan’s wine country of Yamanashi, a mountainous region in central Japan, just over an hour outside Tokyo. She released her first vintages to great acclaim in 2011, and only produces around 800 cases a year. Though difficult to find, some bars and restaurants are starting to carry Japanese wine stateside. Last year, Momoya, a Japanese restaurant in NYC, was the first to sell Domaine Mie Ikeno’s wine in the U.S., and we expect they’ll continue to pop up on more menus this year.
Entelecheia Wine Cellars — Finger Lakes, N.Y.
Winemaker Matthew Denci wants to establish Entelecheia Wine Cellars as the leading sparkling wine house of the Finger Lakes. After completing five harvests in just two and a half years in Burgundy, New Zealand, Sonoma, and Australia, Denci started Entelecheia Wine Cellars to see if he could strike out on his own. “Part of the appeal of Entelecheia was to get myself behind the wheel, start calling the shots, start using all this experience, and start applying all these ideas rattling around in my head,” he says. “That is actually where the name came from; Entelecheia is the concept of fulfilling your purpose, the action of living your life.”
Like many winemakers in the Finger Lakes, Denci focuses on Riesling — but with a twist: The winery’s flagship bottle is a Sekt-style sparkling wine, aged in bottle for three years. And he plans to expand the winery’s sparkling offerings, adding a Pinot Noir-based sparkling rosé starting with the 2024 vintage.
Erde Wines — Portland, Ore.
Kirk Sutherland launched Erde Wines in 2020 after working for well-known Oregon producers including Day Wines and Division Winemaking Company. He started out making about 250 cases of wine and cider, sourcing fruit from thoughtfully farmed vineyards and an untouched orchard. He makes approachable and delicious — though somewhat unexpected — wines, like a crisp Albariño and Grüner Veltliner blend, light-bodied Grenache, and a juicy Gamay. The quaffable wines and eye-grabbing labels, inspired by record covers, are sure to draw in fans of approachable, chillable wines.
Isa Wines — Sonoma, Calif.
Isabella Morano’s winemaking is motivated by intuition. She learned from Loire Valley legends Sylvestre and Joseph Mosse that “each ferment will tell you what it needs; all you need to do is listen.” From her time working with Domaine Mosse and a number of other esteemed producers (Martha Stoumen, Foradori, and Bedrock Wine Co.), she’s developed the ability to coax new, fresh expressions from familiar varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot in her first solo project, Isa Wines.
For Isa Wines’ inaugural harvest in 2021, Morano only made one barrel (24 cases) of wine: a Sauvignon Blanc from Santa Cruz. Last vintage, she crafted four different cuvées, totaling around 450 cases. Morano loves spreading the word about her wines through collaborative events with other creatives; she’s even hosted a series of parties with prominent DJs across California. Morano plans to continue growing this project and increasing distribution — her wines are currently only available in California, New York, and New Jersey — so keep an eye out for Isa Wines’ intricate watercolor labels (illustrated by Pablo Cristi) at your local wine shop in 2025.
Lalú — Piedmont, Italy
Lalú might already be a go-to producer for Nebbiolo lovers in-the-know, but this Piedmont-based winery is still relatively new, and promises to be an up-and-coming star in the historic region. Friends Lara Rocchetti and Luisa Sala (La & Lu = Lalú), who met while studying at the renowned University of Pollenzo, worked with Piedmont’s Trediberri winery as well as Domaine Lafon in Burgundy, before setting out to start their own project. In 2019, they found a small cantina to rent in Serralunga d’Alba and in that same year, they harvested their first Nebbiolo for Barolo from the Le Coste cru in Monforte d’Alba. Since arriving in the U.S., the wines have been sought-after for their vibrant and approachable characteristics. Rocchetti and Sala plan to continue the brand’s stellar growth in the coming years.
Las Pedreras Viñedos y Vinos — Sierra de Gredos, Spain
It’s not necessarily news that there’s some extraordinary Garnacha coming out of the remote, high-elevation vines of Spain’s Sierra de Gredos region. But for fans of highly regarded wines from this area — like the coveted bottles from Comando G — Las Pedreras is an exciting young winery to watch. The project is a collaboration between Bárbara Requejo Frutos, a talented young winemaker with experience working at top estates — including Château Haut-Brion, Pierre Peters Champagne, and Peay Vineyards on the Sonoma Coast — and Guzmán Sánchez de la Parra, a native of the stunning mountain village Villanueva de Avila. They started production in 2020, and the wines were imported to the U.S. for the first time in 2022. As ever more consumers become acquainted with the lighter side of Garnacha, we expect drinkers to gravitate toward these elegant, mineral-driven expressions from Las Pedreras.
Lena Sekt — Rheinhessen, Germany
Lena Singer-Fischer knows sparkling wine. She worked for Champagne producer Larmandier-Bernier and is also the third generation to run her family’s Sektkellerei, a co-op where local growers bring fruit to be turned into a variety of sparkling styles. So it was only natural that when she released her own label, the focus would be bubbly. Singer-Fischer started working with a small plot of her family’s organic vineyards in 2017, and released her first vintage under the Lena Sekt label in 2023. She works with Champagne varieties, and her acid-driven, textured wines have been compared to the greatest stars of grower Champagne. Though the production is limited, prepare for more buzz about this German Sekt in 2025.
Likha Wine Co. — Ballard Canyon, Calif.
Avid diners might already be familiar with Jhonel Faelnar from his work as the award-winning beverage director for NA:EUN Hospitality, a restaurant group that includes New York’s two-Michelin-star Atomix, Atoboy, and Naro. But recently Faelnar has been taking some time off the floor to start a new venture out west. Along with partner Chai Gray, Faelnar is now making wine in Santa Barbara’s Ballard Canyon AVA under the label Likha Wine Co. The two are working with a one-acre, organically farmed vineyard — aptly named Chai’s Vineyard — that is planted to Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and a few vines of Viognier. The pair just released their inaugural vintage, which is available at select restaurants, and the 2023 vintage will be released later this year.
Maffrei — Piedmont, Italy
After growing up in a winemaking family in La Morra, brothers Andrea and Stefano Mascarello decided to take the plunge and start a new domaine: Maffrei. The two young winemakers inherited a sandy-soil vineyard at the top of La Morra, a charming village in Barolo, that their grandfather had planted a few years before his passing. And in 2021, the self-proclaimed “bros in wine” purchased a hilltop farmhouse next to the vineyard and produced their first vintage. Andrea and Stefano age the wines in stainless steel tanks to craft high-toned, pure, and bright expressions of the classic Piedmontese varieties. With the latest vintage, Maffrei released three cuvées: Langhe Bianco, Dolcetto, and Langhe Nebbiolo; looking to the future, keep an eye out for Maffrei’s highly anticipated Barolo release.
Restless River — Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, South Africa
Restless River was founded in 2004 by husband-and-wife duo Craig and Anne Wessels, who moved from Cape Town to the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley to restore a small farm that had been part of Craig’s family since 1760. Despite having no formal winemaking education, Craig began experimenting with the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon vines already planted on the farm, crafting his first wines in a modest shed. The couple released their first vintage from the idyllic site in 2012, and the wines were celebrated for showcasing the area’s unique terroir of granitic and shale soils. The wines are now being imported to the U.S. for the first time, so watch out for the Restless River Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cab.
Ricochet Wine Co. — McMinnville, Ore.
The name Ricochet is a reference to founder Erich Berg’s diverse and vacillating career history, or “some would say, perennial existential crisis,” he jokes. He bounced around a number of fields, working in hospitality, as a high school teacher, as a model, and at several wineries including Domaine Serene, Illahe, and Day Wines. He decided to start his own winery as a side project in 2018 while working at popular Oregon winery Day Wines. He had no intention of producing a commercial brand, but simply wanted to have total control and artistic freedom to make wine on his own, starting out making around 150 cases. As of the 2024 harvest, Berg processed 45 tons of grapes, equating to about 3,000 cases.
Ricochet Wine Co. isn’t only expanding in production, but also in space, as Berg opened a new tasting room and winery in McMinnville in 2024. He plans to use the space to bring the community together with engaging events and help out up-and-coming winemakers. After being open for less than a year, the Ricochet space already has six tenants making wine under their own labels. “I want to be a place where new brands get their legs, and a place where collegiality trumps rigid competitiveness,” Berg says. The winery also gives 5 percent of its wine sales to local and regional non-profit organizations that help people bounce back from difficult situations.
Stefano Occhetti — Roero, Italy
In 2019, Stefano Occhetti, a young Piemontese engineer-turned-vigneron, returned to his home in Roero to take over 4.5 acres of vineyards planted by his grandfather in the 1960s. This region is often overlooked in favor of its more esteemed neighbors, Barolo and Barbaresco, but Roero’s distinctly sandy soils lend to a pure, perfumed style of Nebbiolo. Occhetti’s wines reached the U.S. for the first time in 2023, and fans of expressive, approachable Nebbiolos are taking notice — we certainly have, and his Langhe Nebbiolo was included on VinePair’s list of The 50 Best Wines of 2024.
Wills Wine — Rhône Valley, France
Wills Wine is the result of the past 10 years of experience for winemaker Will Arnold. After growing up in the industry, Arnold worked harvests for well-known producers including Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey and Jean-Louis Chave. With a decade of winemaking experience under his belt, Arnold set out to start his own label in 2021. He crafts minimal-intervention wines, sourcing fruit from a number of organic growers across a diverse set of terroirs that span from southern areas of Beaujolais to Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Southern Rhône. He makes Gamay, Syrah, and Aligoté, whole cluster-pressing the whites, and using 50 to 100 percent whole-cluster fermentation for reds, lending to complex, yet easy-to-love wines. Wills Wine was first brought to the U.S. in 2024, and is sure to find a dedicated following in lovers of both Beaujolais and Rhône wines in the years to come.
