With the unveiling of the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) results for 2025, it’s more exciting news for American wineries that entered their wines in the world’s largest wine competition. There were two Best in Shows from the US: one from Napa and the other from Sonoma. Additionally, American wines took home two Platinum awards and several Golds.
For America’s emerging regions, two Gold medals marked a landmark for the country’s developing viticulture along the East Coast last year, and those same regions, Pennsylvania and Virginia, once again brought home gold.
‘The strong showing from US wineries at this year’s awards offers a critical inflexion point,’ said DWWA judge and Oregon winemaker, Breek Stock MW. ‘We’re seeing a wave of producers—large and small—lean into the opportunity to define and distinguish their regional styles on a global platform. Increased vineyard maturity, greater attention to regional specificity, and evolving winemaking philosophies are culminating in wines that confidently express their place and purpose.’
For 2022, wines from 57 countries were evaluated by 248 top international experts, including 22 Master Sommeliers and 72 Masters of Wine – the most in the competition’s history.
At the 2025 awards, 50 Best in Show medals were awarded (representing just 0.30% of all wines tasted), alongside 137 Platinum and 732 Gold medals, both an increase on last year’s, with the overall medals in total increasing from 81.5% to 82.2% this year. A higher percentage of top medals were awarded, demonstrating an increase in the quality of the wines submitted.
This was a record year for US submissions, and as the North American Editor, I’m confident that as the awareness of Decanter grows, so will DWWA submissions. The US was awarded 294 medals, two Best in Show, four Platinum and 14 Gold.
Clos Du Val’s Hirondelle Vineyard in the Stags Leap District. Credit: Clos Du Val.
California love
Tupac told us that California knows how to party; turns out they still know how to make wine as well. While the US took home a total of 294 medals, 143 of them came from the Golden State. That included the country’s only two Best in Show performers for 2025, as well as two Platinum wines.
The Best in Show wines originated from the state’s renowned northern regions, including Napa Valley and Sonoma’s Alexander Valley. Clos du Val, which was one of the two US Best in Show wines in 2024, repeated the feat with their 2022 Cabernet Franc from the Stags Leap District. Judges were impressed.
‘Here’s the second pure Cabernet Franc wine in this year’s Top 50 Best in Show. The lesson is the same from both: this variety can enchant and inspire, but only if its tendency to dryness in warmer climates is seen off, and its fruit qualities express both ample ripeness while retaining poised and perfumed flesh. This Napa example is a show-stopper: opaque black in colour, with a carnival of scent in which spice, flowers and damsons mingle with carefully schooled abandon,’ said a judge.
Across the Mayacamas Mountains into Sonoma County, you’ll find the second US Best in Show wine from the longstanding Kenwood Vineyards. Their Six Ridges Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley was evaluated as world-class.
‘We’re thrilled to see a wine from Alexander Valley join the nine California red-wine peers that have already featured in our Best in Show selection. This distinctive zone clearly offers Cabernet of significantly different style to Napa: amply fleshed, yes, but with a savoury, mountain wildness to that flesh, and with a different acid emphasis. The blend here, with its seasoning of Petite Syrah, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, surely also plays a role in lending this wine its intriguing complexities,’ a judge commented.
Two Platinums continued the California hot streak, with one from Chandon, featuring their non-vintage Étoile Brut from Los Carneros, and the Cupere Chardonnay, called ‘Faces,’ from the Sonoma Coast, demonstrating that California Chardonnay still reigns.
‘I wanted Étoile Brut to be part of the Decanter World Wine Awards competition because it’s an iconic expression of California bubbles and represents the pinnacle of Chandon sparkling winemaking. We released our first bottle in 1991 and have been refining it for over 30 years now,’ said Chandon winemaker Pauline Lhote.
Echolands winemaker Brian Rudin. Credit: Echolands.
Let’s be Franc
Cabernet Franc really shone in the 2025 DWWA results from the US, with the aforementioned Clos du Val wine, and a Platinum from Walla Walla Valley, in Washington State, the Echolands, 2022 Blue Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc.
‘It’s deeply gratifying to receive this accolade. Cabernet Franc is an obsession for us; we make differing versions of the grape because we believe it offers a unique expression in the Walla Walla Valley,’ said owner and CEO, Doug Frost MS, of the DWWA acknowledgement.
‘That said, the Blue Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Franc exemplifies our vision of the grape’s grace, its complexity, and its ability to provide pleasure in suppleness. We think that Blue Mountain Vineyard is a very special place and we hope that the Decanter judges saw too that Walla Walla wines can convey fruit intensity without excessive alcohol, over-the-top oak, or the sort of garishness that interferes with a grape’s sheer prettiness.’
The Northwest shines
In addition to the Platinum wine from Walla Walla, the renowned valley in Washington walked away with five Gold medals, all of Washington’s and two of the three awarded to Oregon.
The fourth Platinum winner from the US came from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Perennial medal winner, Domaine Serene, cashed in with their 2022 Yamhill Cuvée Pinot Noir, highlighting the cool vintage and the region’s cool growing conditions.
Golds abound
Gold medals from California totalled six, with Clos du Val taking home two, one each for a Malbec and their Estate Sauvignon Blanc. There were three Golds from Oregon, with two coming from Walla Walla’s Watermill and Ambar Estate in the Willamette Valley, collecting the third. Washington Gold medals went to a Cabernet Sauvignon from L’ecole 41, the Bordeaux blend, Uriah from Spring Valley Vineyard and the Bhūmi Syrah from Samā Cellars.
Beyond the West Coast, it was the same two emerging regions that netted Gold last year, Pennsylvania, with Benigna’s, Traminette Non-Vintage and Virginia’s Early Mountain Petit Manseng.
‘It’s no coincidence that emerging and established US regions alike are leveraging this stage. The media exposure and credibility that come with a Decanter medal open doors to importers, on-premise placements, and consumers who may otherwise overlook US wines beyond the established familiar producers and regions. For regions and producers looking to solidify their identity or introduce themselves to the world, there’s arguably no more effective launchpad,’ Stock concluded.
