Out: In & Out Lists (Except This One).

What's in store for the year to come? Plus, my top stories of 2025. Also: daiquiri recipes to ring in 2026 as The Year of the Daiquiri.

Dec 31, 2025

∙ Paid

Dear reader, I debated whether or not to offer an In/Out list this year. I started doing it three years ago, and by now, everyone is doing an In & Out list. Frankly, it’s feeling a little tired. In the end, I caved and here we are.

With last year’s list, if I can pat myself on the back a bit, I actually did pretty well in my prognosticating (you can revisit and judge for yourself).

As we come to the end of 2025, I’m a little grumpier than usual. I’m declaring as “out” some things that have been irritating me a while now, in hopes that they will go away in 2026. For instance: Blind tasting. I’ve always seen it as a useless parlor trick. Also: people whining that Gen Z doesn’t drink and blaming the wine industry’s problems on this. The data shows that Gen Z drinks as much as, or more than, any other generation. The wine industry’s crisis is largely self-created, due to its reliance on selling shitty mass-market wine, which Gen Z doesn’t want. Full stop.

Also, a pet peeve: Supposedly cool wine bars that don’t offer a wine list. I won’t name names but I’m thinking of a place in Williamsburg where a line stretches out the door, as everyone waits for everyone else to have a little consultation with the sommelier—who never mentions prices, but pours a few sips of the same handful of bottles, all to create the illusion of bespoke choice. Enough. I’m buying a glass of wine, not a car. Just give me a QR code with a list of wines, so I can order like an adult.

There are also a few wine terms I’m hoping we see less of in the new year. For instance, glou glou. Yes, glou glou has had a nice run, and we get it: everyone likes fresh, juicy, unoaked, low-alcohol, drinkable wines. The French is cute but isn’t it feeling a little try-hard at this point? I’d also like to see a moratorium on another French descriptor, garrigue, that’s always rolled out when a WSET candidate is tasting Rhône reds.

Finally, can American wine people stop using “black currant” as a red-wine tasting note? You’re not British; you didn’t grow up drinking Ribena. Very few Americans actually know the taste of black currant. Which is not to say that can’t change. I recently read that McCormick, the spice company, in its 2026 Flavor Forecast, nominated black currant as its flavor of year.

As for the rest of my list, much of it is hopeful or fanciful. Will 2026 be the year of the daiquiri? Will good old espresso, spaghetti, and lentils take their star turns? Will we be seeing more guava, muhammara, and halloumi? Only the future will tell.

Happy New Year!