2025 will not just be about spice. A whole world of flavor awaits us, according to those who predict such things. With that, we welcome you to our annual RiberayRueda food trends and wine pairing report.

Let’s start with Carbonate, a food, restaurant, and hospitality strategy company. They release a much-anticipated food trend report every year, and this year, their flavor of the year for 2025 is – wait for it – pistachio. Whether it’s pistachio nuts, pistachio flavoring, pistachio beverages – if a nut is in it, chances are in 2025 it will be the pistachio. Again, we celebrate this because what could be better than, say, pistachio nut-crusted lechazo – the sumptuous and protected-origin specialty lamb from Castilla y Léon including Ribera del Duero?

And while we’re talking about protein, you’ll find amped-up protein in 2025 in everything from pasta to cereal(!), to the ubiquitous protein bars as well as more traditional protein sources like bone broth, smoked fish, and if you’re game (pun intended), more organ meats.

Maybe one of the most decadent food trends afoot is the stuffed croissant. Evidently the buttery crescent isn’t enough. Even the shape has changed to fit the filling. Move over, Cronut. There’s a new cro-kid in town. Now, look for rounds filled with ice cream, or how about a so-called “oni-ssant,” named for its triangular shape a la Japanese onigiri – filled with savory ingredients like bacon and cheese? Lucky for wine drinkers, however, no matter the shape, the buttery, savory whatever-you-call-it is perfectly happy with a glass of lees-aged Verdejo alongside as long as the filling isn’t dessert-y.

While we’re on the subject of crispy bread, Carbonate also predicts that tissue bread or 1,000 layer bread – a feathery light, buttery bread with a crispy exterior originally from China though popularized in South Korea – will continue to be the rage in 2025. With a description like that, how could it not? We’re thinking it’s fine as is, but better yet would be to use it to sop up soups and stews and sip some Ribera del Duero Tempranillo Reserva along with it.

Simple seafood is another trend on the near horizon. While you may wonder if it was ever not a thing, the difference now is that tiny eating establishments dedicated to seafood are popping up with limited menus but exceptional output. Bring on the Verdejo!

Verdejo will also appreciate the surge of global food products, as will Ribera del Duero Tempranillo. Whether it’s ramen, dumplings, Thai sauces, regional tapenades, and more – they’re coming to a store near you, and many of them have ‘wine” written all over them.

It may not take trendspotters to tell you that snacking is actually a thing, but there’s no sign of it slowing down in 2025. Whether it’s a Girl Dinner (cue TikTok), handcrafted popcorn, or tinned fish (our personal favorite), if it looks like a snack, chances are it will be on someone’s table – likely with Netflix at the ready.

Snacking is also the top Whole Foods-predicted trend of 2025. You can expect to see their shelves lined with Sichuan sprouted cashews, chile and lime rice chips, global popcorn, and more. For them too, dumplings is a thing as is crunch.

Indeed, the word alone – “crunch” – evokes a deep visceral response in most of us – as in, “we must have that.” For Whole Foods, that will include everything from crunchy salad kits to mushroom chips (aka Crianza cuisine to our way of thinking), and of course, pistachio crumble because, well, you know, pistachio…

And in case you didn’t think sourdough could ever get more popular, what’s coming now are 2.0 versions of it – sourdough spaghetti, pancake and waffle mix, Texas toast, crackers, and more, according to Whole Foods. “Internationalize” that spaghetti by adding Spanish chorizo, shrimp, tomato, a little Verdejo, Spanish olive oil, and smoked paprika, and you’ve got a match for Verdejo certainly and so too Tempranillo.

Finally, on the emotional food trend front (yes, there is such a thing), Innova Market Insights points to so-called beauty food, plant-based foods, mood foods, traditional foods, and wellness as go-to trends for consumers. While there don’t seem to be official definitions of any of these, mood foods might include fatty fish (hello, canned!), dark chocolate (no brainer), fermented foods, berries, nuts, and seeds. Beauty foods specifically include red wine according to NutraOrganics, as well as chocolate. We say put the two together.

Back on the more specific food front, Turkish cooking is a growing trend, according to Carbonate. They cite hummus, kebabs, and flatbreads in particular, while they also say the lone chickpea is having a moment too. Whether it’s chickpea flour forming the basis of farinata or socca – that is, flatbreads from Italy and the south of France respectively – or chickpea fries often called panisse, chickpeas add body and/or crunch to many dishes and are fast becoming a favorite food.

No doubt, there are many more food trends that will emerge as 2025 goes along, but for now, we’re very happy to see so many wine-friendly foods making their way onto a store shelf near you. Below are some ideas to get you cooking using 2025 ingredients. Also included are spice and food ingredients from trends past since what’s old is always new again. To complete the picture, we’ve grouped them according to their best Tempranillo and Verdejo wine pairs. With that, we say ¡salud!