Best Wine Vintages of 2023 – Wine Enthusiast Magazine Online
It’s 2023, which means that deep in your cellar is a bottle just bursting with flavor, ready to finally be enjoyed this year. But don’t go into this experience unprepared. Opening a vintage wine after it has spent some much-needed time in storage is a very special experience; our wine experts are here to break down everything you need to know about choosing the best vintage to enjoy this year.
Of course, wines don’t really “peak” as much as they simply reach a point when they’re ready to be poured. “Very few wines have just a peak,” explains Jim Gordon, Senior Tasting Editor at Wine Enthusiast. “There’s not one month, one year you have to drink them. It’s more that they plateau.”
These wines “gain the complexity and nuances of age gradually and get to a point where the wine is in a balance between the complex nuances of age and still has some youthful fruitiness and freshness,” he continues.
With that in mind, here are 10 bottles that reach their potential in 2023. Are you ready to break into these vintages?
The Best Wine Vintages to Drink Now
97 Points Wine Enthusiast
Coming entirely from Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, the new release of this famous Champagne is from a top vintage year. The wine is at perfect maturity, poised between crisp, taut minerality and wonderful toastiness. It is intense, beautifully clear and limpid, a great Champagne. It is ready to drink now and for many years to come. Cellar Selection —Roger Voss
$229.99
Vivino
97 Points Wine Enthusiast
Still young but already boasting extraordinary pedigree, this fantastic wine opens with hallmark scents of wild berry, new leather, chopped herb, tilled soil and a whiff of violet. The polished, full-bodied palate delivers juicy wild cherry, crushed raspberry, white pepper and licorice while youthfully assertive, noble tannins and bright acidity provide age-worthy structure. A pipe tobacco note lingers on the finish. Drink 2023–2038. Cellar Selection —Kerin O’Keefe
$ Varies
Wine-Searcher
97 Points Wine Enthusiast
This is a fabulous gran reserva from a very good but lightly heralded vintage. Aromas of spiced plum, black olive, fig, tobacco and cassis come together like a puzzle. A deep, pure palate shows near-perfect balance, while this tastes of plum, berry fruits and earthy spice. Smooth, elegant and chocolaty on the finish, this delivers all one can ask for from Rioja. Drink through 2035. #5 Enthusiast 100 2019. Cellar …….