Anniversary wines 2023: the Decanter guide

Is this a special year for you or your loved ones? Obviously the bigger the occasion, the rarer the wine, and some celebrations just cry out for that perfect bottle. Here’s our annual selection of very special vintages for a perfect gift (or for yourself).

By Anthony Rose

published 1 January 2023

in Features

Anniversary wines 2023 — (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

After the trials of the ‘terrible twos’ for last year’s selection, at first I thought that the anniversary wines for 2023 might leave another glass half empty, but the more I looked into past anniversary vintages, the more I found my glass overflowing, on occasion literally, with some gorgeous wines and fantastic buys for anyone looking out for a great wine gift for a partner or friend.

I was also pleasantly surprised, on fossicking about in the recesses of my own cellar, to find a handful of deliciously mature wines that were far from over the hill, and I can only apologise in advance for the many wines I name here that are too rare to be found easily or at all – though it’s worth a rummage to see what you may have left in a dusty corner of your own collection.

(Where shown, stockists mentioned below are a representative selection…)

18th (2005)

DEC282.anniversary_wines.furleigh_estate.jpg — Furleigh Estate in Dorset, southwest England

The year when Angela Merkel becomes Germany’s first female Chancellor and the Kyoto Protocol comes into force, committing nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Ian Edwards creates Furleigh Estate’s Dorset sparkling wine facility, Jonas Newman and Vicki Samaras set up Hinterland in Prince Edward County, Canada, and Pierre Taittinger’s 45 descendants vote to sell their shares to Starwood Capital Group for €2.1 billion (bought back a year later for €660 million).

A dream vintage in both Bordeaux and Burgundy, so 18-year-olds are spoilt for choice. My bottle of Fourrier, Vieilles Vignes Gevrey-Chambertin (£186-£195 Hatton & Edwards, Hand Picked Burgundy), drunk last autumn, was fragrant and sumptuous but almost too young still, and a bottle of Château Calon-Ségur, St-Estèphe 3CC (£125-£152 Bentley’s of Ludlow, Frazier’s, Latimer Vintners, Nemo) from a case bought en primeur was a very fine swan indeed.

Across the pond, Californian Ridge, Monte Bello (£1,750ib per 6x75cl Berry Bros & Rudd) is exceptional and just starting to open up now. Further afield, in Barossa, Torbreck, The Laird Shiraz (£2,004ib per 3x75cl Lay & Wheeler) was released to great acclaim, while in Margaret River, the Cabernets from Moss Wood (A$195 Canterbury Wines) and Cullen are just coming into their own. With aromas of stone fruit and biscuit, the sparkling Arras Museum Release Blanc de Blancs delivers a rich, creamy mousse buoyed by lively acidity for a dry finish.

My choice from Spain: Vega Sicilia, Tinto Valbuena 5 (€203.28 Enjoy Wine) and CVNE, Viña Real Gran Reserva (£204.60ib per 6x75cl Lay & Wheeler). From South Africa, Klein Constantia’s sweet Vin de Constance (£275/50cl Hard to Find Wines) is in the fresher new style introduced by Adam Mason a year earlier, while the Vilafonte, Series C red (£150 Penistone Wine Cellars) and the maiden vintage of DeMorgenzon, Chenin Blanc are still drinking well.

In Germany, 2005 is a great vintage for Riesling spätlese and auslese so you can almost stick a pin in any of the great names. Staying sweet in Sauternes, the fabulously rich Château Suduiraut (£60-£66 Christopher Piper, Eton Vintners, Four Walls,

JN Wine, T Wright) is richly textured with crystallised peach flavours and a refreshing salted honey twist. Turning to fortified, Dow’s Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira (€73.75 PortugalGetWine) is voluptuously concentrated with super-ripe Morello cherry and creamy cassis fruit.

20th (2003)

DEC282.anniversary_wines.gettyimages_1152274316_credit_samuel_boivin_nurphoto_getty_images.jpg — The Trocadéro fountain in Paris – a popular option to visit during Europe’s infamous heatwave summer of 2003.

The year in which the Gulf War begins and Saddam Hussein is captured. Paula Radcliffe sets a world record in the London marathon of 2:15:25. We say farewell to Dolly the Sheep and Nina Simone, and hello to Greta Thunberg, born in January.

Jean-Michel Cazes is the Decanter Hall of Fame award recipient. It is the hottest and earliest-ever harvest in Champagne and this is a wake-up call that alerts wine producers throughout Europe to the dangers – and the potential benefits – of climate change.

Château Pavie, St-Emilion 1GCC 2003 (£2,600ib per 12x75cl Armit, Bordeaux Index) is described by Jancis Robinson MW as a ‘Porty sweet… ridiculous wine more reminiscent of a late-harvest Zinfandel than a red Bordeaux…12/20’, while Robert Parker scores it 96/100.

I bought a few cases of Bordeaux, the best of which has been the sumptuous Château Montrose, St-Estèphe 2CC (£196-£227 Lay & Wheeler, WoodWinters), now in its prime.

In a ‘Californian vintage’ in Burgundy – ‘more Grenache than Pinot’, says renowned merchant Roy Richards – in Morey-St-Denis, Domaine Chantal Remy excelled with Chambertin GC and Latricières-Chambertin GC, and Domaine Jean Chauvenet with Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Perrières and 1er Cru Vaucrains (£55 Hand Picked Burgundy).

In California, Randall Grahm ranks this vintage of his Santa Cruz Le Cigare Volant one of his favourites: ‘Truly, one of the most “Burgundian” Cigares I have produced.’ In Australia, 2003 ‘continues a series of “odd” vintage blues’, says Andrew Caillard MW, suggesting that Penfolds, St Henri Shiraz (A$180-$189 Cellarit, Petersham Liquormart) is holding up well and Wynns, John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon (A$188 Cellarit) punching above its weight. The same goes in the Cape, according to wine writer Angela Lloyd, for Eben Sadie’s Columella, Rustenberg’s Peter Barlow, Thelema Reserve Merlot and Vergelegen V.

On the sweet wine front, in Hungary it was an excellent vintage for Tokaji Aszú, now at its perfect peak. One of the great fortified wines of the vintage is Taylor’s Vintage Port (£62-£90 Widely available), whose dense, bitter-cherry fruit flavours make it a youthful 20-year-old; another, Quinta do Noval’s Colheita Tawny Port (£56 The General Wine Co), is unctuously rich and oozing with liquid toffee-apple fruit.

21st (2002)

DEC282.anniversary_wines.gettyimages_1346030933_credit_hulton_royals_collection_getty_images.jpg — Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to whom we bid a sad farewell in 2002.

In this year of the US invasion of Afghanistan and the start of the trial of Slobodan Milošević in the Hague, asteroid 2002 MN misses earth by 120,000km, Brazil beats Germany 2-0 in the World Cup final and we bid farewell to the Queen Mother. In wine news, Croatian grape variety Crljenak Kaštelanski is discovered to be Zinfandel by Professor Carole Meredith of UC Davis and József Kreinbacher buys his first vineyards in Hungary.

Despite being no great shakes in either Bordeaux or Burgundy, 2002 is arguably the vintage of the decade in Champagne, so it’s no surprise that there’s a plethora of great Champagnes.

First and foremost, prestige cuvée Bruno Paillard, Nec Plus Ultra is still in tip-top condition, as much a wine with bubbles as a crystalline Champagne with its seductively toasty plum flavours. It’s a great vintage, too, for Dom Pérignon Brut (£365-£395 Hedonism, Nemo Wine Cellars), but even greater for the wonderfully intense, toasty, truffley, delicately textured and even savoury Dom Pérignon, Plénitude 2 (£480-£595 Fine Wine Direct, Millésima, Nickolls & Perks, The Champagne Co).

Priorat wines are rarely supposed to age for 20 years, but the brooding, muscular Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita Velles Vinyes (£2,350ib per 6x75cl Appellations, Corney & Barrow) is drinking superbly now.

From Germany, the dry Wittmann, Riesling Grosses Gewächs (from a number of single vineyards in Rheinhessen) is holding its own, as is Bründlmayer’s Heiligenstein Lyra Riesling from Kamptal, Austria. Further east, István Szepsy made historic wines from the Lapis vineyard in 2002, bottled both under his name and the Királyudvar brand, while Patricius, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos and Oremus, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos both pushed the envelope.

You can take your pick of Clare Riesling from South Australia, most notably Grosset, Mount Horrocks, Petaluma and Pikes, while Penfolds, Bin 389 Cabernet-Shiraz (A$135-$200 Canterbury Wines, Cellarit, Frootbat, Valore Cellars, Wine Reserve) and Henschke, Cyril Cabernet Sauvignon (£110 Cult & Boutique Wines) should not be overlooked.

Meanwhile, at home, I surprised myself with an excellent Newton, Unfiltered Napa Valley Chardonnay (US$65 Heritage Fine Wines), which was almost white Hermitage-like in its rich and unctuous, stone fruit flavours and mature nuttiness.

25th (1998)

DEC282.anniversary_wines.gettyimages_641433090_credit_the_asahi_shimbun_getty_images.jpg — Chris Klug of the USA competes in the first run of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games Snowboarding Men’s Giant Slalom event in February 1998, Mount Yakibitai, Japan.

The Good Friday Agreement is signed, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London and Bill Clinton claims ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman’. France beats Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup Final and snowboarding is introduced at the Japan Winter Olympics.

In the wine world, Trepat and Pinot Noir are allowed in Cava, Bacchus is upgraded to ‘Recommended’ status as a variety for Britain, and Piedmont’s Angelo Gaja is Decanter Hall of Fame award winner. Hardys’ seminal House of Arras fizz becomes the first vintage made entirely from Tasmanian fruit.

In Germany, it’s an exciting vintage for dry Riesling, says Berlin-based writer Stuart Pigott, so look out for dry Rieslings from Georg Breuer in the Rheingau, Koehler-Ruprecht from Pfalz and Heymann-Löwenstein from Mosel.

In Tuscany, Costanti, Brunello di Montalcino is on top form and so is the remarkable Biondi-Santi, Il Greppo Riserva (£330ib Crump Richmond Shaw) – fragrant and intense, and full of savoury truffle, incense and opulent cherry fruit richness.

Burgundy’s reputation in 1998 is damaged by Robert Parker’s man on the ground, but Maume, Mazis-Chambertin GC (US$350 Wine House), Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées (£1,200ib per 4x75cl Farr Vintners), and Follin-Arbelet’s Corton wines have repaid their owners time and again. It’s a Right Bank vintage in Bordeaux, but Château Haut-Brion, Pessac- Léognan 1CC (£540-£600 Grand Vin Horsham, Hatton & Edwards) is no slouch, while in Champagne Dom Pérignon, Plénitude 2 (£431-£504 Armit, Crop & Vine, Ideal Wine Co, The Bottle Club) is arguably the wine of the vintage.

In Australia, 1998 is a spectacular vintage, especially for Penfolds, Grange Bin 95 (£479.95-£624 Christopher Keiller, Fairleys, Four Walls) and its Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (£90 Hatton & Edwards), for Rockford, Basket Press Shiraz and Jasper Hill, Emily’s Paddock; not forgetting Margaret River’s Moss Wood, Cabernet Sauvignon (A$219-$245 MW Wines, WineRelique, Wine Reserve) and Cullen, Diana Madeline (A$199 The Envied Cellar).

I recently pulled a Kanonkop, Pinotage 1998 from my cellar and was amazed how good this not-a-hair-out-of-place Cape beauty was. 1998 is also cherished by lovers of Lebanese Chateau Musar (£32.95-£65 Widely available), silkier and fruitier than the iconic but muscular 1999.

And so to fortifieds: DWWA Regional Chair Richard Mayson recommends the toffee apple- sweet Blandy’s Colheita Sercial (€68.12/50cl Vino Casa Portugal), cut by a brisk limey acidity, and Blandy’s Colheita Verdelho (€54.52/50cl Vino Casa Portugal) with dried apricot fruit, fine texture and exquisite tang; while in Port, Dow’s, Quinta Senhora da Ribeira (£42-£52.50 Christopher Keiller, Four Walls, Nickolls & Perks) shows dark chocolate richness, with time to go.

30th (1993)

DEC282.anniversary_wines.adrianna_vineyard_credit_gordo_monton.jpg — Catena’s high-altitude Adrianna Vineyard, Gualtallary, Argentina.

Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, while Jurassic Park sets a box office weekend record of some $50 million.

In wine news, Stefano Lubiana makes his first sparkling wine in Tasmania, Trento is accorded DOC status and Catena’s Adrianna Vineyard is planted at Gualtallary in Uco Valley, Argentina.

In many regions, 1993 is a year to forget. It’s an average vintage throughout Italy with the exception of San Leonardo, Vigneti delle Dolomiti. There’s not much to write home about from Bordeaux either, however Burgundy is, for some, the best vintage of the decade, with standouts from the majestic Henri Jayer, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux (US$27,900 Elevation Wine Fund) and Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Véroilles (£1,160ib per 4x75cl Farr Vintners).

It was also the first great vintage of modern-era Tokaji, with beautiful botrytis-sweet wines from Royal Tokaji, Oremus 6 Puttonyos and especially Disznókő (eg, Mézes Mály 6 Puttonyos, £120 Blast Vintners). I still have a bottle of the latter’s Eszencia in my cellar, which I have promised to share with the Tokaji-loving Polish wine writer Wojciech Bońkowski when he is next in London.

If fortified is your thing, then HM Borges, Verdelho (£167 The Whisky Exchange) shows classic, smoky-cask complexity with steely-clean, racy acidity and Dow’s 30 Year Old Tawny Port (£75-£76 Fareham Wine Cellar, Lay & Wheeler, The Wine Society) is a cracker, full of rich coffee and caramel fruit.

40th (1983)

The Hitler Diaries scoop turns out to be a hoax, Amy Winehouse is born, and we wave farewell to Tennessee Williams and Muddy Waters. In wine news, Bruno Paillard becomes the first in Champagne to display the disgorgement date on the back label of his bottles, and in California, the first vintage of Mumm Napa is made, while the late great Steven Spurrier publishes his first Académie du Vin Wine Course book.

In Bordeaux, 1983 is overshadowed by 1982 but I can allow myself a pat on the back for making an inspired purchase of two cases of Château Palmer, Margaux 3CC (£552 Richard Kihl) on the classic wine trade maxim ‘keep one, sell one’, which I did, even if I now regret selling the second case of what was one of the most magnificent clarets I’ve ever drunk.

In Burgundy, it was coincidentally the first vintage that Beaune-based Roy Richards bought en primeur, and he recommends Maume, Mazis-Chambertin, Mugneret-Gibourg’s Ruchottes-Chambertin and Hubert de Montille wines from an otherwise patchy vintage.

From Italy, Biondi-Santi, Il Greppo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva (£872-£937 Hedonism, Tannico) is still showing beautifully with its perfume and sweetly ripe cherry notes and balsamic undertones, while the Bertani, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (£290 Quob Park) is the most sumptuous of the decade (see Bertani’s newly launched The Library at bertani.net). And in Spain, Vega Sicilia’s Unico (£500ib Wilkinson Vintners) is going strong at 40 years of age.

It’s an excellent Riesling auslese vintage in general for Egon Müller’s Scharzhofberger, Maximin Grünhaus and Joh Jos Prüm in the Mosel. David Motion of merchant The Winery UK swears by the Château Vannières, Bandol (in France, €100 NG Vins).

My personal milestone was a last bottle of Matanzas Creek, Merlot from Sonoma, still opulently full of delicious black cherry fruit. Widely declared for the first time since 1977, it was arguably the decade’s best vintage Port year, with Graham’s (£69.95-£98.50 Fairleys Wines, Lea & Sandeman, Palmers Wine Store, Tanners, Wine Trove), Dow’s (£60-£84.95 Grand Cru Co, Underwood Wine, Wine Trove), Taylor’s (£78-£110 MWH, Vintage Wine & Gifts, Wine Raks) and Niepoort (£927 per 6x75cl Christopher Keiller) all highly acclaimed.

50th (1973)

Pink Floyd’s seminal Dark Side of the Moon is released, the Roe v Wade case legalises abortion in the US and Britain joins the EEC on 1 January. In New Zealand, Montana plants the first vineyard in Marlborough, and in the US Moët buys into Napa Valley real estate.

The 1973 vintages of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ Cabernet and Chateau Montelena’s Chardonnay become legends by going on to triumph at the Steven Spurrier-organised 1976 Judgement of Paris.

For 50-year-old wine, you start to take your life in your hands buying old and rare. There are odd bright spots such as Michel Lafarge, Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes, the Wolf Blass, Black Label Cabernet-Shiraz, Henschke’s Hill of Grace and the first bottling of Kanonkop, Cabernet Sauvignon, but the wines with the greatest staying power at this venerable age are for the most part sweet wines and fortifieds.

Within that group, D’Oliveiras, Verdelho Reserva Madeira (£225-£228 L’Assemblage, Turville Valley Wines, Vintage Wine & Port) stands out for its high-toned, caramelised aromas, marmalade tang and bitter-sweet length, and Taylor’s, Golden Age Very Old Tawny Port (£165.95-£185 Brunswick, House of Malt, The Secret Bottle Shop, The Whisky Exchange, Wright Wine Co) is a marvel of raisined rancio richness.

The incredibly sweet Toro Albalá, Don PX Pedro Ximénez (€95/20cl Greenacres of Wexford) is one of its finest ever; and Quinta de Santa Eufêmia Special Reserve one of the best white Ports ever bottled, not vintage-labelled, as the owners failed to get official approval in the turmoil of Portugal’s 1974 revolution.

I was lucky enough to drink a bottle of Mas Amiel, Maury 1973 with friends, which was an extraordinary reminder of the longevity of these rare Roussillon vins doux naturels.

60th and older (1963 and beyond)

‘I have a Dream’ says Martin Luther King, JFK is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas and The Beatles top the charts with Please Please Me.

A terrible Bordeaux vintage, 1963 is all about vintage Port. With bitter chocolate and thick-cut marmalade in perfect balance, the Fonseca (£264-£345 Four Walls, Huntsworth Wine Co, MWH, Nickolls & Perks, Vintage Wine & Port, Vintage Wine Gifts) is outstanding, but the last word should go to Paul Symington on Dow’s (£150-£265 Fairley’s, Nickolls & Perks, Old Spirits Company, Vintage Port Shop, Vintage Wine Gifts, Wine Dancer): ‘It is one of the greatest Ports ever made. Absolutely magnificent today, it will continue to mature gracefully for many decades to come. Made by my father Michael at Quinta do Bomfim in the ancient stone lagares when I was just 10 years old, I remember him telling me later that this wine enabled him to send me to school in the UK in 1966. This is the Everest of Vintage Ports.’

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II is crowned in Westminster Abbey, Hillary and Tenzing reach the summit of Mt Everest, and the first Playboy features Marilyn Monroe as its centrefold. Tasting the Marqués de Riscal, Reserva Rioja in 2015, Steven Spurrier found it ‘lovely with a caressing texture’.

In France, the Banyuls L’Etoile co-op is today still offering its Banyuls 1953 at €595 a bottle.

Over in Australia, Colin Gramp made the groundbreaking Orlando, Barossa Special Vintage Riesling 1953, which foreshadowed the great Rieslings of Yalumba’s Pewsey Vale, Orlando’s Steingarten and Leo Buring’s Eden Valley, and it was the inaugural Penfolds, St Henri Claret.

If all else fails, Taylor’s fabulous Very Very Old Port (£620ib-£890 Farr Vintners, Millésima, Turville Valley) is the latest in a series of hors d’age blends, made up of a selection of rare lots wood-matured in Taylor’s cellars in some cases since before World War 2. This VVOP comes in a decanter, with stopper, in its own wooden case.

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Anthony Rose is the wine correspondent of the Independent and i newspapers and contributes to various other publications, among them Decanter Magazine. He was a solicitor in a previous incarnation but decided it was time to get a steady job. He is co-chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards Australia panel and has won a number of awards for wine writing. In 2014 he published The Tapas Bar Guide (Grub Street, £10.99), co-authored with Isabel Cuevas, a guide to tapas bars in the UK. Anthony spends far too much of his time nosing his way around the world in wine competitions, having judged in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, California, Japan, China and France. He is fascinated by Japanese sake and is co-Chairman of the Sake International Challenge in Tokyo and teaches a consumer course at Sake No Hana in London. Anthony is also a published photographer and a founding member of The Wine Gang at ,. Anthony lives in South London and in what spare time he has, he likes to cook, eat and drink the best wines and sakes he can afford on a wine writer’s budget.