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

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

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.

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 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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.’

Topics

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.

Anniversary wines 2023: the Decanter guide

18th (2005)

20th (2003)

21st (2002)

25th (1998)

30th (1993)

40th (1983)

50th (1973)

60th and older (1963 and beyond)