Charles Curtis MW: My top 10 wines of 2023

Winter

Celebrations of the New Year die down quickly. There’s often a bit of Champagne on the day itself, but soon enough, cold January sets in, and one begins to wonder in earnest about the great bottles of the upcoming year.

The first contenders of 2023 came to me in January at a friend’s 60th birthday. Many of us brought worthy bottles (mine was a 1958 Barolo), but the wine of the night was a 1966 Trotanoy. This dinner was followed by another celebratory evening with friends at Michelin-starred Korean restaurant Oiji Mi. The competition was fierce, but the wine of the night was 2002 Krug.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles Curtis MW’s top 10 wines of 2023

As delicious as the wines were at both dinners, none eventually made the list of the top ten wines of the year. Making the list of the year’s best wines is an exercise that one can only do in retrospect – I don’t even know myself until I finalise the list.

In February a likely candidate emerged at a dinner celebrating Chinese New Year (the Year of the Rabbit). A very generous friend opened all the red wines produced by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in the last Year of the Rabbit (2011). Although it is not regarded as a top vintage in Burgundy, the Romanée-Conti 2011 was beginning to show its full complexity, and this wine made the list, while a second wine from that dinner – 1912 Taylor’s vintage Port – was also a possibility but was not included.

Spring

March brought a delightful weekend with friends in Atlanta for an annual Bordeaux tasting that has become a tradition. The 2023 edition featured back-to-back verticals of châteaux Haut-Brion and Margaux. Although the 2000, 2009, and 2010 vintages of Margaux all shone brightly, the wine of the entire weekend was the 1982 Haut-Brion, which eclipsed even the more renowned 1989 vintage to earn a spot on the list.

April brought a sojourn in Champagne and time in London for the Decanter World Wine Awards. I returned to Burgundy for the last week in May and stayed until early July. My annual summer visit is often a fertile time for drinking great wines. Some days are spent at work researching and writing upcoming articles for Decanter, but there are also more relaxed times with friends, particularly around the Musique et Vin au Clos de Vougeot chamber music festival.

It was during Musique et Vin that I drank several extraordinary bottles. A 2016 Meursault Perrières from Coche-Dury was as life-changing as a wine can be. The same group also shared a magnum of 2002 Dujac Clos de la Roche and a bottle of the 1993 vintage. Oddly, the 2002 from magnum made the list, while the 1993 just missed. A third bottle from the summer that deserves recognition on the list was the 1973 Montrachet from Bouchard Père et Fils, drunk at the Château de Beaune over lunch.

In addition to those that were definitely ‘on the list,’ there were a host of compellingly beautiful wines that didn’t quite make the ‘top ten’ designation, such as a 1978 Chassagne-Montrachet PC La Romanée from Paul Pillot and the 1988 Vosne-Romanée Beaux Monts from Hudelot-Noëllat, both consumed with dinner at the Clos de Vougeot. I returned from Musique et Vin to write in the comparative quiet of New York City in the summertime.

Summer

The period was not entirely fallow for wine tasting, with a delightful dinner at Pinch restaurant for Peking Duck around three vintages of Roumier Ruchottes. The bottle of the night, however, was a 2008 Krug. The Krug was drunk too young, but it is a magnificent bottle of wine, and just edged out the 2002 from earlier in the year as the best bottle of Champagne I drank in 2023.

Not long after this, I celebrated my own 60th birthday by hosting a dinner at Wu’s Wonton King in Chinatown. We all brought wine, and mine (a jeroboam of 2005 Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet) showed well but not well enough to make the cut for the list.

I was back in Burgundy a fortnight later to taste more of the delicious 2022 vintage. Two wines of this vintage deserve a berth on this list: the 2022 Romanée-Conti and the 2022 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze from Rousseau. I was also tempted to put another Rousseau Bèze on the list since we went to lunch right after our tasting there and drank a bottle of 2015, but the two years are so similar that I didn’t want to show a lack of imagination by listing two almost identical wines.

Autumn

The final two wines on my top ten list were also drunk during my fall tasting marathon. One peerless wine that would make the list any year was the 1923 Clos des Lambrays that we drank over dinner at the Domaine during a stunning retrospective tasting organized by Jacques Devauges, which I will write up in full this January.

As to the final berth on the list, I admit to struggling. Sometimes, winemakers will offer an older vintage while one is tasting through the current crop of releases. Two such generous offers nearly made the list.

One was Pierre Duroché’s delicious bottle of 1971 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaut Saint-Jacques, and another was the superb 1978 Vosne-Romanée Suchots from J. Confurton-Coteditot shared by Yves Confuron.

In the end, however, I opted for another special bottle. I had been called back early from Musique et Vin, and was unable to drink a bottle of wine I had purchased to share with friends. Luckily, they thoughtfully organised storage, and we drank it together at lunch during my fall visit. It is for both the quality of the wine and my gratitude for my friends that I will remember the 1955 Pommard Grand Clos des Epenots from the Domaine de Courcel.

The top 10

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti GC, Burgundy 2022

Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, Burgundy 2022

Domaine Dujac, Clos de la Roche GC, Burgundy 2002

Château Haut-Brion, Pessac-Leognan 1er GCC, Bordeaux 1982

Bouchard Père et Fils, Montrachet GC, Burgundy 1973

Domaine des Lambrays, Clos des Lambrays, Burgundy 1923

Domaine de Courcel, Pommard PC Grand Clos des Epenots, Burgundy 1955

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti GC, Burgundy 2011

Domaine Coche-Dury, Meursault Perrières PC, Burgundy 2016

Krug, Brut Vintage, Champagne 2008

10 wines that almost made the top 10 list

Champagne Krug, Brut, Champagne 2002

Domaine Paul Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachet PC La Romanée, Burgundy 1978

Joseph Drouhin Marquis de Laguiche, Montrachet GC, Burgundy 2005

Domaine Duroché, Gevrey-Chambertin PC Lavaut St-Jacques, Burgundy 1971

Taylor’s, Vintage Port, Douro 1912

Château Trotanoy, Pomerol, Bordeaux 1966

Domaine Confuron Cotetidot, Vosne-Romanée PC Les Suchots, Burgundy 1978

Château Margaux, Margaux 1er GCC, Bordeaux 2000

Château Margaux, Margaux 1er GCC, Bordeaux 2010

Château Margaux, Margaux 1er GCC, Bordeaux 2009

Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin-Clos de Beze, Burgundy 2009

Domaine Dujac, Clos de la Roche, Burgundy 1993

Domaine Georges Mugneret, Ruchottes Chambertin GC, Burgundy 1979 

Charles Curtis MW’s top 10 wines of 2023

Wines are listed in order of style and score

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