Jonathan Cristaldi: My top Californian wines of 2023

My top picks of 2023 are a host of bottles that I found particularly rewarding and which are (mostly) available or will be in early 2024. Please read about them and why I chose them in the tasting notes below.

Here, I’ve composed a short recap of highlights from 2023 which, in case you missed some of the stories, are linked to below. It is a privilege being Decanter’s Napa correspondent, and I’m so grateful for the hospitality extended to me, and all the time and energy wineries expended in welcoming me to their tasting table this year.

The first memorable tasting of 2023 came with an invitation to join one of Hollywood’s most humble rock star violinists (and a WSET Level 4 Diploma holder) Natalie Leggett at Colgin. We both cooed over the 2019 Colgin IX Estate Syrah, a profound wine with immeasurable structure, elegance and downright deliciousness.

Later, I met up with another musical maestro, banjo legend Tony Trischka, and his wife Assunta, at Abbot’s Passage Winery & Mercantile in Glen Ellen to taste Katie Bunschu’s unique varietal blends. Worth seeking out!

February was packed with tastings: touring Heitz, Haynes, Ink Grade and Stony Hill with Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy; a lunch with the Araujo family (who later gave us the scoop on some big news with Wheeler Farms); and a day tasting 15 vintages of Quintessa back to 1994, followed by a chance encounter with Benoît Touquette of Realm Cellars, who offered a taste of his opulent 2018 Fairest Creature Sine Fine Napa Cabernet (available only in China).

In March, I dashed off to New York City to visit numerous ‘Lighthouses’ pouring Château d’Yquem by the glass and wrote about the highly anticipated 2020 release.

There were many tastings and interviews with other California luminaries, like Darioush Khaeldi, Lisa and Philip Togni, the Alejandro Bulgheroni team and their Lithology wines, a host of talented winemakers from Diamond Creek, Merry Edwards, Scharffenberger, Domaine Anderson and Roederer Estate, long interviews with Dave Phinney of Orin Swift, and the Harlan masterclass at the 2023 Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in New York.

The hours I spent at Screaming Eagle, at Morlet and with Paul Hobbs and Spottswoode tasting wines for my 2020 Napa Cabernet vintage report proved bright and joyous in the midst of analysing the extremely challenging vintage.

A revelatory visit to Ojai to taste old vintages of Sea Smoke presented a show-stopping 2001 Pinot, and I grew to enjoy smoking cigars and drinking Chardonnay while interviewing Jayson Woodbridge of Hundred Acre; a piece is forthcoming on his mythical world.

An afternoon tasting of four spectacular vintages of Mt Veeder-based Pym-Rae with owner Alfred Tesseron of Bordeaux fifth-growth Château Pontet-Canet ended with riveting glassfuls of Tesseron’s XO Perfection 1er Cru de Cognac.

Finally, I’ll leave you with these words from my notes tasting with Luc Morlet: ‘Harmony. Legacy. Time.’ Together, they form the fabric of all the wines from my distinctly Californian backyard: wines of harmony, stamped with grand notions of legacy, subject to the benefit of time.

Jonathan Cristaldi’s top wines of 2023:

Related articles

• Festive treats: The best wines to seek out in December 2023
• Paso Robles 2021: Vintage report and top 30 wines
• Sonoma County AVAs: Overview and 10 wines to try