Wines of the Year 2023: Classics category and top scorers

In 2023, Kanonkop (owned by the fourth generation of the founding family, brothers Johann and Paul Kriege) celebrated 50 years of wine; the inaugural release...

Owned by the Lurton family celebrating their centenary in 2025, this Margaux second growth estate is known for its elegance and focus on Cabernet Sauvignon....

Restrained and elegant with a minty coolness – classy and characterful. Lactic, very dense with bay leaf and sage savouriness, well-integrated oak. Poised, Bordeaux-like in...

Sophisticated oak-led nose exhibits roasted coffee and grilled meat. Very brooding, simmering with latent power with generous fruit expression. Taut, structured, sinewy and a little...

A fresh nose of grilled herbs and evocative oily green character. Olive and bay leaf, rosemary, an inkling of thyme. Dense and full, very generous,...

Discreet and youthful, waiting to express all of its earthy charms. Subtly perfumed, with slight florals and expected brisk acidity. Firmly structured, but has ample...

Pretty nose of florals and red berries with a back note of ripe green herb. Subtle tar, lovely elegance, dense but ripe tannin, structure, and...

‘2013 was a special vintage for us,’ explains Bernardo Manetti, son of owner Giovanni Manetti. Fontodi showed three excellent vintages in the Cellar Collection room...

Seductive nose, youthfully oak-led, but expressive violets, olives and black pepper. Bold and meaty, liquorice, some reductive elements, blue fruit, full-on but varietally classic. Delicious...

A lovely notion of camomile and dried hay flowers appears even before the caramelised red fruit. Melted vanilla laces dark black fruit. Brooding and overwhelming,...

Opens up quite beautifully in the glass with classy red and black berries infused with graphite. Lovey fluidity and freshness with good inky depth. Oak...

Lean, leafy, fresh with light reduction, but in a promising fashion. Lightness, crunch and elegance with sinuous red fruit and lovely iron-oxide depth. Peppery and...

Seductive and plush, tar and smoke evoking desert shrub: this has a transportive nature. You smell the dry earth and perfumed herb flowers. Lovely balance...

Subtle nose, with some brushwood and fragrant florals. Clean flowing, crisp, great acid, mineral and tensile, super grip, tactile and tangy with so much crunchy,...

Floral, smoky nose. High-toned and spirited with weight to balance the acid and density of fine tannins, and a real finesse. The palate is densely...

Quite modern and opulent in style. Vanilla, oak-led nuances, old-school. Concentrated raspberry flavours on a palate mellowed with a ton of tobacco, leather and grilled...

Ripe and wild with a dark, brooding undertone, olive tapenade; classic savoury-acid Rhône-style. Evocative and meaty, with southern French character. Peppery blackberries and garrigue. Great...

Sweet-fruited, blackberry nose, lots of spirit-spiked Christmas cake booziness. Swish tannins, juicy and full-bodied, very opulent and undeniably impressive. Nominated by Alejandro Iglesias.

Bramble berries with smoky and cocoa notes, some savoury characters but chock-full of bright fruit. Ripe, dense tannins with overt oak; a dry, vertical structure...

High-toned and crisp, mineral, a little underripe with crunchy, fresh green leaf notes and bonfire smoke, a touch of mint. Lithe with a structured character....

Juicy, ripe and hedonistic, expressive aromas, sweet bay leaf character and graphite notes. Lovely plum fruit, subtle cinnamon and much freshness on the palate. Flowing...