Wines of the Year 2023: The top-scoring bottles

Are you resolved to drink better in 2024 and looking for a unique list of classic wines, great buys under £20, and one-off quirky options? The Decanter team and our global experts nominated some of their favourites from 2023, which we then tasted blind to come up with a distinctive list of 113 top bottles scoring 90 points and above.

By Tina Gellie

published 28 December 2023

in Tastings

WINESOFTHEYEAR2023 — (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Greece and South Africa were the stars of our two-day Wines of the Year blind tasting, between them taking home the White, Red and Offbeat Wine of the Year gongs (scroll down to find out who they are), and with 14 other wines earning an average of 90 points or more.

Top of their categories

97 Classic Red Wine of the Year: Kanonkop Wine Estate
95 Classic White Wine of the Year: Gaia Wines
95 Sparkling wine of the Year: Louis Roederer
96 Offbeat Wine of the Year: Tetramythos
95 Value Wine of the Year: Bodegas Hidalgo

See the score table for all 113 wines tasted for Wines of the Year 2023 that scored 90 points and above

While Italy had the greatest number of top-scorers last year, it was France’s turn to shine in 2023, with 17 wines rated Highly recommended or better, crowned by Champagne house Louis Roederer taking the Sparkling Wine of the Year for the second year running – this time with the multi-vintage Collection 243 cuvée repeating the success of Cristal 2013.

With nine top-scoring entries, Spain followed South Africa (10), and also secured repeat success in the Value Wine of the Year, thanks to Hidalgo’s La Gitana Manzanilla En Rama Sherry. Last year, it was the 2013 Reserva Blanco Rioja from Bodegas Muriel that triumphed.

Personal recommendation

Unlike other end-of-year wine round-ups which are just run-of-the-mill, reprinted lists or retastes of selected high-scoring/big-name wines, the wines entered into Decanter’s Wines of the Year are all personal favourites of our experts.

They are recommendations by wine lovers for wine lovers – Decanter’s readers – of amazing classic wines, great-value buys and exciting discoveries they have tasted over the past 12 months.

Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chairs, Regional Chairs, key contributors and staff had the opportunity to nominate three wines each under the categories of Classic (a premium, textbook wine style), Value (under £20) and Offbeat (unusual grape, regions, winemaking method or unearthed gem).At the time of nomination, the wines had to be available commercially (so no rare or ancient bottles) but due to low stock or exclusivity, we couldn’t source some bottles. Additionally, others we did source and taste had sold out by the time we published these results.

In the final analysis, from more than 180 recommendations we blind-tasted 153 wines in all, sourced from 29 countries and priced between £7 and £270. Wines were tasted within their category but, in order to ensure a level playing field, no prices were revealed.

Below we highlight the 113 wines that scored 90 points or more overall, all of them offering great pleasure, whatever your taste or bank balance.

Coming soon

For insight from the Wines of the Year judges about the wines entered into the Classic, Value and Offbeat categories this year, see our individual reports and score tables

The judges

Tina Gellie is Decanter’s Content Manager, joining in 2008 and most recently Regional Editor for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. Before wine, she worked as a newspaper journalist in London and Australia.

Anne Krebiehl MW is a widely published wine writer, editor and awarded author, and is a competition judge and lecturer on wine with a particular focus, among others, on Pinot Noir and traditional-method sparkling wine from around the globe.

Michaela Morris is a wine writer, judge and educator with a particular focus on Italy. Based in Vancouver, she is a VIA Italian Wine Expert, a cavaleiro of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto, and a regular speaker at international wine events.

Thank you to the following 63 people who contributed their nominations (some of which we were not able to source):

Sarah Ahmed, Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, Amanda Barnes, Richard Baudains, Laura Bianco, Jim Budd, James Button, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Ch’ng Poh Tiong, Shana Clarke, Brianne Cohen, Gabriela Colotto, Jonathan Cristaldi, Peter Csizmadia-Honigh, Charles Curtis MW, Markus Del Monego MW, Michael Denton, Cameron Douglas MS, Natalie Earl, Sarah Jane Evans MW, Simon Field MW, Aldo Fiordelli, Elizabeth Gabay MW, J’nai Gaither, Michael Garner, Tina Gellie, Caroline Gilby MW, Tom Hewson, Michael Hill Smith MW, Georgie Hindle, Huon Hooke, Alejandro Iglesias, Andrew Jefford, Hugh Johnson, Roger Jones, Darrel Joseph, Justin Knock MW, Anne Krebiehl MW, Malu Lambert, Anna Lee C Ijima, Peter Liem, Fiona MacDonald, Caro Maurer MW, Richard Mayson, Thierry Meyer, Michaela Morris, Michela Nassiz, Rupert Owen, Barbara Philip MW, Alessandra Piubello, Clive Pursehouse, Anthony Rose, Ines Salpico, Ronan Sayburn MS, Julie Sheppard, Stacy Slinkard, David Sly, Cesar Soler, Sonja van Praag, Matt Walls, Beth Willard, Amy Wislocki, Sylvia Wu