WINE COUNTRY CONNECTION
TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
At Wine Country Connection, our Top 10 Wines of 2023 feature the most enthralling and impressive wines, resulting from a year filled with a tremendous amount of tastings, new friends, and industry connections. Radiating with memorable quality, this is one of our favorite Top Wines of the Year lineups that we’ve had thus far.
#10 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2021 SPARKMAN ‘HOLLER’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON
$35.00
Tasting Notes: “….begins with a rich nose of red, blue, and black fruits, roasted coffee, milk chocolate, pencil shavings, and lavender. The powerful, opulent palate continues with sweet black currants, tart red currants, ripe blackberries, toasted hazelnuts, chocolate-covered espresso beans, allspice, and dried bay leaves. This is a complex wine with a deep richness on the palate, combined with satiny tannins that lead to a long, supple finish, optimally framing a wine that drinks well above its price level.”
94+ Points | Kevin M. Vogt, Master Sommelier
#9 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2019 DIEGO CONTERNO BAROLO
COMUNE DI MONFORTE D’ALBA
$59.99
Tasting Notes: “Lifted with blood orange citrus, the 2019 Barolo Del Comune Di Monforte D’Alba is spiced with clove, menthol, and cherry. It is medium to full bodied, with fine tannins, a fresh spine of acidity, and raspberry, dusty earth, and fresh peach. I love the balance of its structure and its refined texture. This is an outstanding effort to drink 2024-2044.”
95 Points | Audrey Frick | JebDunnuck.com
#8 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2018 STORYBOOK MOUNTAIN ZINFANDEL
MAYACAMAS RANGE | NAPA VALLEY
$39.99
Tasting Notes: “Jerry Seps’s widest selection from his hillside estate northwest of Calistoga, Mayacamas Range is meant to be enjoyed in its youth. The wine has grace and energy, delivering dark-cherry roundness directly into the tannins and their bone-broth savor. Those tannins combine blueberry-skin freshness and a hint of bitter almond in a lasting, supple impression. Heady and beautiful.”
94 Points | Wine & Spirits Magazine
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#7 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2021 JOSEPH JEWELL PINOT NOIR
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
$40.00
Tasting Notes: “This layered, nuanced, spicy wine offers enticing aromas, intricate flavors and a balanced, appetizing mouthfeel. Red and black cherries, cranberries, black tea and cinnamon are just a few of the flavor descriptors. Vivid acidity meets warm fruit ripeness for great balance.”
95 Points | Jim Gordon | WineEnthusiast.com
#6 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2020 REMOISSENET PERE ET FILS
BOURGOGNE BLANC
$39.99
Tasting Notes: “The Remoissenet Père et Fils 2020 Bourgogne Blanc opens with succulent notes of honeysuckle, white blossoms, fresh cream, golden apple, and chalky minerality. On the palate, the wine has vibrant acidity and lively flavors of pear, peaches and cream, quince, cinnamon roll, and honeycomb. This wine’s concentrated flavors gracefully linger on the palate, leading to a delightful and enduring finish.”
95 Points | Anne Sewell, DipWSET
#5 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2021 DOUBLE DIAMOND CABERNET SAUVIGNON
OAKVILLE | NAPA VALLEY
(by SCHRADER CELLARS)
$89.00
The Double Diamond and Schrader wines are made by winemaker extraordinaire, Thomas Rivers Brown. The 2019 Double Diamond Oakville Cabernet was selected as the #1 wine on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2022.
Winery Notes: “The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon stands to outshine the award-winning 2019 vintage with even deeper concentration and complexity. On the nose, the wine leaps from the glass with ripe blackberry, cassis, black cherry, and red plum, with a lovely herbaceous undertone. The palate expresses juicy red and black fruits with hints of black tea, damp earth, vanilla bean, lavender, and just a touch of flint. With fine-grained tannins and mouthwatering acidity that lingers through the long finish, this wine is ready to drink upon release but will cellar well for years to come.”
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#4 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2018 MARQUES DE MURRIETTA RESERVA RIOJA
FINCA YGAY | SPAIN
$29.99
Tasting Notes: “Savory cured-meat, tobacco and grilled-spice notes to the bright plum, red-date, cherry and green-olive aromas. Quite a juicy, medium-bodied Rioja with fresh and extremely silky tannins caressing the zesty orange and crunchy red-berry flavors. Nuanced, fluid and effortlessly drinkable. Long and extremely elegant. A vintage that highlights layering and freshness, rather than power and depth… Delicious now, but will hold well.”
94 Points | JamesSuckling.com
#3 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2021 KANZLER FAMILY VINEYARDS PINOT NOIR
RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
$60.00
Tasting Notes: “Ripe, with deliciously succulent waves of plum, boysenberry and mulberry fruit rolling through, laced with iris and hibiscus notes and ending with light anise and apple wood hints on the finish. Packs a nice finishing kick of fruit at the end, too, while keeping a racy edge. Best from 2024 through 2032.”
94 Points | James Molesworth | WineSpectator.com
#2 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2019 PALOMA SPRING MOUNTAIN MERLOT
$72.00
Tasting Notes: “The Paloma Spring Mountain Merlot 2019 begins with a fragrant nose of boysenberry jam, black plums, anise, French lavender, violets, and sweet vanilla. The palate continues with blackberry compote, concentrated black currants, Kalamata olives, baker’s chocolate, and licorice. This is a very dense, compact wine with amazingly concentrated, complex fruit interwoven with firm tannins that will allow it to age for well over a decade. As great as this wine is now, it will only improve over the next several years. I’ve enjoyed this wine over the decades, and this is the best vintage I can ever remember tasting.”
95 Points | Kevin M. Vogt, Master Sommelier
#1 – TOP 10 WINES OF 2023
2018 ARKENSTONE ‘NVD’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY
$95.00
Tasting Notes: “One of winemaker Sam Kaplan’s finest showings from a lineup of 15 wines across his consulting clients, which include Vida Valiente, Memento Mori, Vangone and Maxem, his own label. This 100% Cabernet is a blend of grapes from Pritchard Hill, Howell Mountain and Calistoga. Aged 22 months in 75% new French oak it delivers heady aromas of cinnamon-dusted black cherry and ripe blueberry, an intriguing herbal note and ground espresso. The structured palate is broad and plush with red boysenberries, savoury black olives, leather and a refreshing herbal note. It glides to a chocolate finish, supported by fine-grained, sappy tannins. Drinking Window 2021 – 2040.”
98 Points | Jonathan Cristaldi | Decanter.com
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