LANGTONS Top Wines 2023
This year, our celebrated annual Top Six has expanded to become LANGTONS Top Wines 2023. For the evolution of our annual almanac of the year’s best wines, we’ve broadened the scope to encompass 12 wines from across the world of fine wines. Six astounding Australians join six invigorating international stars – providing a delighfully delicious snapshot of what has pleasured our palates in 2023.
The local 2023 winners represent the crème-de-la-crème of Australian wineries. These are names indelibly engraved in the pantheon of our great wine canon – Henschke, Mount Mary, The Standish Wine Company, Leeuwin Estate, Arras, and Tollpuddle. Tellingly, this esteemed selection features exclusively LANGTONS Classified wines.
The global 2023 shortlist heroes Old World, with a delicious dash of the New. Of course, we had to begin with Champagne, here in its quintessential incarnation: Louis Roederer Cristal. Quintarelli, Veneto’s immortal maestro, has emerged victorious over Italy’s finest. Laurent Ponsot Meursault reigns supreme as Burgundy’s great white, with Pavelot Frères its red brethren. Château-Figeac is the 100-point Burgundian hero of our 2023 shortlist. Finally, California’s Eden Rift has produced one of our most memorable pinot noirs of the year. Without further ado, let’s take a deep dive with the LANGTONS team into these salubrious selections…
LANGTONS Top Australian Wines 2023
1. Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2018 - SOLD OUT - 1st CLASSIFIED 99JH 99KG 99AC 98DB
An iconic winery. An iconic wine. A truly deserving top place getter of our Top Australian wine for 2023. While understandably it sits in the the shadow of the Hill of Grace, every single member of the team at LANGTONS adored the 2018 iteration of the Mount Edelstone Shiraz. We fell so hard for it’s charms that we had to place at the very top of the tree in 2023. We couldn’t some it up any better than the doyen, James Halliday… "Glorious wine. Untold depths of the richest blackberry and plum fruit with a magically bright finish ex livewire acidity.”
2. Mount Mary Quintet 2021 - 1st CLASSIFIED 98JH 98JS 98RP 97GW
Mount Mary produces beautiful wines of significance, integrity and heritage. Their only problem (ours, really) is that they hardly make enough. Our wine buyer Justin Lane is a long-time disciple of this venerated Yarra Valley stalwart, “Mount Mary Vineyard is a fine example of the old adage about good things coming in small packages. The 2021 vintage yielded slightly more wine than the previous year and up another notch in terms of quality (if that is even possible?).” Another unmissable release.
3. The Standish Wine Company The Standish Shiraz 2021 - CLASSIFIED 96EL 93GW
"The Standish Wine Company is arguably the most sought after producer of Barossa Valley Shiraz. The wines have a cult following and the production levels are miniscule” Justin Lane, and seemingly the fine wine world, has fallen for the epic 2021s from The Standish Wine Company. Is this the finest set of wines Dan Standish has crafted? Quite possibly, a magical vinous combination of top-tier vintage and master winemaker gives results that have critics (and the judging panel at LANGTONS) in raptures.
4. Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2020 - 1st CLASSIFIED 99RJ 98KG 97SK
Another year, another stunning Art Series Chardonnay release. Our wine buyer and Chardonnay maven Zach Nelson cuts straight to the chase, “Is this their greatest vintage yet? It's been noted more than a few times in the breathless reviews. Do not miss out on one of the world's great wines.”
5. Arras EJ Carr Late Disgorged 2008 - CLASSIFIED 97HH 97MB
"Ed Carr is the maestro of sparkling wine. His skill and mastery of Method Champonoise is unmatched by an other winemaker in Australia.” We could not agree more with these sentiments from Justin Lane, especially when it comes to the flagship EJ Carr Late Disgorged from 2018. The culmination of almost 30 years of passion, skill and determination. The result? Simply one of the world’s great sparkling wines.
6. Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 - SOLD OUT - CLASSIFIED 98HH
Not long after purchasing Tolpuddle Vineyard Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW proclaimed, “We believe Tolpuddle will be a great Australian single vineyard.” Ten or so years on and Tolpuddle is a great Australian single vineyard. Demand from collectors has seen Tolpuddle join the vaunted ranks of the LANGTONS Classification at the very earliest possible moment. Wine buyer Justin Lane has admired the wines from the very first release, ”There is no other producer of Chardonnay or Pinot Noir in Tasmania of this pedigree."
LANGTONS Top International Wines 2023
1. Louis Roeder Cristal Brut, Champagne 2014 - 98AG 98HH 97JS
Cristal 2014 may not be a shock selection as our number one international wine of 2023, but one sip and we dare you to doubt it! Our resident Master of Wine, Ned Goodwin, waxes lyrical, “Cristal is the prestige cuvée that impresses me the most every vintage. In fact, the greatest Champagnes I’ve ever had have all been Cristal! 14 was the last fine vintage in Champagne and Roederer’s biodynamic creed and expertise with oak handling pay dividends, evincing a structural authority amidst salubrious fruit and autolytic notes.”
2. Quintarelli Rosso Ca' del Merlo, Veneto IGT 2015
2023 could be subtitled, “The Year of Quintarelli!” The winery has flourished in recent years, raising their fine wine collectability credentials to hitherto unimagined heights. Here’s more from Ned… “I visited Quintarelli back in March. The wines are irrefutably the finest in the Veneto, rivalled only by Gini, Pieropan and Dal Forno, the latter a more modernist idiom. Giuseppe’s wines were more iconoclastic, bottled directly from single barrels making for bottle-to-bottle variation. Today, the wines are finer boned, more detailed and consummate, with Giuseppe’s ode to poise and drinkability intact. A return to traditional pergola training, too, conveys more freshness. “
3. Laurent Ponsot Cuvée du Pandoréa, Meursault 2020
Laurent Ponsot isn’t merely an icon in Burgundy. His dedication to terroir and his beliefs have seen him labelled an iconoclast by some. No matter, he is simply one of the greatest winemakers in Burgundy and Laurent’s latest creations are amongst the best wines he has released under his eponymous label.Allen Meadows (Burghound) recently mused that Laurent ‘Ponsot has clearly rediscovered his old touch as his 2020s, coming on the heels of his terrific 2019s, are also excellent.’ We couldn’t agree more.
4. Chateau Figeac 1er grand cru classe (B), St-Emilion 2020 - 100JS 100RP
When Galloni, Jancis, Martin and Anson all agree that 2020 is a great modern-day Bordeaux vintage you know that picking a LANGTONS favourite was going to be a tough task! The undeniable combination of history, pedigree and red-hot recent form sent the 2020 Figeac to the head of the Classe. Multiple perfect scores and a tsunami of superlatives set the tone. Breathtaking. Suave. Magnificent. Atomic! Essential.
5. Domaine Pavelot Freres, Savigny-les-Beaune 2020 - 93WE
Value in Burgundy? A rare bird these days but this pristine pinot noir is a testament to the winemaking prowess of the Pavelot family, who have been cultivating vineyards in the esteemed Savigny-les-Beaune appellation for generations. With a balance, elegance, length and depth, this superb selection from Domaine Pavelot Freres captures the essence of Burgundy's winemaking tradition in weeknight wine mode.
6. Eden RIft Reserve Pinot Noir, Cienega Valley 2019
When Ned Goodwin MW first tasted these cult Californian wines he knew he had to share them as widely as possible, “When I first tasted these wines blind, I couldn’t believe I wasn’t tasting quality Burgundy. We just had to get these wines into LANGTONS.” On the Reserve Pinot Noir Ned continues, ”I seek savouriness over sweet fruit, ruling out most New World Pinots at my table with few exceptions. Here is one! Decadent sous-bois, porcini, tamarind and cherry. This vineyard sits on seismic energy, atop the San Andreas Fault. One can sense this energy with every sip.”