Wine Enthusiast: The Most Memorable Bottles We Drank in 2023

Any seasoned imbiber knows that the quality of a drinking experience is far more than the sum of its parts. After all, a great wine is not merely great because it drinks finely. It’s great because of the atmosphere in which it’s enjoyed—in an exquisite locale, perhaps, or alongside cherished friends. Key, too, is the story behind the bottle: who made it and how, why and when. Knowing these things in no way chemically alters what’s in the glass, but it certainly has the power to alter one’s perception of it. The mind, after all, is a taster’s most important tool.

These were the things we asked Wine Enthusiast’s team of editors and contributors to consider when we asked them to name the bottles they found most notable in 2023. In this list are exquisite wines drunk in unlikely places (including, for example, alongside a highway in France) and made through unusual means (say, aged at the bottom of the sea). There are also limited-release spirits, including one that matured in the constantly-rocking hull of a schooner and an eau de vie whose maker’s attention to detail borders on obsessiveness.

Do these bottles have the power to inspire you? Perhaps, once reading these stories, they will.

Navazos Palazzi Vermut Rojo

“One of my favorite sips this year was Navazos Palazzi Vermut Rojo, a Spanish red vermouth. It’s a collab between Sherry negociant Equipo Navazos and Nicolas Palazzi of importer PM spirits. It’s made with a base of oloroso Sherry, so it’s deeper and richer than most red vermouths, but enlivened with touches of bitter orange and savory spice. I enjoyed it in Manhattans (it plays nicely with rye whiskey) as well as poured over ice. I see why Spain is a fan of ‘la hora del vermut’ (the vermouth hour).” —Kara Newman, Writer at Large

Capreolus Raspberry Eau de Vie 2019

“Barney Wilczak, the proprietor of the U.K.–based Capreolus Distillery, uses 30 kilograms of perfectly ripe and healthy raspberries to produce only one liter of the Raspberry Eau de Vie. His quest for the highest–quality product can be described as obsessive. However, it allows him to capture and preserve the essence of each fruit so precisely. The raspberry stands out, with its complexity, length and incredible purity.” —Aleks Zecevic, Writer at Large

Robb Report: The 11 Best Cognacs to Buy Right Now

Cognac might not get as much attention as whiskey, particularly when it comes to bourbon or single malt scotch, but there’s a whole world of this French spirit to get familiar with and sample. There are a few rules to know—Cognac is a brandy made from grapes in the eponymous region or France that is aged in French oak barrels, either new or ones that have been used to age grape-based spirits. There are a few age designations to understand, from V.S. (at least two years old) to X.O. (minimum 10 years old). Cognac can be used to make a wide variety of cocktails, but is wonderful to sip on its own as well. We’ve put together a list of some of the best Cognacs in different categories to help you navigate this growing field, so happy hunting and santé.

Our Best Cognac Picks

• Best X.O. Cognac: Frapin X.O. VIP

• Best Single Cask Cognac: PM Spirits Rémi Landier XO Single Cask Collab

Best X.O.

Frapin X.O. VIP

X.O. (“extra old”) is the next level of age in Cognac, a designation that means the eau-de-vie has been matured for a minimum of 10 years. X.O. is prime sipping Cognac, and one of the best in this category comes from Cognac Frapin. This is a single estate expression made from grapes grown in the Grande Champagne cru, and the eau-de-vie is aged in the humid cellars onsite. This is a thoroughly sophisticated sipper, with notes of caramel, chocolate, and dried fruit on the palate.

Best Single Cask

PM Spirits Rémi Landier XO Single Cask Collab

PM Spirits sources a wide array of spirits from different producers in various countries in all spirits categories. This Cognac is a small release that is worth tracking down, and it’s notable for being a single cask release as opposed to a blend of barrels. The producer is Remi Landier, a small family business that has been around since the 1970s. This particular Cognac was distilled in 1997, and is a blend of eau-de-vie from Fin Bois and Petite Champagne. If you’re looking to really expand your knowledge and palate in the world of Cognac, give this bottle a try.

Barrel Hunting in Cognac: Unearthing Hidden Treasures in Dusty Old Cellars

There’s a popular vision of Cognac that’s all blinged out and dripping: crystal decanters, tasting rooms that look like jewelry stores and five-figure bottlings. This image is dominated by a handful of huge brands everyone recognizes: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier—the so-called Big Four, which sell nearly 90% of the Cognac consumed worldwide, according to the International Wines and Spirits Record. But there is another side of Cognac, too. One that’s based more on the gritty agricultural reality of the region.

I saw it on a cold, gray day last winter at an unassuming farm in the small village of Verrières. This was probably the last place I’d expect to find pricey Cognac, but I was on a barrel hunt with Guilhem Grosperrin, among the new wave of négociants whose limited-edition releases are quickly becoming the most coveted bottles in Cognac. We visited one of the 150 small producers in his network, where Grosperrin crawls around old cellars looking for rare brandies.

When we arrived at the farm, four barking dogs rushed out to us, followed by a ruddy-faced septuagenarian who was still dressed from his boar hunt earlier in the day. Cognac is a secretive, rivalrous place and I was introduced to the man in hunting attire as only Marcel, no last name. Marcel eyed me suspiciously, then asked, “Well, does he like to drink?” Grosperrin chuckled and told Marcel that, yes, I liked to drink very much. With the ice broken, we stepped into his dark, dusty cellar to taste from his barrels, which had been aging since as early as the 1980s. “Sorry it’s dirty in here. I haven’t distilled since 2012,” Marcel said.

The nonstop luxury messaging from the Big Four makes people forget Cognac’s origin as wine. We sipped liquid from Marcel’s barrels that had begun as grapes in the family’s 10-hectare vineyard, which he picked, pressed, fermented and distilled. It’s a similar story for the roughly 4,300 winegrowers in Cognac, most of whom grow less than 20 hectares specifically for Cognac production. During his career, Marcel sold most of his stock to one Big Four house or another. But he always saved a few special barrels for himself. “What they keep is for pleasure, or patrimony, or as souvenirs, or for reasons that are not necessarily logical,” Grosperrin told me.

By age eight, Marcel was able to light the still, which he did in the morning while his father tended to the cows. Marcel remembers a wealthy neighbor who’d been a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. That man wrote to his family from prison: “Cut down all the trees if you have to, but don’t stop distilling. Distill, distill, distill.” After the war, this guy’s cellar was full, and he became rich. Meanwhile, Marcel’s family had to rebuild its stocks. “The value of money is just in your head,” he said. “But the value of Cognac is solid, and you don’t lose it.”

To whiskey drinkers, single-cask offerings may seem like old hat. But it’s a relatively new phenomenon in brandy. Cognac is actually following a model that’s already been successful for Armagnac. Single-barrel Armagnac from négociants like L’Encantada are catching the fancy of American whiskey connoisseurs tired of paying whiskey prices. The problem in Armagnac is that the existing stock of barrels is small and shrinking.

That offers an opportunity for Cognac, where there is seemingly endless stock. Though, as Grosperrin points out, “It’s much more complicated to buy a cask here than in Armagnac. In Cognac, the producers are richer, and they don’t need small independent bottlers. They have contracts with the big houses.”

It’s still the early stages for the single-barrel Cognac revolution, and we’re just beginning to see these bottles in the U.S. La Maison du Whiskey’s “Through the Grapevine” series was one of the first to appear. PM Spirits has done several limited-edition bottlings, and this year has released rare single-cask offerings from renowned producers Frapin and Remi Landier. Last spring, Grosperrin released bottlings in the U.S. for the first time in several years. Importer Heavenly Spirits has released two single-barrel bottlings from the famed estate Jean Fillioux. Vallein-Tercinier and Jean-Luc Pasquet have plans to bring more of their single-cask offerings into the States.

To be clear, at the moment, single-barrel Cognac is still the domain of aficionados, with prices running more than $200 per bottle. But they’re still a fraction of something like Rémy Martin Louis XIII or Hennessy Paradis Imperial (both more than $3,000). Much of the price of those blingy brand names is wrapped up in specially designed decanters. The new wave of single-barrel offerings is something rarer and scarcer. “This is for people who want the unexpected. It’s a different philosophy. It’s outside of the current market,” said Vingtier.