Harvest, 2023 by Richard Duval

55+ new wines reviewed below and in the database, including the latest from Ago, Covington, Figgins, Force Majeure, Grosgrain, Hoquetus, Lawrelin, Leonetti, Passing Time, R|A Family, Seven Hills, Trothe, Two Vintners, and WeatherEye.

Many of the wines reviewed below – all reds – come from Washington’s 2023 vintage. Overall, 2023 is a high quality vintage for red wines in the Columbia Valley and greater Washington. That said, there is less uniformity than one would expect from a top quality vintage. For the numerous hits – and there are many of them reviewed below and previously – there are some surprising misses.

The 2023 growing season started out cool. However, warm temperatures soon followed, leading to an extremely compressed period between bud break and bloom. Summer was warm, though generally not hot, with the exception of a couple of heat spikes in August. This all led to an early harvest and a relatively straightforward growing season. (Read a full growing season report.)

In terms of what I have tasted thus far, there has been a dichotomy in the 2023 vintage reds. Some, like many of the wines reviewed below, are of exceptionally high quality. They are full of generous fruit flavors with well-balanced acidity for the ripeness of fruit, truly classic Washington wines. As noted below, in cases, these are some of the best wines these producers have made to date.

In other cases, the wines are considerably lighter bodied and less fruit-filled. Some have seemed more akin to the cool 2022 vintage than the much warmer 2023. (Note: There are fewer of these wines represented below than in previous review sets.)

Why might this be? The increasingly warm conditions in the Columbia Valley over the last 13+ years have started to separate growers. Picking decisions for winemakers have also become increasingly crucial. The window to nail a vintage according to one’s style can be much smaller than it was historically.

In this regard, some winemakers did exceptionally well in 2023, as the wines below indicate. Others appear to have picked when the fruit was not fully ripe, with the wines often displaying tangerine aromas and flavors. (Again, there are fewer of these wines represented below than in previous sets.) This seems curious, as the vintage certainly provided plenty of heat. However, it would appear that some were more concerned with excessive sugar accumulation than flavor development or perhaps did not have full control of their pick date.

Thus far, I’ve tasted a little over 600 wines from the vintage, so there’s plenty more to come. I expect to taste around 1,000 wines from 2023 when all is said and done.

Based on what I’ve tasted thus far, there is a wealth of riches from Washington’s 2023 vintage. However, there is less consistency than one would expect given the high highs of some of the wines.

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