If you know New Zealand wines, there won’t be many big surprises in this year’s Top 100 list, especially with the wines at the very top. But you might be interested to note that so many of the wines on the list came from the 2021 vintage, and many people think 2021 is inferior to the highly touted 2020. But they are wrong. It made wines very close in quality but different in character.

It's hard to generalize about the vintages in New Zealand considering the size of the country and diversity of the viticultural areas on the two main islands, simply called North and South Island. However, I think the reds from 2021 are a little firmer and more structured than the fruiter and slightly riper 2020s.

A good example of this was a visit to South Island’s Rippon Vineyard in Central Otago a few weeks ago, where I tasted a range of wines, including pinot noirs from both 2021 (not released) and 2020. The opulence in the 2020 came out clearly compared with the linear and more compacted structure of 2021.

Nonetheless, the Rippon Pinot Noir Central Otago Tinker's Field 2020 is my New Zealand Wine of the Year from the island nation. It was the amazing texture of the single-vineyard pinot with its superbly polished tannins that run vertically down the wine that blew me away. It seems almost endless in its length. It also comes from a gorgeous biodynamically farmed vineyard. Rippon is one of the most beautiful wine estates on earth, with its beautifully farmed vineyards skirting the glacial lake of Wanaka.

“It’s ripe but doesn’t have a lot of mass,” Rippon winemaker Nick Mills explained while we tasted his sublime 2020 single-vineyard pinot during the visit. His family owns the estate, and he takes his inspiration from great red Burgundies of the 1980s and 1990s as well as the history of his family in the region dating back two centuries.  “Our wines are animated,” he said. “It’s who we are.”

My No. 2 wine also comes from Central Otago, about an hour’s drive from Rippon. The 5.5 hectares of vineyards of Yoshi and Kyoko Sato are located on remote glacial hillsides and planted mostly to pinot noir, although they also grow chenin blanc, chardonnay and gamay. The two do all the viticulture and winemaking themselves to assure the highest quality. It’s this handmade quality that gives their wines wonderful transparency and character. The Sato Pinot Noir Central Otago Sur Les Nuages 2020 shows great structure and complexity with a purity of fruit throughout.

“We look for purity in our wines, and we try to work with low sulfur levels,” Yoshi admitted a few weeks ago in his small cellar during the tasting. He believes this gives his wines more clarity and brightness.

I must admit that I was really surprised with the quality of the No. 3 wine, the Kumeu River Chardonnay Kumeu Mate's Vineyard 2022. The first time I tasted it was from barrel in late January. I wasn’t expecting much out of it because 2022 was a variable growing season in many areas with cold and rain, but winemaker Michael Brajkovich explained that his region of Kumeu, a short drive outside of Auckland, had a relatively dry and warm growing season compared with many parts of New Zealand.

And his chardonnays illustrate this, especially the top single vineyard of Mate’s. I included his single-vineyard Kumeu River Chardonnay Kumeu Coddington 2022 at No. 30, which is also sensational quality.

“That’s four great vintages in a row for us,” Brajkovich said during the tasting of his 2022 chardonnay in the Kumeu River cellars with his brothers. “They are even more concentrated than 2020.”

No. 4 is a world away from pinot noir and chardonnay. It might be the most famous red of New Zealand: the Te Mata Hawkes Bay Coleraine 2021, a Bordeaux blend. It’s mostly cabernet sauvignon with merlot and cabernet franc. This vintage has a slightly more cabernet franc than in the past, highlighting the unique oyster, moss and light fresh herb character amid the currant flavors in the wine. Plus, it may give a slightly linear line to the fine, powdery tannins that give backbone and structure to the wine.

The next four wines at Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are pinot noirs, and they are considered some of the best almost every vintage in New Zealand: Kusuda, Bell Hill, Ata Rangi and Prophet’s Rock. They are followed by two syrahs – one from Trinity Hill and another from Bilancia – at No. 9 and No. 10.

I think all the above wines share a number of underlying qualities, with one of the most important being extremely precise winemaking that gives them clarity and helps them transmit their unique place of origin. It’s this provenance that makes all of the wines on this Top 100 list something to seek out in the world, even if you need to source directly from New Zealand.

– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman

Note: The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated in 2023 by the tasters at JamesSuckling.com. You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.