Vintages (Years) of Wine
I have dedicated pages for: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024, and wines with no vintage.
What is a Wine Vintage?
A wine vintage is the year that the grapes used to make the wine were harvested. If a bottle is labeled 2013, that means that people picked the grapes that were used for this bottle in 2013.
Why Are They Called Vintages?
Why is it called “vintage” if it just means “year?” Well, the word vintage itself comes from the old Latin word vindemia, which literally means grape harvest. The “vin” in “vintage” is the same as it is in “vineyard.” So we use it because it’s the original term used in the first place. Remember this next time you go vintage shopping, and go buy some grapes.
Why Are Vintages Important?
Who cares about vintages anyway–why do they matter? It comes down to the weather and growing conditions of the specific year.
A warm, sunny year produces riper grapes, which produces richer, fuller wines.
A cold, wet year produces lighter wines, often with a higher acidity.
Years with droughts, hail, early frosts, or record-high temperatures (hello, climate change) can sometimes produce exceptionally good or interesting wines, but can easily produce some stinkers, too.
These extreme conditions as well as actual disasters may limit a vineyard’s production for the year, so some vintages may be rarer than others (quality notwithstanding).
Of course, different areas have different weather, so “a good year” must be in the context of a location. I suppose if every wine-producing country just so happened to have a good year in the same year, that would be one thing, but that’s not very likely. Normally the context will either be the Old World (Europe, especially France and Italy), or California. But it can even vary region to region in a country, so you’re justified in asking for more detail.
Old World winemaking traditions are often more sensitive, so those areas will generally have more sensitivity to the weather. New World wines, like California, Australia, etc. are generally more stable year to year, but not exactly so.
Wine collectors often like to look for vintages of certain years they know were good in certain areas, which have gone on to acquire some legendary status due to marketing and culture.
A more fun use of vintages, in my opinion, is to try to drink a wine from the year you were born, especially on your birthday. That’s a great birthday gift for someone else, too. And many new parents buy wine of the vintage their children were born, to save and enjoy with them in the future.
If you’re a beginner shopping in the $10-30 range, you generally don’t really need to care about vintages. (If you’re in the $0-$9 range you don’t need to care about anything at all.)
Still, they can be fun to know some quick facts about.
With that in mind, here are some quick facts about each year!
Wine Vintage Summaries
1988
blah
2006
The 2006 vintage was solid, but not spectacular, with standout regions like Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy, the Rhône Valley in France, and South Africa being the most notable. Look for well-aged Bordeaux, Australian reds, Argentinian Malbecs, and the odd red from Washington State.
2007
blah
2008
blah
..