What is "vintage" wine?

Question

What are the alternatives? What's the "best?"

Answer 1

Vintage has two meanings when it comes to wine:

1. The year in which the wine was made.
2. A particularly good year for that wine.

The year in which the wine was made is the more common occurrence when it comes to wine. Regular table wines will normally carry the vintage on the label. However, for some wines (i.e. Champagne, sparkling wines and ports), "Vintage" means a special year. When shopping for those kinds of wines, you will pay more for a vintage year but it is so worth it. It means that the conditions under which the grapes were picked and the product was made were optimal that year and have resulted in a highly superior product. I know, sounds kind of stuffy and snooty, but vintage years when it comes to those products just taste amazing. I particularly love vintage ports - the best ones available at the moment are coming from the late 80's.

Answer 2

A vintage wine means that the grapes were grown in a specific year. Most quality wines are from a specific vintage. The quality of wine can vary dramatically from year to year. For example, the 2002 vintage was a good year in Burgundy and for California reds but a off year in southern Rhone and Spain. If you shop at a reputable wine store the wine staff should be able to assist you in this matter. Also, some of the wine publications have vintage charts.

Answer 3

The "vintage" refers to when the wine was made. So the vintage is really no indication of quality when refering to many types of wine.

Answer 4

What "vintage" usually refers to is the year the wine was harvested. Each is different depending on too many factors to mention here.

Answer 5

Vintage , The year it was made ,OPtions ,not many ,MD 20-20.