The Truth Behind a "Good" or "Bad" Vintage

What’s in a vintage? 

The term vintage is often thrown around when talking about wine. You hear about a “good” vintage or a “bad” one, but what does that mean exactly? Let’s explore the terms and hopefully I can help you add a bit of knowledge to aid you in choosing your next bottle.

The vintage of a wine refers to the year when the grapes that made the wine were harvested. One of the most intriguing details about wine is that it’s flavor of the final product is affected by the grapevines environment, the soil, climate, and terrain; all things that fall under “terroir” (which we’ll dive deeper into in another blog post!). Seeing as climatic conditions can vary year to year, a wine’s aromas and flavors can change as well. A good example of a drastic change in wine flavor due to climate change is wildfires. The popular wine regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma County were devastated by fires in 2020, and therefore a lot of wineries will not be releasing a 2020 vintage due to smoke taint.

So, if someone refers to a vintage as a “good” vintage, that means the wine will taste better than say a bad vintage right?…Not necessarily. A good vintage is one with plenty of warm weather and sunshine so the grapes can reach optimal ripeness, but not too much as that can cause the fruit to shrivel and turn to raisins. In red wines, this perfectly ripe fruit will create wines high in tannins and acidity, making them perfect for aging. Considering most wine is consumed within hours of purchase and not aged, it isn’t always in a person’s best interest to look for the “best” vintage to take home and consume with dinner that evening. Why potentially spend more money on a “better” vintage if you don’t plan on aging the wine for years to come?

On the other hand, a bad vintage does not necessarily mean a bad wine. A bad vintage could be one that was struck with frost, hail, or rot, but most of the time these issues don’t afflict the entirety of the grapes for that specific harvest. Oftentimes these things don’t affect the consumer at all, as a good producer won’t tarnish their reputation by producing bad wine. They may choose to make significantly less wine, or sell the juice to a mass producing facility for a fraction of the income they would normally receive, but they won’t bottle poor quality fruit.

Next, let’s take a look at the ever popular scoring systems that can add value to a specific vintage, or tarnish one just the same.

As long as someone scoring the wine says it’s a 90+ point wine, you’ve really hit the jackpot and that wine could make it to one of the top 100 lists; driving demand and raising the value for specific vintages of specific wines. All this because someone we don’t even know told us this wine is “good.” Several organizations release a “vintage buying guide”, as pictured below from Wine Enthusiast.

This is a form of marketing very specific to wine. Considering we are discussing a subjective topic, we could really have the exact same wine taste different to different people, or even different to the same person at different times. It can depend on your mood, what you’re eating, the memories generated from your olfactory, and a slue of other factors. Ask yourself, why are you listening to this person scoring the wines? If you like Granny Smith apples but a stranger said Golden Delicious apples are better, are you going to completely abandon your own opinion and start eating Golden Delicious apples instead? I wouldn’t think so. So, learn what you like and why you do. That will truly help you choose a bottle most enjoyable to your palate.

Wine is such a complex and diverse topic, and it can be daunting to dive into if you’re just beginning your wine journey, but shouldn’t it be more comforting to discuss what you like and why, with a professional that understands what you are saying, and given the opportunity will learn your tastes? That is one of my favorite things about my job. I love building cases for people filled with new things they maybe haven’t tried, but based on their tastes, they should like. It’s so much fun to turn people on to new things and take the “scariness” out of exploring wine. Whatever your budget is, $10 per bottle or $100 per bottle, come see me and I promise to listen to your taste preferences and help you walk out with a bottle of pure joy!

If you insist on following a wine critic, I urge you to learn about them and find one that shares your tastes. Some prefer an old world style with high acid, tannin and structure, while some give higher scores to big, fat, juicy, full-bodied wines like Napa Cabs. I know we have a lot of tasting groups out there, and what a tasting that would be to buy and compare wines all given a certain amount of points by different critics. If you’re doing that one, let me know…I just may join in because that would be quite enlightening. CHEERS! – Stephanie Skager, Certified Sommelier | Wine Buyer