Vintage

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. I was recently asked - what is meant by a vintage wine? On today's program we'll discuss what a vintage is and why one vintage might be better than another. The vintage, or a year stated on the wine's label, indicates the year the grapes were harvested. So every year is a vintage year. Winemaking begins in the vineyard, and good grapes are essential to the entire process. Since grapes are an agricultural product it takes a favorable growing season to produce quality grapes. However, when the growing season is exceptional it stands to reason that the grapes will be of very high quality, which in turn will hopefully produce wines of exceptional quality and gives those vintages better ratings. That is basically what all the fuss is about. When a vintage from a particular area receives recognition the wines from that vintage become sought after and highly prized. Remember that just because it was a good vintage in Washington or Idaho doesn't mean that it was a good vintage in Italy or Chile. The only way you can find out about the region you are interested would be to read wine publications or ask your local wine retailer if they have a vintage chart that you can look at. These charts will give the consensus as to how a region has rated from vintage to vintage. And this doesn't always translate to higher prices. There are many wineries that keep their wines in the same price range and just pass the value on to their customers. Ask the advice of the person that you buy wine from they are up to date and can point out good values for you. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.