10/16/07 Vintage

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. It is vintage wine 2007 - What is meant by a vintage wine you ask? Today we'll discuss what a vintage is and why one vintages differ from one another. The vintage or year that is stated on the wine's label indicates the year that the grapes were harvested. Each and 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 that you are interested would be to read wine publications or ask your local wine retailer if they have a vintage chart you could reference. These charts will give the consensus as to how a region was 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 of a great vintage on to their customers. Ask the advice of the person that you buy wine from, and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.