How important is the vintage on a bottle of wine?
Sadly, I can give you no easy answer to that question, but as a generalisation one could say that the more expensive the bottle of wine, the more important the vintage information. Thus whilst the vintage date on a bottle of wine giving as it source “South-eastern Australia” might mean little, because the producer has the opportunity of finding the wines from vineyards in a number of different areas and thus blend out any problems, if you are buying, for example, a Riesling from the Clare Valley, the date on the label does become more important. Of course, at the very top end of the scale, in Bordeaux, for example, a vintage is all-important, often for the wrong reasons. If a guru, like Robert Parker, for example, decrees that a vintage is great, everyone, and that now apparently includes the Chinese, must have some The result is prices out of proportion to the intrinsic quality of the wine. This is what has happened with the 2009 vintage. Prices went up like flames in a chimney…. and now they are falling like soot.
It was not so long ago that everybody had a small vintage card, not just to see what were the good vintages for each region, but, perhaps more importantly, what were the bad ones. Now with modern treatments in the vineyard a bad vintage is a true rarity and even in the most disappointing of years you can find good bottles.
Of course there are some wines which rarely bear a vintage. Sherry is a prime example. Here the producer seeks to maintain continuity of style over the years, by what is called the solera system. In this, there are a number of rows of casks, with the youngest wine in the first and the oldest in the last. For bottling a fraction of wine is taken from the last row, which is then topped up from the previous one, and so-on backwards.
Another wine, which is most commonly sold without a vintage is Champagne. Yes, in outstanding years a proportion of vintage Champagne is produced, but the most expensive wine of some companies, and Krug is a particular example, is a non-vintage blend. Indeed, the regulations guarantee that a proportion of the wines produced in even the most exceptional of years has to be kept back for non-vintage blends.
We are particularly proud of our Chartogne-Taillet Cuvée Ste, Anne Non-Vintage Champagne. If you look at the back-label you can see what wines from which vintages go into the blend. You can also see the date of dégorgement, that is the date when the wine was finally prepared for shipment. By this, you can learn how fresh the wine is. Some people like their Champagnes young and crisp, some, mare mature and rounder. Thhe decision is yours – and the back-label will help you to make it!
Christopher Fielden
