A Question of Age

NEW YORK—People are really anxious about vintages. I frequently hear: “What are the good vintages right now?” Or: “How important is the vintage?”

In truth, if you’re a wine beginner or even a wine intermediate, vintages shouldn’t be your focus. It’s the producer that matters most, since a good winemaker can coax a good wine under various circumstances.

In many New World wine regions, including pretty much all of California and parts of Australia, vintage quality doesn’t vary a huge amount, since the weather is relatively constant and consequently the quality of the grapes does not change drastically from year to year. In Old World areas where the weather is wildly changeable—particularly in northern regions like Germany, Northern Italy, and most of France—vintages are more important, though not necessarily in the way you might think.

Case in point: I just returned from Bordeaux, probably the global epicenter of vintage drama. People debate them endlessly, and great fortunes hinge on tiny differences among them. When the wines are barely in the bottle, they are sold as “futures” in a stock market-like exchange, even though they won’t actually be shipped from the chateau cellars for years.

The most sought-after recent vintages are 2000 and 2005, and wines from these years go for big bucks. But here’s the thing most people don’t understand: A “great” vintage in Bordeaux means one in which the wines will age for many decades. The best of these wines are not meant to be consumed now—it would be foolish to waste them. Indeed, some top ones are actually undrinkable (too tannic and forbidding in some cases), and will only open up much later: say, when you’re retired. Since most people buy wine to drink within a week or less of purchase, it makes no sense to buy a 2005.

At the lunches and dinners I was lucky enough to enjoy in Bordeaux, it was the 1999, 2001, and 2002 vintages—all “lesser,” lower-rated ones—that winemakers and chateau owners were enjoying. In the right hands, wines from these years are approachable and lovely, the very definition of elegance.

So which vintages should you buy? In Bordeaux, start with that recent trio, but do so with an eye to developing knowledge about a particular chateau’s style, so that you can follow it year in and year out. Don’t be just a fair weather friend.

Ted Loos, executive editor of Art & Auction magazine, is the former features editor of Wine Spectator and has written on wine for Bon Appétit, Town & Country, and many other publications. He's the author of Town & Country Wine Companion: A Tasting Guide and Journal (Hearst Books; $12.95), published this fall. "In the Cellar" appears on ARTINFO every other Wednesday.