A number of non-wine drinkers have been thrown by a common misconception about Vintage Wine. They believe the notion that because a wine has been labeled as a vintage wine, that it is better quality and taste. A Vintage wine is a wine that has been produced using grapes grown and harvested in one particular year.
The idea may have originated from the producers of Vintage Port in who make ports based off grapes from certain years, which are later analyzed and the ‘good years’ are then decided. These ‘good batches’ are then labeled as ‘Vintage Ports’ by each winery, indicating a particularly good batch.
Vintage wines do share some aspects of the labeling but it is not exactly the same. While they do use grapes from one year only, labeling it as a vintage does not guarantee that it is a good wine, it is more used to simple display what year the grapes were used. Usually the wines are released for sale and the wine community discusses and works out which of the wines are exceptionally good.
Vintage wines do not have to consist of 100% of grapes from one particular year. Wines from Chile or South Africa only have to have 75% of grapes from the same year to be labeled as Vintage wines. Vintage wines from the U.S, Australia, New Zealand and European Union have the bar set at 85% and higher.
The other types of wine, which are just called ‘non-vintage’ wines, can be made from grapes form harvests over two or more years. Some wineries use this method to create wines with consistent tastes and quality.
In the past, vintage wines were prized and did have different qualities and tastes according to the years they were grown, however modern farming techniques and irrigation now lets most wineries grow consistent crops, but the debate over quality still continues to this day.
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