noun / adjective From Old French vendange (grape harvest), from Latin vindemia (vine + take away)

Vintage /ˈvɪntɪdʒ/

The year in which the grapes for a wine were harvested. Also used as an adjective to describe wine made from grapes of a single year (a "vintage wine"), and colloquially to describe something of high quality or representative of a period.

What it tells you

The harvest year — and therefore the specific growing season conditions (weather, temperature, rainfall) that affected grape quality and character.

Why it varies

Growing season weather differs year to year. A dry summer followed by clean harvest conditions can produce exceptional fruit; rain at harvest or disease pressure reduces quality and quantity.

Non-vintage (NV)

Wines labelled NV (non-vintage) or without a year are blended across multiple years for consistency. Common in Champagne, Sherry and some Ports.

On the label

EU rules require wines labelled with a vintage to use at least 85% grapes from that year. Some countries permit 100% single-year labelling only.

Why the same wine tastes different in different years

Grapes are an agricultural crop. The character of any given year's harvest is shaped by temperature during the growing season, rainfall timing and quantity, disease pressure, and harvest weather. A dry summer concentrates sugars and reduces yields; August rain can dilute flavour and encourage rot. Clean, dry harvest conditions allow growers to wait for full phenolic ripeness; wet conditions force early picking. The result is that the same producer, vineyard and method can produce wines of noticeably different character year to year.

Terroir — the stable, site-specific factors (soil, topography, aspect) — remains constant. Vintage is the annual variable layered on top. In a warm, well-drained Grand Cru vineyard, terroir tends to assert itself even in difficult years; in a less well-situated plot, a poor vintage is more damaging. For how 2026 played out in Burgundy specifically, see the Burgundy 2026 harvest report.

When vintage does and does not matter

For everyday wines — supermarket Sauvignon Blanc, entry-level Prosecco, branded Chianti — vintage is largely irrelevant. These wines are produced for consistency and drunk young. For fine wine from quality-sensitive regions, vintage matters increasingly as you move up the quality pyramid. Burgundy Grand Cru from a great year (2019, 2015, 2010) versus a difficult year (2017, 2013) can differ significantly in both quality and market price. Bordeaux en primeur pricing is driven partly by vintage quality assessments — see the Bordeaux 2025 en primeur report for a live example.

The year on the label also tells you approximately how old the wine is, which matters for storage and drinking windows. Most still wines are intended to be drunk within 5 years of vintage; structured reds and fine whites within their producer's stated window. The How to read a wine label guide covers how to find the vintage on different label formats.

Wine vintage meaning and what makes a wine a vintage

The wine vintage — the year printed on a wine label — represents the harvest year and therefore the specific growing season conditions that shaped the grapes. The vintage wine meaning is straightforward: a wine labelled with a single year was made predominantly (at least 85% under EU rules) from grapes harvested in that year. What makes a wine a vintage, colloquially, is that it carries a year on the label and reflects the conditions of a specific growing season — as opposed to non-vintage (NV) wines, which blend multiple harvests for consistency. Understanding vintage is most valuable for fine wine from climate-sensitive regions, where year-to-year weather variation produces meaningfully different wines. Decanter and Jancis Robinson both publish detailed vintage charts and annual quality assessments for major wine regions.

Sources: OIV (harvest statistics), Decanter (vintage reports), Jancis Robinson MW — Oxford Companion to Wine. Last updated: 2026-10-14. Corrections via the contact form.

Questions

About vintage.

Does vintage always matter?

It depends on the wine and the region. For everyday drinking wines — simple regional labels, most entry-level Champagne (NV), commercial Prosecco — vintage matters little; these wines are made to be consistent across years. For fine wine from quality-sensitive regions (Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barossa, Mosel), vintage can make a significant difference to character, ageing potential and price. In cool-marginal climates, a great vintage (e.g., Burgundy 2010, 2015, 2019) can be transformative. For the latest quality signals, see the Burgundy 2026 harvest report.

What makes a "great vintage"?

There is no universal formula, but the common factors are: warm, dry growing conditions that ripen grapes fully; clean harvest weather without disease pressure (grey rot, mildew); and good diurnal temperature variation (warm days, cool nights) to preserve acidity and aromatics. A year that checks all of these boxes across the entire region — rare — produces a "great vintage." Most vintages are mixed: some plots or sub-regions perform well while others struggle. Critical assessments from Decanter and Jancis Robinson MW are the best guide to year-by-year quality.

What is a non-vintage (NV) wine?

A non-vintage wine is blended from grapes harvested across multiple years. The goal is consistency — so the house style of a Champagne or Sherry producer remains recognisable year on year regardless of what any single vintage produced. Non-vintage Champagne typically uses a base of the most recent harvest plus reserve wines from older years. The reserve wine component is what gives top NV Champagnes their depth and complexity. In contrast, vintage Champagne is made only in declared years and is aged longer. See the Champagne dosage rule change for how labelling rules apply to both.

How does vintage appear on a wine label?

The vintage year is typically printed prominently on the front label, sometimes as the largest text on the bottle after the producer and wine name. On EU wines, the year must represent at least 85% of the grapes used. If no year appears, the wine is either non-vintage or the information is on the back label. For a full walkthrough of label information, see the How to read a wine label guide.

What makes a wine a vintage versus non-vintage?

A wine is labelled as a "vintage wine" when the grapes were harvested in a single year and the year appears on the label — under EU law, at least 85% of the grapes must come from the stated year. A non-vintage (NV) wine blends grapes or wines from multiple harvest years. The primary purpose of non-vintage blending is consistency: Champagne houses blend reserve wines from older years with fresh base wine to maintain a recognisable house style regardless of annual weather variation. Non-vintage does not mean lower quality — some of the world's finest Champagnes (Krug Grande Cuvée, Bollinger Special Cuvée) are non-vintage. In contrast, vintage Champagne is produced only in exceptional years and must age for at least 36 months on lees. Sherry (most styles) and Tawny Port (aged blends) are also typically non-vintage. See the how to read a wine label guide for how vintage information appears on different label formats.

Is an older vintage always better?

No. Older wines are not automatically better — they are different. With age, wines develop secondary and tertiary aromas (earth, leather, mushroom, dried fruit, tobacco, petrol in Riesling) and their tannins and acidity evolve and integrate. Whether this is "better" depends entirely on personal preference and what you want from the wine. Many wines are at their best within 2–5 years of vintage. Only wines with sufficient structure — high acidity, significant tannin, concentrated fruit — benefit from extended ageing. The majority of wine made globally is intended to be drunk young.