>Download Vintage Chart (PDF)
Vintage refers to two things: the physical process of the grape picking and the winemaking; and the year that produced a particular wine. In the northern hemisphere, the vintage also refers to the growing cycle of the vine. In the southern hemisphere, when the grapes are picked at the beginning of the year, it refers to the year in which the grapes were picked. Simple.
When wine does not state a vintage on the bottle, it is more often or not, inferior to one with a vintage – many table wines from the EU or the US are not vintage dated. The exception to this rule is Champagne, where a non vintage can still be top quality.
Why no vintage? Basically, winemakers are playing it safe by mixing in some the previous years wine, with the current years wine to help produce a more consistent – and at times dull, house wine style.
By law, a vintage marked bottle, must have 75% (or 85% in some countries or regions) of that particular years harvest, giving the winemaker at least a certain degree of flexibility when the going gets tough.
Please Note; Some of our wines state a vintage year. We work very hard to provide our customers with accurate information, however sometimes one will slip through the net. So if the the vintage is an important part of your purchase, please email our customer service team to check the vintage we currently have in stock - Thank you.