Vintage

Vintage is the year the Grape was picked. Weather that year moved sugar, acid, and flavor in the berry. A cool, long season can hold Acidity; a hot, short one can push sugar (and potential alcohol) while acid falls. That is farming, not poetry.

On a U.S. label, vintage sits beside appellation rules. TTB lets a wine name a country, state, county, or AVA when grape-origin rules are met ¹. The year does not replace the place, and the place does not freeze the weather.

Same valley, different year #

Napa Valley Vintners present the valley as California’s first AVA (1981), with nested AVAs as smaller geographies, not recipes ². Sonoma County Vintners describe Pacific fog, the Russian River as a cooling conduit, and a wide diurnal range ³. Those climate patterns explain why vintages differ twenty miles apart. They are not a scorecard for any one harvest.

A non-vintage wine is a blend across years on purpose — house consistency, not a missing birthday.

What to notice #

In the glass, vintage shows as ripeness versus freshness, not as a number. Taste with Tasting wine. A “great year” slogan without the wine in front of you is marketing. Vineyard is where that year’s fruit grew. Return to Wine.