What's in a Year?

Vintage variation and how climate and weather affect your wine

If you’re ever in a group of Serious Wine People™ you will inevitably see someone nod sagely while proclaiming that one year or another is “an excellent vintage.” If you are new to this niche world of discussing and evaluating wine - not just drinking and enjoying it - you may find yourself wondering what makes for an excellent vintage, or a bad one. Is there really that much variation between wines that have the same label but were made in different years?

Well, sometimes yes, and sometimes no. This post is all about why the answer might be yes or no, how you can tell which it is, and what you might expect from certain factors in a growing season. Assuming you haven’t memorized the weather conditions in the major wine producing regions of the world for the last 20-30 years, I’ll also give some tips about how to quickly find out the vintage characteristics for a wine you’re considering buying.

Um…what is a vintage? Does it mean the wine is old?

Nope, wine and fashion lingo are totally different in this case. In wine, “vintage” means the year in which the grapes were harvested.

What do you mean when you say “vintage variation?”

Vintage variation refers to the differences that occur between wines from the same producer bearing the same label, from different harvest years. For example, the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from a single producer might show significant differences in aromas and flavors between 2021 and 2022.

I say “might” because some producers make wines intentionally to have limited or no vintage variation. Their goal is to create a consistent experience for their consumer every time they buy a wine with that label, no matter when the bottle was produced.

How do producers avoid vintage variation?

They might source their grapes from a variety of sites where they are getting the characteristics they want, alter the blend of different types of grapes to elevate some flavors and minimize others, or add things (acids, sugars, grape concentrates, dyes, powdered tannins, etc.).

Consistency sounds like a good thing. Why do other producers choose to make wines that vary so much between vintages?

Wine is an agricultural product. The vines age and their characteristics evolve. The weather affects how aromas and flavors develop in the grapes and which become more dominant. Some winemakers are not interested in making the same thing every year; instead, they are trying to give the best and truest expression of a particular appellation, vineyard, or even single block - and while the soil and ongoing climate factors will likely maintain some commonalities, the shifting of vines and weather bring changes from year to year.

Okay, but the label doesn’t announce whether the wine is made for consistency or variation. How do I know which is which?

The best indicator is how specific the label gets about where the grapes came from: the smaller the area, the more vintage variation you are likely to experience. A bottle that says “California” can pull fruit from anywhere in the state to maintain a consistent flavor profile. One from the Napa Valley is somewhat more limited but also has the potential of sourcing fruit from a few different microclimates. Howell Mountain defines the available area even further, while a single vineyard or estate designation means the winemaker is working with fruit from a very specific area that probably experienced a shared range of conditions.

Another clue is how much of it is produced. If you can find it in any grocery or liquor store or it bears the label of a major retailer, it’s probably mass produced for consistency. If it’s a small producer that is only available in limited quantities, I would expect more variation. The middle territory - producers that are widely known and make a significant amount of wine, but aren’t so large that they’re obviously mass produced - are harder to tell, and might require a conversation with a knowledgable wine store employee or a visit to the producer’s website. Those who are pursuing specificity and pure expressions of their vineyards are eager to make that clear.

Unfortunately, price can also be an indicator. I’ve experienced quality European wine to be easier to find at a lower price, but here in the U.S., it’s pretty much impossible to make a $10 wine that has much specificity or soul. That doesn’t mean they won’t taste good, and for most of us (myself included), sometimes if we can’t get our wine for $10-20, we won’t be drinking at all. Just be aware that these wines may not be particularly interesting and probably won’t reflect a place, winemaker, or set of values beyond the business of selling as much wine as possible.

Finally, region can tell you to some degree how much vintage variation you’ll experience. Bordeaux has significant shifts in weather from year to year, and the wine reflects that. Relatively speaking, Napa has more consistent weather patterns and shows less variation.

Photo by Maxime Kirschner on Unsplash

When the wine changes from year to year, what kind of differences might occur?

A temperate year - one in which the temperatures during the growing season are moderate and fall right into the optimal range for ripening grapes - brings balance. All the different aroma and flavor compounds that exist in the grapes - fruit, florals, herbs, pepper, etc. - ripen evenly, so you get natural complexity. The acidity is high enough to make the wine lively and potentially age-worthy, but not so high as to be overwhelming. The tannins in a red wine are present and structured, but not abrasive, even when it is young.

In a warm year, the grapes can ripen faster, and fruit aromas and flavors tend to dominate, and sometimes veer from bright, fresh fruit toward baked or jammy. You might lose herbal, floral, mineral, and vegetal notes. Depending on how warm we’re talking, you can either lose tannic structure because the tannins are riper and more plush, or get more tannins because grapes exposed to severe heat, sun, and drought can develop thicker skins.

Cool years may lead to tannins not ripening as much, so they are more astringent. Acidity is higher, and the fruit flavors tend to be fresh, barely ripe or not quite ripe, and even tart. Floral, herbal, vegetal, and mineral notes will be more prominent.

Which is best? Well, that depends on what you like. Temperate years tend to get the best ratings from critics, because they check all the boxes for broad appeal. People who like their wine to mostly taste like fruit often prefer warm vintages. Those of us who like screaming acidity and a bunch of things that aren’t fruit usually love cool vintages.

But I have no idea what the weather was like in Pauillac in 2014!

Me neither! It’s fine! You probably have a super computer in your hand right now. Google “vintage chart _______ (insert region here).” It will tell you whether the conditions in that place were temperate, warm, or cool, and the expected window of time in which you can expect the wine to be best for drinking. A knowledgeable wine store employee or sommelier can also help you make sure you’re getting a wine that will meet your preferences.

Finally, what makes for an “excellent vintage?”

To some degree, the vintage is in the eye of the beholder, and I tend to trust consistent quality from producers more than weather conditions. That said, great vintages are those with weather that ripens grapes evenly across the whole season, and don’t have challenges like ill-timed rain, frost, hail, or heat spikes, so you can count on producers across the region making some of their best-received wines.

---

If you have other questions about vintage variation, leave them in the comments or email me at stacey@justasmidge.me. And if you can, get out and grab a vertical - two or more vintages of the same wine - and see what you can observe about how these wines differ from year to year. Cheers!