vintage

[kwattro]

Hi,

Being fairly new to wine collecting and appreciation, i have a few questions regarding vintage rating.

1. Is it up to the individual wine critic such as JH or RP to say which year is a better vintage than the other? or is there a universal governing body to set the rating?

2. i'm collection wines for future consumptions - should i be concerned about the vintage rating? If that's the case, any recommendation where can i find the most reliable vintage chart? I had a look at bot R. Parker and JH, and both seems to disagree on 2004 for Barossa Valley - RP rate 2004 lower than 2005 - whereas from what i gathered, 2004 was a very good year for SA.

thanks
tt.

[griff]

Hi,

Being fairly new to wine collecting and appreciation, i have a few questions regarding vintage rating.

1. Is it up to the individual wine critic such as JH or RP to say which year is a better vintage than the other? or is there a universal governing body to set the rating?

2. i'm collection wines for future consumptions - should i be concerned about the vintage rating? If that's the case, any recommendation where can i find the most reliable vintage chart? I had a look at bot R. Parker and JH, and both seems to disagree on 2004 for Barossa Valley - RP rate 2004 lower than 2005 - whereas from what i gathered, 2004 was a very good year for SA.

thanks
tt.

1. No official body (and if there was it would be 10/10 each year for every region no doubt). If you want to rate a vintage in comparison to another then you need to read multiple ratings.

2. NO! The vintage rating is a ballpark measure. Individual producers (and vineyards for that matter) will continue to defy (better or under-performing) vintage ratings. You must remember that a vintage rating is a generalization across all producer whereas you may want to drink wine from a select few.

cheers

Carl

[Dave Dewhurst]

Yup, agree with Carl here. Probably the most important thing is tasting things yourself. Don't get bogged down by a number. Thing is too that a crap vintage for reds may be a great vintage for whites (again a gross generalisation), e.g. WA in 2006. Incredibly cool summer in Perth - I had my Ugg boots on most of the time - and down south is probably 5C cooler (broadly), but this has led to some gorgeously crisp whites and some thin and wimpy reds. Again, there are a number of exceptions to that reds comment.

Cheers

Dave

[TORB]

Vintage ratings = WOFTAM.

Its a monumental generalisation of the worst order, unless the vintage was either crappy or brilliant, it doesn't mean much.

[Jay60A]

Find out what you like to drink. Most wine does not appreciate much if at all, so better have stuff you like ...

Don't buy top wines on broad-brush vintage ratings. Buy because you have tasted it or (realistically) if there is a "rave" consensus across the critics for something you think you'd like.

Don't worry 2004 vs 2005 in Barossa. Both are very very good indeed. I'm not sure the critics know which is better either. We'll know in 10 years.

If you are serious, read Campbell, Jeremy Oliver, Gary Walsh, Halliday, TORB etc as a good way to learn, but don't follow anyone slavishly as they are all wrong sometimes.

Jay

[Daniel Jess]

Again, ratings are just numbers. Keep in mind that many writers who portend to educate the public using such broad terms are working off very general information including the weather (probably researched from the web), what their colleague winemakers said about that particular vintage in each region and then, of course, on taste.

No critic, who reviews a plethora of wines every year, would be in a position every year to sit enough of the same wines from the last few years gone by against the same styles produced from the current year's vintage, to obtain an objective vintage rating chart. They would work off past tasting notes and their memory, which I can only presume are quite subjective, on the other hand. (Hmm.. philosophy).

My point: don't rely on vintage charts. If you're really keen on storing wine for personal use, decide what styles of wine you like (and some you think you'd like to try later on), read their tasting notes, try to sample them at cellar door first (if you're able to get to the regions) and read other people's reviews. From there, purchase your little heart out and store them well.

[darby]

I think this thread raises an interesting issue about the 2008 vintage, esp in SA where vintage was influenced by an intense and persistent heatwave in March.

Wines made from grapes harvested before the heatwave (whites and early varieties) will presumably be better than those harvested during and afterwards. We'll have to wait and see.

This point reinforces the idea the vintage ratings are at best a gross simplification.

Cheers