I’m sure someone has a good vintage chart out there somewhere. Trying to figure out which vintages are good/great/poor ie was 1922 better than 1918 etc. At that age there are no great wines, just great bottles-but if some vintages are better or worse than others that is what I’m trying to figure out.
thanks for your help
-paul
Bordeaux 1918 *** Good Bordeaux 1922 Poor I use Broadbent’s Pocket Vintage Wine Companion- not bad for detailed notes in a small book.
Parker’s vintage chart goes back to 1970, Berry Bros goes back to 78. Not much help for the teens, 20’s, 30’s etc
Thanks!
I assume you recommend buying it?
From Broadbent’s Vintage Wine, which has more detail than the following summaries.
Broadbent
Thanks guys. Just picked up the book and pocket companion for $13 on Thrift books
Another vote for Broadbent, fun to read as well.
Bordeaux is my favorite category of wine. My oldest Bordeaux in the cellar is a 1982. I have had a 1961 in the past few years, but I don’t want to purchase any Bordeaux with that much age due to all the obvious risks. My gut tells me that even the greatest Bordeaux probably isn’t going to get any better after thirty or so years of age, and many probably peak earlier than that. I would be very interested to hear comments from those who have had some experience drinking very old Bordeaux. Is it just a novelty to drink these old timers, or can a 1961 today or even older Bordeaux actually be better than a 1996, 2000, 2005 etc.? You could argue 1961 was one of the all time great vintages, but 60 year old former athletes for the most part were better at their game 30 years ago.
This has to be a troll, right?
Does a troll still get better after 30 years …?
A few years ago I got to try a 1959 Latour. It was one of the greatest bottles of Bordeaux I have ever tried and better than any 1996, 2000 or 2005 I have had. This wine was not just a novelty. But, buying these old wines is very risky. The same friend who purchased this has purchased other wines from the same era where the wines are shot.
There are wines that do get better after 30 years of age. The 1970 Latour was too young around 2000 but fabulous about 10 years later. The 1982 Leoville las Cas is just getting good in the last few years and likely will still improve. Look, I doubt it happens with too many wines (maybe Latour, Mouton, LLC or one or two more) and/or with only occasional vintages like 1975, 1986 or 2005), but there are Bordeauxs that need more than 30 years to really mature. And, there are many more Bordeaux that still taste fabulous at 50 or more. For example, I have had a few wonderful 1970 Bordeaux in the past few years like Haut Brion, Leoville Poyferre and Lynch Bases. Certainly not novelties.
And, it is not just Bordeaux. A year or two ago, 1993 Ridge Monte Bello was just getting mature while the 1999 clearly was not yet mature. A few years ago, my wine group did a vertical of Chateau Montelena and the 1978 was the best wine. And, I am sure if you tasted 1978 California wines (over 40 years old) like Montelena, Ridge MB, Diamond Creek, etc., you would quickly find that these wines are still great and not old timers.
Same with some Burgundy, Barolo and wines from many other regions. The best Champagne I have had was a 1979 Dom Ruinart Rose (from Magnum) in around 2007 or 2008.
A friend shared a 64 Canon a while ago, and it was stunning. At another dinner a range of 66’s were also superb.
Personally I would not be going out of my way to acquire old Bordeaux (I stopped buying 1970 in the mid 90’s) but I could see how others might want to try really old ones.
I also recommend Broadbent’s book in that it covers those very old vintages. Note that the book is itself fairly old, and the notes maybe be from 20-30 years before publication, so a cheery checkin on a 1928 Margaux…might have been from 1970. How germane that is to the actual experience you will have on the bottle you purchase/buy…who knows.
Jayson, thanks for posting. I bought the book as well
Howards’ description echos my experience, of course, storage can be critical. If you can locate these wines, '66 Montrose, '64 & '75 Nenin, '64 La Croix de Gay, '62 Latour & '64 l’Angelus, try them, they can be wonderful, and considering all financial aspects of cellaring, they are a BARGAIN!
Good reference Keith, thanks.