1975 Bordeaux. After initially having many really funky bottles when first rebased, now, 40+ years later, some are actually very enjoyable and showing up the bad vintage hype.
I actually have found more enjoyment out of 2000, but there are some gems from 98 too.
1988 Napa is another.
I actually hunt âoffâ vintages. I think 2011 Napa is great, and more old school classic in many cases. I liked 2004 and 2008 CdP when those arrived, though I havenât had any lately. 2000 Monte Bello is stellar, and drinking beautifully now.
Depends a little on what makes a vintage âoffâ. Sometimes, itâs merely that it doesnât quite measure up to what was proclaimed as a âgreatâ vintage the year before. Sometimes it really was a more difficulty vintage, for a variety of reasons, but that often brings out the best from knowledgeable and experienced growers and winemakers (e.g., 2013 burgundy, or 2007 northern Rhone).
The âno off vintagesâ idea is especially true for Napa. The âoffâ vintages now are the ones that produce wines that are too ripe and over the topâŚ
Have a number of 1999 Napa wines that were considered too lean and green that are absolutely on point beautiful, if the producer was not trying to vinify a 15% bomb.
Probably not. But if you look at vintage charts it was not received very well.
2011 NapaâŚThe wines are a bit less ripe than surrounding years, and more linear, but I have had several that were very good
I havenât looked at vintage charts in years so literally have no idea.
1980, 1991, 1993 (according to Parker and Rovani), 2000, 2001 (this was widely panned when first released), and 2007 in red Burgundy [I donât include 2014 because I never thought of it as an off vintage]
1993 in white Burgundy
I agree regarding 2008 in Germany. I would include 2010 because some people consider it an off vintage
2011 on Monte Bello
1975, 1979, 1981, 2001, 2004, and 2014 in Bordeaux (I would not consider any of these off vintages, but a lot of people do)
2000 in Champagne
I agree, 98 and 00 Napa overachieved significantly compared to what the press said, particularly if you liked more classical styling.
99 wasnât an off vintage, but it is a highly underrated one by many wine people.
For me 2013 is great for Alsace at the moment. IMHO the region is getting a bit too warm in recent years and 2013 provided some much needed acidity.
As an example Deiss whom I greatly admire, but just find too rich in warmer years. GC Schoenenburg and Burg were wonderful in 2013!
I agree with what David says here.
So, with that in mind, I will submit the following as âless good vintagesâ where my of success/enjoyment seems to be greater than average:
2008 Red Burgundy
2010 German Riesling
2006 CdP
2002 Bordeaux (particularly R Bank)
2014 Bordeaux
No, not really bad, but still the weakest vintage between 2008 and 2015.
Some producers declassified their top-cuvees âŚ
To me, a genuine off vintage is 2003. I just had 2014 Jamet, for example, and itâs an excellent wine. I also own plenty of Levet and some others. Not sure who declassified, but if itâs someone like Guigal, then I wouldnât have noticed.
Personally I find 2013 to be a consistently weaker vintage in the northern RhĂ´ne.
Well if itâs a true off vintage, would we be talking about individual wines?..
1967 lâEvangile has been sublime on many occasions.
1970 Romanee Conti is most sublime!
1976 Lafite really is legit!
1980 maybe not a bad vintage but panned early and donât know if it ever really got praise. Voillots Volnays are fantastic
2013 is usually superior to 2014 in the Northern Rhone:
Ogier, Rostaing, Vidal-Fleury and others declassified all 2014 top-cuvees into the regular Cote-Rotie.
Rostaing even re-introduced his Cote brune in 2013 after replanting, but made no 2014.
Well into the 80s, 75 was actually very well regarded. It was seen as being one of the best of the 70s, along with 1970 and 1978. If the reputation flipped, that was later. The 75s were brutally tannic for far longer than expected.
Many people are brainwashed into believing that only the best vintages âcountâ and overlook things like wonderful 1971 Bordeaux, and that a particular chateau is uniformly good. An example of the latter are people that blindly buy Ch. Margaux between 1970 and 1977 because it is a first growth so it must be good, Well in fact it was crap during all of that time - the Ginestets made absolute crapola between 1962 and 1977 and the rebirth only came with the Mentzelopoulos take over for the 1978 vintage.
I have seen very knowledgeable wine tasters at a tasting of the 1970 vintage say what garbage the Margaux was and then when they found out what the wines were, they almost tripped over the tongues as they reversed themselves and started looking for nice things to say - thatâs why I prefer blind tasting!
One can take advantage of ignorance - many people learn the best Bordeaux vintages but know little or nothing about other areas (Iâve bought a lot of Northern Rhone from 1991 using that bit of ignorance).
Of course I made the mistake of listening to the wrong critics myself before the 1985 clarets became available and bought almost none as they were assessed as a middling vintage with limited lasting power and I had a cellar well stocked with 1982/3 at the time.
The whole idea of good vs bad vintages is flawed, though. There are very nice wines from mediocre vintages and there are red wine vintages (which most learn) vs. white wine vintages (which few know) and I have had more than a few bottles of excellent white Bordeaux (mostly Haut Brion) because the vintages werenât the praised red wine vintages.
But to answer the question, my best luck has been with 1975 Bordeaux. So tannic and monolithic when young that they were hard to assess. They came in two types (in retrospect) those that had enough fruit lurking under the tannins to eventually - usually 30 years later- become pleasurable well balanced wines, and those with insufficient fruit that would go from being tannic monsters to being raddled old fruitless shells. I probably scored maybe 75% based on early tasting and still have some very decent wines in the cellar still drinking well.
I agree. I would add, for example:
1967 Cheval Blanc (although was 1967 an off vintage on the right bank?)
2011 Ridge Monte Bello
2003 and 2004 Burgundies from Jacky Truchot
1975 Pichon Lalande
1 Like
All producers I donât buy; I donât like Rostaing or Ogier. Iâve had a fair amount of 14 Allemand which is just a spectacular vintage for him, 14 Jamet (as Iâve noted) is excellent and considerably better than the 13, I think the same of Levet. Iâm not generally a big Juge fan, but I also think his 14 is better than the 13. I suspect we may disagree here. I am aware that some producers had issues with ripening in 14 though.
I thought 2011 as well. Iâve had a lot of luck with 2011 wines. Iâve taken advantage of the numerous poor vintage discounts on premium wines. Give me a good wine maker and I wonât ask what vintage the wine is from.