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Vintage Charts for Wine

Like snowflakes, no two bottles of wine are exactly alike. Each has its own flavor, aroma, color and even texture. Thus, drinking wine is a very personal experience, with people subjectively choosing their favorites. Some people might like dry, while others like sweet. Some might want a spicy red, while others prefer a subtle white.

However, even though people choose wines based on their personal preferences, there are some general guidelines that wine aficionados use to determine which wines are the cream of the crop. They judge bottles based on many factors and are able to rate vintages of wine. The wine charts that they create can help you narrow your search but may be confusing to the unfamiliar. Keep reading to learn how to read vintage charts.

Wine: Good or Exceptional?

What makes a wine exceptional? Many factors, including taste and aroma, work together to form a great wine. The best bottles are also able to achieve a balance between sweetness and acidity. While some of the characteristics are formed during vinification, others are established in the vineyard.

For example, climate changes, both regional and seasonal, will affect grapes and, thus, will impact the final taste. For this reason, grapes grown in the same region can produce wines of different quality from year to year. The soil in which the grapes are grown will also affect the final product.

Reading Wine Charts

Wine charts are often divided into sections according to region, providing profiles of both the climate and the soil composition. For example, vintage charts would probably group together all of the types produced in the Bordeaux region of France, seeing as they all would share the same climate. Within the regions, the charts then group all wines produced in the same year.

After the wines have been grouped, experts will list a grade for each. Some vintage charts are based on a 100-point scale, while others use a 10-point scale. The grade is determined by multiple factors, including:

aroma
balance
look
taste.

In addition to listing the grade and region, some of the more in-depth vintage charts also use symbols to let drinkers know whether or not a wine needs to be aged. To get the most out of your vintage chart, make sure you look at the key to learn what all of the symbols represent.

Wine Charts and Wine Grade

Most wine drinkers in the U.S. are familiar with, or have at least seen the 100-point grading scale. Much like the grades that teachers give to students in grade school, the number distinguishes the exceptional from the mediocre. Here's how the scale breaks down:

95-100: classic, a great wine
90-94: outstanding, a wine of advanced style and character
85-89: very good, a wine with unique qualities
80-84: good, a well-made wine
75-79: mediocre, a drinkable wine with minor flaws
50-74: not recommended.

When deciding on a grade for each wine, a team of experts will perform three basic steps:

Look: Color is important. In order to examine the color, tasters will pour the liquid into a clear glass and will hold it in front of a white background. A white wine's color can range from pale yellow to brownish yellow, and a red wine can be pale red or a deep reddish brown.
Smell: In order to smell wine, tasters will swirl the beverage in the glass to release its bouquet. They will then put their noses into the glass and take one or two sniffs.
Taste: To taste, tasters sip the wine to establish its initial taste, its body and texture and its aftertaste.

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