email this pageA. Vintage refers to the year grapes were grown before being fermented into wine. With the way this date is proudly emblazoned on wine labels and corks, you’d think it must be an indispensable key to separating champions from also-rans, right? Not necessarily—for the vast majority of wines, there’s no need to stress out over it.
Today, many of the world’s most popular wine regions boast superb, and incredibly consistent, weather conditions. Broadly speaking, in areas such as California, Australia, South America and South Africa, it is rare to experience a growing year so terrible that you’d want to avoid the wines. In Europe, however, some of the best wine regions are at the mercy of notoriously fickle weather conditions. When purchasing expensive European wines, get an inside track to the winner’s circle with a vintage tip from a local expert or wine seller.
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