All about red wine vintage chart

A wine’s vintage chart informs about the year that the grapes were harvested for its making. The changes in the climatic and the weather conditions affect the quality and the taste of the grapes that were harvested from a particular region and hence this affects whether the wine will be called as good or bad vintage.

The first vintage wine chart appeared in the year of 1855, this vintage chart was very much inspired from most of the French wines especially from the regions of the Bordeaux region. In an attempt to rate the quality of the different wine the critics formulated a method of rating to have a say on its quality and this was often determined by the auction value of the wine.

On these days many of the critics still utilize the charts to rank wines according to their perceived value. The wine vintage charts are usually a way to grade the wines on a numerical scale of 1-100, however some are rated on 1-10 also. The wines are rated based on the flavor, aroma, the balance of sweetness, acidity and other qualities. It is important to note the fact that the wines are grouped based on the region and the climatic regions. For example all the French wines will be grouped in the same list as these entire wines share the same region. The wines are then ordered based on the year in which they have been produced.

It is important to note that the main purpose of the vintage charts is to provide the buyers with the ratings for each and every year so that the can be well informed about the decisions while they are in the process of purchasing the wine. In case there have unfavorable conditions then it is important to remember the fact that the vintage hart will have an unfavorable rating just for the sake that the grapes that might have been harvested will not be properly because of the damage of the crop.

Demerits of vintage charts:

It is important to know the fact that the vintage charts are one of the effective ways to assess the information about the wine quality, some of the reasons why the wines fall short of the providing a comprehensive assessment of the wines:

• Wines are assessed based on the taste and all the individuals have different taste, and the taste which is liked by some of the individuals may not be necessarily liked by us.
• As the ratings are based on averages it is important to note the fact that because this system there may be some awful as well as some wines that are just exquisite.

Inspite of the above mentioned fact it is important to note the fact that there are several important benefits also that are offered by the vintage.

• There are a number of wines that vary immensely in character. The wines that are made with the help of the traditional methods are allowing great varied tastes.
• In addition to the rating the vintage charts provide ample information about the wine.

Source: California wine country tours