Monthly Archives: February 2019

As I poured a glass of wine for a friend, she asked me a surprising question. “So, what makes a wine vintage? If it’s five years old or older?” I was taken aback at first, but I realized the question was quite reasonable. Vintage clothes, for example, don’t come from a specific year. “Vintage” in that case just means old.

Most wine drinkers already understand what a vintage wine is, but the question of which vintages are best is far less clear. Of course, vintages vary according to region. And certain authorities ascribe quality ratings to each year, which means that there must be general agreement on a region’s good years and bad years, right? Well, sort of.

If someone tells you to avoid a certain vintage, take that advice with a grain of salt. Just because the 2016 vintage in Burgundy was bad for growers, for example, it doesn’t mean that the bottle of 2016 Burgundy in front of you is bad. In our latest Name That Wine episode, we explain why.

We also tackle the challenge of chronologically ordering three different vintages of Alloro Vineyard Pinot Noir. As we blind-taste the 2015, 2014 and 2013, we talk about how wines change over time, and do our best to put that knowledge into practice. Alas, the wines we’re tasting aren’t very far apart, so we’ve set ourselves up for quite a difficult task! Well, if nothing else, we can laugh at ourselves:

Note: We received these three bottles of wine as complimentary samples for review on Name That Wine.

Who doesn’t love a good wine-themed grammar question? In our Name That Wine mailbox, we recently received just such a question from one of our viewers. A certain Thom Heil asked us about the difference between the words “variety” and “varietal.”

I was very excited to receive this question, because goodness knows, I see the word “varietal” misused time and time again, even by highly respected wine writers. Many people feel free to use the words “variety” and “varietal” interchangeably, but no such freedom exists. The words mean two different things, and they are two different parts of speech.

Alas, the incorrect use of “varietal” has become quite common, and it’s likely only a matter of time before dictionaries capitulate and accept the change. I know I’m fighting a losing battle against varietal abuse. But I keep praying to St. Jude in the hope that he will come to my aid.

To find out what the difference between a variety and a varietal is, check out our short and mostly non-judgmental video on the subject:

For more hot wine vocabulary action, check out this post about Potentially Confusing Wine Terms.