When a Wine List Falters
A good vintage chart can improve your wine selections
Posted: Aug 10, 2010 12:00am ET
Have you ever opened a restaurant wine list to find that the vintages were missing?
That
happened to me while I was on vacation in South Carolina. Edisto is a remote
and rustic island south of Charleston, and its virtues do not include
sophisticated nightlife. But there is one fine restaurant, called the Old Post
Office, and I went there with a group of friends. The 40-selection wine list
offered some good producers, but no vintages were listed at all.
I
suddenly felt strangely lost. It was like looking at a map, but all the street
names were missing. You could recognize the general neighborhoods, but it was
practically impossible to find a specific address.
First
came the difficulty selecting a white. I hesitated between a Bourgogne blanc
and a Pouilly-Fuissé, both priced under $40. Normally, I'd figure them to be
similar in quality and character, since both are Chardonnays from France's
Burgundy region. But what if one were significantly older? That could make a
huge difference in the taste of the wine. A younger vintage would likely offer
fresh fruit and bright acidity, while a wine that had been in bottle for a few
years might be softer, duller, even oxidized.
Then came
my quandary over the red. Some of my guests were Zinfandel lovers, and I
spotted a reasonably-priced Châteauneuf-du-Pape that I thought would intrigue
them. But not if it was a 2002, from a rain-soaked vintage that produced mostly
tart, diluted reds. And maybe not if it was a 2005—a great vintage, but one
whose massive wines still need a few years in the cellar to show their best.
The waiter
didn't know the vintages off-hand, so I asked him to bring the bottles to the
table so I could know for sure what I was ordering. As I waited, it struck me
that many people probably feel "lost" like that much of the time. Because even
when they do know the vintage, they may not have the background knowledge to
extrapolate from the vintage date to the character of the wine.
That's
where a vintage chart can be very, very handy.
Vintage
charts summarize the quality and character of wines from a particular region in
a specific year. A good one delivers two crucial pieces of information. First,
it provides a general assessment about the quality of a given vintage relative
to other years in a specific wine region. Second, it offers a window of
drinkability for each year rated. Are the wines concentrated, tannic and
potentially long-lived? Or is it a lighter, more forward year that will be
approachable early?
Wine
Spectator editors rate vintages from more than 30 regions around the world.
Each vintage rating consists of three components. The score indicates the
general quality of the wines. The description sums up the growing season and
the wines' character. The drink recommendation suggests when the wines will be
at their best.
Our
vintage charts are now available in a free iPhone app, which you can download from our app page. We
think you'll find them helpful, and we hope you'll give them a try.
Of
course, vintage charts are general in nature, and can't guarantee they'll lead
you to a great wine. But at the least, they'll help you find a better choice
than a 2002 Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
When
do you use vintage charts? Have they ever helped you make a better choice, or
avoid a bad one?
One night at the Wild Boar Restaurant (a Grand Award winner), where I was the sommelier, four women came in for dinner - each carrying two or three wine refernce books which they intended to use in deciding which wine to order. One of the wines which they decided on was a half bottle of 1989 Chateau Matgaux, which they rejected as undrinkable, even thought it was in perfect condition. I happily took it back, knowing that I could easily sell it by the glass to other diners. The next day, one of them posted on AOL's wine forum about how nicely they had been treated by us, even though they were women sending back an expensive bottle of wine. Thank goodness I "did the right thing"!