Golden Vintage, Golden Wines

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for the Dec. 15, 2007 issue

See Also
Golden Vintage, Golden Wines: Reflections on 1997
Golden Vintage, Golden Wines: James Suckling's Top-Scoring Wines: 1997 Italy Retrospective

10 years after the harvest, 1997 remains the standard for modern Italian wine

James Suckling
Issue: December 15, 2007

Just about every great wine-producing country or region has a benchmark vintage, one that not only illustrates its wines' superlative quality but also defines its winemaking ability. In Bordeaux, 1982 paved the way for that region to produce modern reds whose ripe fruit and round tannins make them attractive to drink young as well as let them improve with age.