Year by year · indicative benchmarks: the producer and storage conditions come first.
A vintage does not only say whether the wine was good: it says how long it keeps. A great year outlives a modest one, and that is what this page puts next to every year. The windows below are for a Napa Cabernet; a humbler wine ages faster, a very great one far slower.
| Vintage | Rating | Drink |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Great | 2027–2040 |
| 2022 | Great | 2026–2039 |
| 2021 | Outstanding | 2025–2039 |
| 2020 | Drink up | 2023–2031 |
| 2019 | Great | 2023–2036 |
| 2018 | Outstanding | 2022–2036 |
| 2017 | Good | 2021–2032 |
| 2016 | Great | 2020–2033 |
| 2015 | Great | 2019–2032 |
| 2014 | Great | 2018–2031 |
| 2013 | Outstanding | 2017–2031 |
| 2012 | Outstanding | 2016–2030 |
| 2011 | Average | 2015–2024 |
| 2010 | Great | 2014–2027 |
| 2009 | Good | 2013–2024 |
| 2008 | Average | 2012–2021 |
| 2007 | Outstanding | 2011–2025 |
| 2005 | Good | 2009–2020 |
| 2002 | Great | 2006–2019 |
| 2001 | Great | 2005–2018 |
| 1997 | Great | 2001–2014 |
| 1994 | Great | 1998–2011 |
| 1991 | Great | 1995–2008 |
A year missing from this table is not a bad year: it is a year we would rather not rule on. Better silence than a rating pulled out of thin air.
See also ageing by appellation.
Caviste computes this window for every bottle in your cellar: photograph the label, the sheet fills itself in (estate, vintage, appellation) and the app tells you when a bottle reaches its peak. Discover Caviste.