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 Barolo; a humbler wine ages faster, a very great one far slower.
| Vintage | Rating | Drink |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Good | 2027–2047 |
| 2021 | Great | 2026–2049 |
| 2020 | Great | 2025–2048 |
| 2019 | Great | 2024–2047 |
| 2018 | Good | 2023–2043 |
| 2017 | Good | 2022–2042 |
| 2016 | Outstanding | 2021–2046 |
| 2015 | Great | 2020–2043 |
| 2014 | Average | 2019–2035 |
| 2013 | Great | 2018–2041 |
| 2012 | Great | 2017–2040 |
| 2011 | Good | 2016–2036 |
| 2010 | Outstanding | 2015–2040 |
| 2009 | Good | 2014–2034 |
| 2008 | Great | 2013–2036 |
| 2007 | Great | 2012–2035 |
| 2006 | Outstanding | 2011–2036 |
| 2005 | Good | 2010–2030 |
| 2004 | Outstanding | 2009–2034 |
| 2003 | Average | 2008–2024 |
| 2002 | Drink up | 2006–2020 |
| 2001 | Outstanding | 2006–2031 |
| 2000 | Great | 2005–2028 |
| 1999 | Outstanding | 2004–2029 |
| 1998 | Great | 2003–2026 |
| 1997 | Great | 2002–2025 |
| 1996 | Outstanding | 2001–2026 |
| 1990 | Outstanding | 1995–2020 |
| 1989 | Outstanding | 1994–2019 |
| 1988 | Great | 1993–2016 |
| 1985 | Outstanding | 1990–2015 |
| 1982 | Great | 1987–2010 |
| 1978 | Outstanding | 1983–2008 |
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.