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 Sauternes; a humbler wine ages faster, a very great one far slower.
| Vintage | Rating | Drink |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Great | 2030–2066 |
| 2021 | Great | 2029–2065 |
| 2020 | Good | 2028–2060 |
| 2019 | Great | 2027–2063 |
| 2018 | Good | 2026–2058 |
| 2017 | Great | 2025–2061 |
| 2016 | Great | 2024–2060 |
| 2015 | Great | 2023–2059 |
| 2013 | Good | 2021–2053 |
| 2011 | Great | 2019–2055 |
| 2010 | Great | 2018–2054 |
| 2009 | Great | 2017–2053 |
| 2007 | Outstanding | 2015–2055 |
| 2005 | Great | 2013–2049 |
| 2003 | Great | 2011–2047 |
| 2001 | Outstanding | 2009–2049 |
| 1997 | Great | 2005–2041 |
| 1996 | Great | 2004–2040 |
| 1990 | Outstanding | 1998–2038 |
| 1989 | Outstanding | 1997–2037 |
| 1988 | Outstanding | 1996–2036 |
| 1986 | Great | 1994–2030 |
| 1983 | Outstanding | 1991–2031 |
| 1976 | Great | 1984–2020 |
| 1975 | Great | 1983–2019 |
| 1970 | Great | 1978–2014 |
| 1967 | Outstanding | 1975–2015 |
| 1959 | Outstanding | 1967–2007 |
| 1947 | Outstanding | 1955–1995 |
| 1945 | Outstanding | 1953–1993 |
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.