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 Brunello di Montalcino; a humbler wine ages faster, a very great one far slower.
| Vintage | Rating | Drink |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Good | 2028–2052 |
| 2021 | Great | 2027–2054 |
| 2020 | Great | 2026–2053 |
| 2019 | Great | 2025–2052 |
| 2018 | Good | 2024–2048 |
| 2017 | Average | 2023–2043 |
| 2016 | Outstanding | 2022–2052 |
| 2015 | Outstanding | 2021–2051 |
| 2014 | Drink up | 2019–2035 |
| 2013 | Great | 2019–2046 |
| 2012 | Good | 2018–2042 |
| 2011 | Good | 2017–2041 |
| 2010 | Outstanding | 2016–2046 |
| 2009 | Good | 2015–2039 |
| 2008 | Good | 2014–2038 |
| 2007 | Great | 2013–2040 |
| 2006 | Outstanding | 2012–2042 |
| 2004 | Great | 2010–2037 |
| 2002 | Drink up | 2007–2023 |
| 2001 | Great | 2007–2034 |
| 1999 | Great | 2005–2032 |
| 1997 | Outstanding | 2003–2033 |
| 1995 | Great | 2001–2028 |
| 1990 | Great | 1996–2023 |
| 1988 | Great | 1994–2021 |
| 1985 | Outstanding | 1991–2021 |
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.