Gift · birth-year vintage
Wine from the year of birth: which is still drinkable, and which will disappoint
Not all years are equal, and not all are still drinkable. Choose the year below: you will see whether that vintage of Bordeaux is still standing, what price range it sits in, and what to give instead when the year is poor.
Your year
The verdict is on red Bordeaux, which is what can still be found in quantity for older years. Dry whites over twenty years old are a matter for specialists.
Vintages in stock at Transvins, year by year (1945 to 2010)
Wines from the Transvins tariff for each year in the tool, from most to least expensive. The year's rating applies to red Bordeaux. Guide prices incl. VAT per bottle of the format shown, confirmed in the quote.
Why it works as a gift
A bottle from the year of birth is not a wine, it is a date. It has lived through the same years as the person receiving it, and it is opened counting the years out loud. It is the only gift costing between €40 and €300 that nobody finds excessive, because what it holds is not for sale: forty or fifty years in a cellar.
The condition is that the wine has held up. A tired 1976 opened in front of twenty people is an awkward moment. Hence the tool above, and hence a simple rule: for a weak year, give something else from the same period rather than a bottle that will disappoint. For a fiftieth birthday, the wine for a 50th birthday page covers the 1976 case in detail, with quantities for the party itself.
Opening an old bottle without spoiling it
- Upright 48 hours before. The sediment settles to the bottom. A bottle kept lying down until the last moment pours a cloudy wine.
- Cellar temperature, not room temperature. 16 to 17 °C. An old Bordeaux served at 21 °C tastes flat and alcoholic.
- Cork out with a two-prong cork puller if possible. After thirty years, the cork crumbles. Failing that, a thin screw and some patience; a cork that falls into the wine can be filtered out, it is not a disaster.
- Brief decanting, or none. Twenty minutes at most, to separate the sediment. A forty-year-old wine opens up fast and fades fast: taste it as soon as it is uncorked.
- A back-up bottle. A safe vintage from the 2000s, opened alongside. If the old bottle is past it, dinner goes on.
What is a vintage?
The year the grapes were harvested, printed on the label. In Bordeaux it matters more than elsewhere: the weather changes from one year to the next and the wine with it. Two bottles from the same château a year apart can be a great year and a year to forget. That is what the table above sums up, leaving individual châteaux aside.
Which Bordeaux vintages are still drinkable?
Since 1982, most good years are at their peak or still alive: 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010 leading the way. Before 1982, you enter the realm of great, well-kept châteaux: 1961, 1966, 1970, 1978 hold up at the top, the rest is a gamble. Before 1960, only a few legendary bottles are worth their price, and they cost hundreds of euros. For an eightieth birthday, the 80th page says what to do with a 1946 and what a 1945 or a 1947 costs, and risks.
How much does a bottle from the year of birth cost?
Between €30 and €70 for an average year from the 1990s and 2000s, €40 to €120 for a good year, €80 to €300 and much more for a great older year from a classified growth. These are guide ranges: the real price depends on the château, the condition of the bottle and its provenance, and it is set in the quote. For a whole party around that bottle, the quantity calculator prices the rest.
Should you choose the year of birth or the wedding year?
The wedding year when the birth year is weak, or when the person is over 60 and their birth-year bottle would cost as much as a weekend away. For a silver or golden wedding anniversary, the wedding year is the right one anyway: it concerns both people at the table, and it is often more recent, so safer. For a reunion, the class reunion page does the same sorting for ten to fifty years since graduation.
Where to buy an old bottle without getting ripped off?
From someone who stands behind the bottle: known provenance, visible fill level, label and capsule consistent with the age. Online auctions and private cellars are a lottery. A wine merchant that has kept old vintages in stock for decades knows where its bottles come from; ask, and the answer should be precise.
Already know which year you are looking for? Go straight to the quote request. To compare years with each other, Left Bank, Right Bank, whites and Sauternes, see the Bordeaux vintage chart.