Vintage

From this tradition, a common, though not strictly correct, usage applies the term to any wine that is perceived to be particularly old or of a particularly high quality.

Technically, the 85% rule in the United States applies equally to imports, but there are difficulties in enforcing the regulation.

It was adapted from the Old French vendange ('wine harvest') deriving from the Latin vindemia ('grape-gathering'), in turn coming from vinum ('wine') and demere ('to remove').

For example, New York Times wine columnist Frank J. Prial declared the vintage chart to be dead, writing that "winemakers of the world have rendered the vintage chart obsolete"; Bill Marsano wrote that "winemakers now have the technology and skills to make good and even very good wines in undistinguished years".

Roman Weil, co-chairman of the Oenonomy Society of the US and professor at the University of Chicago, tested the controversial hypothesis that experienced wine drinkers "cannot distinguish in blind tastings the wine of years rated high from those of years rated low, or, if they can, they do not agree with the vintage chart's preferences".

[10] Even when they could make a distinction, the match between the tasters' individual assessments and the charts' rankings were little better than tossing a coin.