Vintage Charting

In a wine shop I overhear a woman ask the clerk for help. She holds up a bottle and says, "Is this a good year?"
"No" the clerk replies, "That's the year I fell off my bicycle and broke my arm." All kidding aside, today we're going to demystify what is known as The Vintage Conundrum.
First, what is a vintage? Well, it can mean a crop of grapes from a vineyard or even the act of harvesting them, but most of the time it means when the wine was made. You'll know this from the date on the label, so it's pretty much a no-brainer. Where the mystery comes in is the Good year vs. Bad year label, which brings us to our second point; there's no such thing as a universally bad year.
Bordeaux might have a very rainy harvest season, which is bad, but in Tuscany it was nice and dry, so they had a good year. See how it works? So how do you pick a good wine, or better yet avoid a poor one without memorizing harvest conditions from thousands of vineyards throughout the Northern hemisphere, not to mention the Southern hemisphere where the seasons are opposite and they're harvesting the 2003 vintage as we speak? You cheat. You use a vintage chart.
Before we go on, I must emphatically stress, a vintage chart is a very general rating of the wine quality by year and region. There are ALWAYS exceptions to the rules. Even in a so-so year there are wines that are outstanding. (Once after drinking a pricey California Cabernet, the chef treated me to a glass of Rioja from an "off" year. It was half the price and showed more fruit and structure). Use the vintage chart as a guide rather than a bible and you'll not only drink better wine, but save money.
The easiest way to get a vintage chart is to download one from the Web. http://www.winetech.com/html/vintchrt.html is Robert Parker's. He rates wines on a numeric scale of one to 100, but there's nothing above 98 or below 50 points. If you use this chart, promise me, you'll try some wines rated around 85 or 86. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Another is WineEnthusiast.com. I like this one because it includes Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa. It also uses a numeric scale. Once you get to the site, you have to open the link to the magazine and select vintage chart.

Here are six very good wines from years that will not go down in history as exceptional vintages.
1998 Chevaliers de Tours. Pauillac - Typical Bordeaux structure with hints of cassis, blackberry and a grassy, herbal aroma. It's $17.99 and Robert Parker gives it an 87.
1999 Penfold's Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet. Australia -74% shiraz, 26% cabernet sauvignon, this wine's suppleness surprised me. Its fruit was forward, but not intensely so. Brawny, yet not tannic, with an inkberry bouquet and sour cherry fruit tones. $9.95. Parker rated the year at 88.
1997 Tionio. Ribera del Duero- 100% tempranillo grapes from Spain. A little tannic, but more aging should reduce that, it showed grape, plum and current flavors. $21.99, 86 rating.
Dionus 1997. Bajo Aragon- 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 12% syrah and 6% Grenache. This Spanish blend was fruity with low tannins and great with grilled meat. $44.99, 86 rating.
1998 Cambria, Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir. California -Yummy fruit with a little tang of tannins, kind of like a Vic's cherry cough drop. $17.99, 89 rating.
1998 Banfi Chianti Classico Reserva. Tuscany- not much structure, but a great soft finish with subtle fruit undertones. $14.95, 86 rating.