vintage
Americannoun
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vintages
plural
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the wine from a particular harvest or crop.
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the annual produce of the grape harvest, especially with reference to the wine obtained.
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an exceptionally fine wine from the crop of a good year.
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the time of gathering grapes, or of winemaking.
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the act or process of producing wine; winemaking.
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the class of a dated object with reference to era of production or use.
a hat of last year's vintage.
adjective
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of or relating to wines or winemaking.
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being of a specified vintage.
Vintage wines are usually more expensive than nonvintage wines.
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representing the high quality of a past time.
vintage cars;
vintage movies.
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old-fashioned or obsolete.
vintage jokes.
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being the best of its kind.
They praised the play as vintage O'Neill.
verb (used with object)
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to gather or harvest (grapes) for wine-making.
The muscats were vintaged too early.
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to make (wine) from grapes.
a region that vintages a truly great champagne.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the wine obtained from a harvest of grapes, esp in an outstandingly good year, referred to by the year involved, the district, or the vineyard
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the harvest from which such a wine is obtained
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the harvesting of wine grapes
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the season of harvesting these grapes or for making wine
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a time of origin
a car of Edwardian vintage
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informal a group of people or objects of the same period
a fashion of last season's vintage
adjective
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(of wine) of an outstandingly good year
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representative of the best and most typical
vintage Shakespeare
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of lasting interest and importance; venerable; classic
vintage films
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old-fashioned; dated
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vintage
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (noun), from Anglo-French, from vint(er) vintner + -age -age; replacing Middle English vendage, vindage, from Anglo-French; Old French vendange, from Latin vīndēmia “grape-gathering,” equivalent to vīn(um) “grape, wine” ( see wine) + dēm(ere) “to take from” (from dē- de- + (e)mere “to buy, obtain, take”) + -ia -y 3
Explanation
A vintage is the specific year that a wine was made. Different vintages are better than others. This word is mainly associated with wine. Some wine drinkers can actually identify a wine’s vintage based on smell or taste. Also, this word can refer to things that are old, yet also kind of cool. An antique car is known as a vintage automobile. There are also vintage bikes and watches. Watch out for the word vintage though: sometimes it just means old or used, like a vintage clothing store.
Vocabulary lists containing vintage
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Tangerine
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The Odyssey
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His mother, Alberta Wright, owned a vintage clothing store called Jezebel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Michael credits her with kickstarting his career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Prized vinyl records and vintage audio equipment are nothing more than a blank mush, speckled with ashes and broken pieces.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
In a collaboration with Singer, the fashion label made over two vintage sports cars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Moreover, they are much newer than the archetype collector car, like a vintage Porsche, and much cheaper to boot—and several insurance providers are finding them to be a growing revenue source.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The other hand—chipped blue nail polish, the color of a vintage car—resting on the wheel.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
So making French style wine is now possible, and Aldwick frequently win awards for their Somerset vintages.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
A blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from multiple vintages, it is also the 244th blend from Roederer and the house’s flagship wine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
The trio formed Red Stitch, the wine label’s name not only a nod to their beloved sport but also the bonds that have held them together through 17 vintages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2025
Despite paying “extraordinary costs” to try to cleanse the soot and smoke from their 2020 vintages, such efforts largely failed, according to the complaint.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2024
"Come with me to the Arbor, Xaro, and you'll have the finest vintages you ever tasted. But we'll need to go in a warship, not a pleasure barge."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
We tasted here several sparkling hocks distinguished by their high flavour and refinement, with sparkling moselles vintaged in the best localities and equally excellent in quality.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
A vintage cheese of the months from April to December, since such cheeses don't last long enough to be vintaged like wine by the year.
From The Complete Book of Cheese by Robert Carlton Brown
The cellars no longer contain any of that archaic wine vintaged in 1546, for which they were formerly celebrated.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
White wine from the clevener grape, understood to be identical with the pineau noir of Burgundy and the Champagne, and vintaged early in October, forms the basis of the sparkling wines manufactured by Kleinoscheg Brothers.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
The wine from riesling grapes is usually from the 191 Rhine, and with it is mingled a certain quantity of wine vintaged on the Hessian plain.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
The vintaging is accomplished with great care, and only the juice which flows from the first pressure is employed.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
They war against the quick and dead, Their flying feet are dashed with red, As theirs the vintaging that tread Before the Lord.
From Ballads in Blue China by Andrew Lang
In the foremost row are unripe grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be that are growing black to vintaging.
From The Odyssey Done into English prose by Andrew Lang
The white grapes are usually gathered a fortnight or three weeks later than the black varieties, but in other respects the vintaging of them is the same.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
Hail to thee, then, Dionysus of the clustered vine, and grant to us to come gladly again to the season of vintaging, yea, and afterwards for many a year to come. p.
From The Homeric Hymns A New Prose Translation; and Essays, Literary and Mythological by Andrew Lang
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
