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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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:
He posted a picture of himself on a vintage Simson scooter, an icon of the former communist East Germany, which he was regularly seen riding in the election campaign.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Terms like "reclaimed vintage", "glamorous wide fit" and "Asos petite" are visible in the data.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Wardrobe stylist and art director Morgan Jordan added color to her Glendale apartment, the home of her vintage furniture and art collection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
There is also a five-car garage, giving Cuomo plenty of room for his collection of vintage cars.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Near the lone hangar, lethargic mechanics in grease-stained uniforms poked among the entrails of decrepit jets far removed from their vintage years.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Its owner Sergiy Klimov, who has put a yellow-and-blue flag at the bar's wall, sells only Ukrainian vintages.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
But many believed customers were more interested in cheap tickets than rare vintages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"Why are we so obsessed with single vintages? We need to change drinkers' perceptions. Non-vintage wines can be delicious."
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
Frenchmen such as Jean Louis Vignes came here bearing know-how and wine grape stock, and put the old mission varieties in the shade with ever-better vintages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2025
"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
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
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 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
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
As all the wines which he sends into the market are vintaged by himself, he can ensure their being of uniform high quality.
From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly
When September is vintaging, October is generally sowing.
From The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3), by John Ruskin
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
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
At this Claude, stupefied, fairly stared at the emaciated Mathilde, and then at the huge vintaging woman.
From His Masterpiece by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
They all answered that they were expected, and helped him to cover the figure of the vintaging girl with some strips of old linen which were soaking in a pail of water.
From His Masterpiece by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
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.
