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:
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
As we thrifted in Los Feliz, we found a gorgeous, ivory, vintage dress that either gave pilgrim vibes or cool courthouse wedding dress chic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Sachie Mikawa said she was "heartbroken" when her trumpet, gifted to her by her late father, and her vintage melodica went missing from the Rotunda Theatre earlier this week.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The result is a home filled with vintage finds, environmentally conscious features, and personalized touches.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
His hair was adorably mussed, his vintage Poltergeist T-shirt hugging his frame nicely.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Most Langhe Nebbiolo wines are aged less than a year, allowing makers to use grapes from younger vineyards or difficult vintages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Mr Howell adds that "even without fires we are now subjected to more changeable vintages. So the odds are better if you use two different vintages to create the desired style for a particular wine."
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
We don't know yet whether the changes in microbial diversity affect the flavor profiles of these two vintages.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2024
The wine was poor stuff compared to the vintages from the Arbor the house normally served.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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
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 proportion of wine from black grapes, mingled with the other wines, is vintaged by themselves in the Ahr valley and at Ingelheim on the Rhine.
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
At this Claude, stupefied, fairly stared at the emaciated Mathilde, and then at the huge vintaging woman.
From His Masterpiece by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
When September is vintaging, October is generally sowing.
From The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3), by John Ruskin
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
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
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
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.
