vintage

American  

[vin-tij] / ˈvɪn tɪdʒ /

noun

• vintages
  plural

1. 

   the wine from a particular harvest or crop.

2. the annual produce of the grape harvest, especially with reference to the wine obtained.

3. an exceptionally fine wine from the crop of a good year.

4. the time of gathering grapes, or of winemaking.

5. the act or process of producing wine; winemaking.

6. the class of a dated object with reference to era of production or use.

   a hat of last year's vintage.

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adjective

1. of or relating to wines or winemaking.

2. being of a specified vintage.

   Vintage wines are usually more expensive than nonvintage wines.

3. representing the high quality of a past time.

   vintage cars;

   vintage movies.

4. old-fashioned or obsolete.

   vintage jokes.

5. being the best of its kind.

   They praised the play as vintage O'Neill.

verb (used with object)

vintaged, vintaging

1. to gather or harvest (grapes) for wine-making.

   The muscats were vintaged too early.

2. to make (wine) from grapes.

   a region that vintages a truly great champagne.

verb (used without object)

vintaged, vintaging

1. to harvest grapes for wine-making.

vintage British  

/ ˈvɪntɪdʒ /

noun

1. 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

2. the harvest from which such a wine is obtained

3. 1. the harvesting of wine grapes

   2. the season of harvesting these grapes or for making wine

4. a time of origin

   a car of Edwardian vintage

5. informal a group of people or objects of the same period

   a fashion of last season's vintage

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adjective

1. (of wine) of an outstandingly good year

2. representative of the best and most typical

   vintage Shakespeare

3. of lasting interest and importance; venerable; classic

   vintage films

4. old-fashioned; dated

verb

1. (tr) to gather (grapes) or make (wine)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonvintage
  adjective
• unvintaged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vintages
  plural

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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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vintage vintages vintaged vintaging

I was a little taken aback by the clumsiness of the comedy, which makes even “Saturday Night Live” of recent vintage seem like a work of genius.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Arsenal fans of a certain vintage will remember former Spurs boy Nayim's long, looping winner beating the moustachioed stopper in the final minute of extra time to give Real Zaragoza the Cup Winners' Cup.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

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

There is also a five-car garage, giving Cuomo plenty of room for his collection of vintage cars.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

It goes well right next to the shelf with my vintage 1950s Kodak Medallion 8 camera.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

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

So making French style wine is now possible, and Aldwick frequently win awards for their Somerset vintages.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

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

In past vintages, fruit sometimes picked after midnight was hauled by refrigerated truck to avoid heat spikes that would cause the grapes to retain too much sugar and raise the alcohol level to tipsy-after-a-glass range.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 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 latter is vintaged at Ingelheim, the grapes being pressed under the firm’s own superintendence, and only the must resulting from the first squeeze of the press being used.

From Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Henry Vizetelly

How delicious too the sweetbreads, the salad, the fromage; and crowning all, the exquisite service of sparkling wine, vintaged in the long ago in these famed Burgundian valleys.

From The Greater Love by George T. McCarthy

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

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

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

When September is vintaging, October is generally sowing.

From The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3), by John Ruskin

At this Claude, stupefied, fairly stared at the emaciated Mathilde, and then at the huge vintaging woman.

From His Masterpiece by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

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

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

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

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• wine

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