Anniversary wines 2024: The Decanter guide
It’s largely ‘vintages ending in 4’ for anyone looking for wines to mark a significant milestone this coming year. This is bad news for some based on vintage performances, though promising for others. Our annual expert selection will help you locate that ideal bottle for the perfect 2024 gift.
For this year’s 2024 edition, I have left as few stones unturned as possible, drawing as extensively as I can both on recent tastings as well as the vinous vestiges of my own ‘cellar’ in these anniversary vintages.
More importantly, I have tapped into a rich seam of expertise of fine wine-loving friends and writers who have been nowhere near a spittoon in the enjoyable product familiarisation of these wines from their own personal collections.
For the 1999s – 25th anniversaries this year, see below – Burgundy (reds 38%, whites 2%) outgunned Bordeaux, also coming within one percentage point (Burgundy 36.4% vs 37.2%) for the 1964 vintage. Champagne came in a creditable second for the 2004s (30.3% of trade vs Bordeaux’s 40.1%). Italy did reasonably well for the 2004 and 1964 vintages (11% and 19% respectively), and Port for 1994 (5.6%). Scotland putting in a nearly 5.6% contribution for 1974 was something I had to query – anomalously, it was down to the trade in rare Ladyburn single malt Scotch whisky.
I’ve made the point before, but the longer a wine spends in bottle, the more provenance and condition become paramount considerations. Champagne luminary and author Tom Stevenson recommends that you ‘never buy single bottles (or magnums) of old vintages from a wine shop, only direct from cellars or auctioned direct from cellars. Meanwhile, Sacramento wine merchant extraordinaire Darrell Corti points out that ‘most normal drinkers have no pleasure from old wines; fresh, fruity and talked-about is what I think is really liked’. And yet, as he says: ‘When a really lovely old bottle is found, it really is both delicious and memorable.’
20th (2004)
Coinciding with the inaugural Decanter World Wine Awards in 2004, writer-director Alexander Payne’s Sideways sets a high bar for wine films; the term orange wine is coined by UK wine merchant David Harvey; and Eduardo Chadwick puts Chile on the fine wine map when his Viñedo Chadwick and Seña triumph over Châteaux Lafite and Margaux at the Judgement of Berlin tasting. This was an abundant, ‘Indian summer’ vintage in Champagne and fizz-loving 20-year-olds are spoiled for choice.
For Tom Stevenson, Dom Ruinart Rosé along with magnums of Dom Pérignon Brut and Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé are the greatest wines from this vintage. Wine writer and educator Michael Schuster claims that the 2004 vintage is ‘almost a no-brainer’, having enjoyed, above all, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Roederer Cristal and a 2004-vintage Gosset. To an already long shopping list, I would add Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs, Salon, Philipponnat Clos des Goisses and Bruno Paillard’s Nec Plus Ultra prestige cuvée, as well as a big personal favourite Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires, a fine-textured, all-Chardonnay Champagne full of beurre blanc and toasty notes for millennials, millenarians and millionaires alike.
Although 2004 was not one of the greatest vintages of the decade in Bordeaux, the best wines are ripe, well balanced, medium-weight and can be left in the cellar a little longer, but many are already starting to drink well now. Schuster is a big fan of Châteaux Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Léoville Las Cases and Mouton Rothschild (‘best value of the 1st growths’) from the Left Bank; and on the Right (which may prove harder to find), Châteaux L’Evangile, Magdelaine and Canon La Gaffelière. I will draw a veil over red Burgundy, which suffered from ladybird taint, but in the Rhône, Chave’s Hermitage red is outstanding.
Piemontese Nebbiolo failed to live up to expectations, but Polish critic Wojciech Bońkowski MW calls the Cogno Vigna Elena Barolo a star. In his view, Brunello di Montalcino generally fared better, with impressive wines from Costanti, Campogiovanni, Fuligni, Cerbaiona and Soldera Case Basse Riserva. In Australia, 2004 was a pin-sticker of a fine vintage with the usual suspects all producing excellent wines, among which expert and Decanter contributor Huon Hooke lists Brokenwood Wade Block 2 Shiraz, Woodlands Cabernet Sauvignon, Clonakilla Shiraz-Viognier, and Crawford River Reserve Riesling.
From the Rose ‘cellar’, I would add a supple-textured, wonderfully evolved, cherry-rich Cullen, Diana Madeline Wilyabrup Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot, and John Duval’s smoky-spicy, savoury Entity Barossa Valley Shiraz; from California, Vérité’s sumptuously juicy, finely balanced Cabernet Franc-dominated Sonoma blend Le Désir; from Chile’s Pacific coast, the consistently excellent Matetic Rosario Valley Syrah; and from Swartland in South Africa, Eben Sadie’s vigorous, blackberryish Columella.
25th (1999)
One chapter opens with the creation of London’s Vinopolis City of Wine venue; another closes as Château d’Yquem in Sauternes is sold to LVMH after 214 years in the Lur Saluces family; while US critic Robert Parker is awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur. This is another good vintage for Champagne despite relatively low acidities, and, it hardly needs saying, is a perfect present for 25-year-olds and 25th anniversaries.
Champagne specialist and author Giles Fallowfield is full of praise for Billecart-Salmon, Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart in this vintage, along with Deutz, Cuvée William Deutz and Pol Roger, Vintage Blanc de Blancs. For Tom Stevenson, the ‘single most outstanding great Champagne’ is Moët & Chandon’s Grand Vintage Extra Brut; while for my part, I have consistently enjoyed the Louis Roederer Vintage (from the year in which Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon became chef de cave), along with the nuttiness and expansive mousse of a seriously vinous Roederer, Late Release Vintage Series magnum.
In Italy’s classic wine regions, 1999 was a great vintage for Brunello di Montalcino, Barolo and Chianti Classico. Personal favourites for Wojciech Bońkowski include Col d’Orcia’s Poggio al Vento Brunello, Fèlsina Rancia Chianti Classico Riserva, Barolos Le Vigne and Cannubi Boschis from Luciano Sandrone, and Aurelio Settimo’s Barolo Riserva Rocche dell’Annunziata, ‘a sumptuous example of old-style Barolo, the best made at this winery’ – along with the single-vineyard Produttori del Barbaresco Riservas.Bordeaux, while not outstanding, is drinking well now, with Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande one of the cru classé standouts. Opinions on 1999 Burgundy are mixed, so the answer for lovers of Pinot Noir could be in German Spätburgunder, albeit difficult to find now. Germany-based critic Stuart Pigott suggests that ‘the sweet Riesling Spätlese and Auslese wines from the Mosel, Nahe and Rheingau can be delicious, and this was a great vintage for Egon Müller’. Speaking of sweet, a long, cool autumn in Tokaj brought high-quality botrytis wines of fine acidity, among them Disznókő’s 5 and 6 Puttonyos, and Oremus.
Having squirrelled away a few South African reds, I have unearthed from the nooks of the Rose cellar two excellent red surprises: a minty, deliciously pure Thelema, Merlot Reserve and a spicy, cherryish Vergelegen. Elsewhere, along with a handful of long-forgotten winners that are still drinking surprisingly well, I have enjoyed a mature, Burgundy-alike Felton Road, Block 3 Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand, and Chile’s Alvaro Espinoza’s opulently youthful Merlot-Cabernet-Syrah blend Antiyal, with its classic Maipo Valley sage and mint twist.
30th (1994)
In 1994, we say farewell then to the term ‘méthode champenoise’ for sparkling wines after it’s outlawed by the EU, and hello to Chilean Carmenère following the revelation that it is not, as previously believed, Merlot. While no great shakes in most of Europe, 1994 was ‘a superb year for Australian reds that has always been a bit underrated’, according to top Aussie critic Huon Hooke.
Among the special wines he’s enjoyed in recent years, he singles out Moss Wood’s Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Margaret River, Tasmania’s Rotherhythe Pinot Noir, and the Chapel Hill Reserve Cabernet-Shiraz South Australian blend, not forgetting the cult Clare Valley red Wendouree.
In a decent vintage for Bordeaux, respected merchant Roy Richards singles out Vieux Château Certan (Pomerol), ‘as sweet as a nut, an absolute joy’, and says that ‘its sister wine Le Pin produced one of its best wines of the decade, discreetly, without anyone noticing’.
Tom Stevenson’s Champagne pick is Dom Pérignon, P3 Plénitude Rosé – affordable, if available, to the chosen few. Tuscany-based producer and global consultant Alberto Antonini is a fan of Antinori, Solaia IGT Toscana, ‘an amazing wine that’s elegant, complex, spicy with a structure of velvety and succulent tannins’. I very much enjoyed the Bertani, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, still going strong, with the accent on strong at 15% alcohol, and laden with black cherry richness.
In Stuart Pigott’s view, Germany’s 1994s have generally aged less well than the 1990s. But, in a difficult year for dry whites, I very much enjoyed a Dönnhoff, Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese Trocken, whose searing citrussy acidity supported a mature white with an almost Hunter Valley Semillon-like smokiness.
Ports are largely enjoyable now, in particular Dow’s, Graham’s and Quinta do Noval Nacional, while for something completely different, Gonzalez Byass Añada 1994 is an arresting palo cortado Sherry with aromatic notes of nuts, dried apricots, orange peel and spices.
40th (1984)
In 1984, Chateau Musar’s Serge Hochar is made Decanter magazine’s first ‘Man of the Year’ (now the annual Hall of Fame award); Pol Roger’s Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is launched in homage to its famous client at Blenheim Palace; and it was also a debut vintage for Randall Grahm’s cult California Rhône-style red Le Cigare Volant. All these events occurred in an Orwellian vintage in which 40-year-old wine lovers could be forgiven for wondering what they’d done in a previous life to have been born under quite such a bad sign.
‘One of the two worst vintages in Champagne since World War II,’ says Tom Stevenson, and ‘throughout Italy and Central Europe’, echoes Wojciech Bońkowski. ‘A lost cause,’ moans Michael Schuster. Salvaging something from the wreckage, 1984 in Australia was ‘a good year but patchy’, says Huon Hooke. ‘Interesting wines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape’ suggests Roy Richards, where tiny yields helped to make ‘outstanding’ wines at Clos des Papes and Château Rayas.
While Bordeaux was nothing to write home about, Richards has also extracted some pleasure from Domaine de Chevalier, Château Latour and Lynch-Bages on the Left Bank, and in South Africa, prominent author Michael Fridjhon was blown away by a recently tasted Delheim Grande Reserve.
50th (1974)
Wine is the Best Medicine is published by the aptly named Dr EA Maury, but the wine gods were looking the other way in what was in large part a nadir vintage. Not least in Bordeaux, where – though not directly implicated himself – a member of the Cruse family jumped to his death in the Gironde river following the scandalous discovery of the négociant’s industrial-scale sale of southern French red as Bordeaux.
On the plus side, in Italy 1974 was a historic vintage for Nebbiolo in Piedmont, ‘rivalling 1971 and (perhaps) 1978 for the best of that otherwise patchy decade’, says Wojciech Bońkowski. His top bottles include Gaja’s Barbaresco (still to be found in several markets, including the UK and US), Prunotto’s Montestefano Riserva Barbaresco and, ‘for more gas in the tank’, the ‘legendary’ Marcarini Barolo or the Marchesi di Barolo, Cannubi Barolo, ‘a magisterial kaleidoscope of Italian scents’.
1974 was one of the best South African vintages in living memory, according to Michael Fridjhon, in general a perfect and gentle ripening season. ‘The best wines are from Nederburg, especially the Auction Cabernet, Auction Shiraz and Auction Pinotage,’ he says, ‘as well as the Paarl Cabernet and even the Baronne [red blend]. The Rustenberg Dry Red from that year is a legend, and Zonnebloem also good – nothing bad, with the exception of Kanonkop.’
It was unmemorable however in Burgundy, although Roy Richards still has one ‘stunning’ red wine in his cellar, Barthod-Noëllat’s Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Cras, ‘with a deep crystalline hue and gorgeous raspberry fruit’. Californian voices have come out in support of Beaulieu, Georges de Latour, Stag’s Leap and Heitz Martha’s Vineyard.
For Port lovers, DWWA Regional Chair Richard Mayson recommends the Quinta do Noval Colheita, an unusual but very fine example of the cask-matured tawny style: ‘Refined, milk chocolate aromas, a touch balsamic, smooth, silky, suave and seductive with citrus freshness and perfect balance.’
60th and older
Perrier Jouët’s Belle Epoque 1964, its first vintage, is launched in 1969 as Cuvée Belle Epoque at Duke Ellington’s 70th birthday party 9 10 at Maxim’s in Paris. The legend that was Steven Spurrier (Decanter’s former consultant editor, among many other things) starts life in the wine trade in 1964 at Christopher’s cellars in London.
1964 was a great vintage in more regions than I have space to mention, but terrific in Bordeaux for Domaine de Chevalier and Château Haut Bailly in the Graves, Châteaux Latour and Montrose on the Left Bank and Figeac in St-Emilion; a fine year in Champagne, too, with Burgundy also on good form. Marqués de Riscal’s 1964 Rioja was the best of the decade between 1954 and 1964 and Penfolds, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon is a legend. There are a number of beguiling colheita Ports from 1964, including a smart rare bottling by Taylor’s.
1954 was largely forgettable then, even more so now, although diligent seekers of drinkable fine wines of this age might look to Viña Tondoñia Gran Reserva Rioja, Australia’s Mount Pleasant, Hunter Valley Richard Hermitage and the first ever vintage of Wynns, Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, while the outstanding Blandy’s 1954 Malmsey (bottled 1975) should raise a smile on a platinum anniversary, even if, statistically, only one in 1,000 actually make it that far. From wartime 1944, a Sandeman vintage Port may still be gracefully drinkable.
1934 sees the founding of the first American branch of The Wine and Food Society in Boston, The Wine Institute of California and the Jerez Consejo Regulador. Châteaux Latour, Ausone and Cheval Blanc compete with the legendary colheita Port from Niepoort (still to be found in several markets, including UK and US) for wine of the vintage status. Centenary ahoy!… In 1924, Professor IA Perold crosses Pinot Noir and Cinsault to create the mixed blessing known as Pinotage, while Cubist Jean Carlu creates the first artist’s label for Château Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac. It was a great vintage in Bordeaux if you can get your hands on any, while South Australian Seppeltsfield, Para Vintage Tawny 100 Year Old (available from the producer at A$1,100/100ml) represents 100 years of plenitude.
Where to find and buy anniversary wines
For checking prices and availability, I suggest checking out wine-searcher.com and wine-lister.com. You could also try reliable wine brokers such as farrvintners.com or wilkinsonvintners.com, and you may find helpful comments on a wine you’re looking for on a site such as cellartracker.com.
For older and scarcer wines, you may wish to keep an eye on auction sales, the main names in the UK and internationally being Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams, with regional UK players including the likes of Dreweatts in Newbury, Stride & Son in Chichester, Gorringe’s in Lewes and Straker Chadwick in Abergavenny, though there are many others – the smaller and more regional you go, the greater caution must be exercised over condition and provenance: caveat emptor.
In the US, Zachys in New York is the biggest auction name, while in Australia Langtons is the leading authority.
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