how do you know what year is good?

[Innkeeper]

Vintage charts generally cover a region, for example Upper Rhone; or a crop within a region, for example Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon or Oregon Pinot Noir. For brands and/or specific vineyards you need to learn from postings here, reviews in the major magazines (I like "Wines & Spirits" best), and (heaven forbid)other on-line sources.

Don't want to scare you, but it can become complicated. Many vineyards supply more than one producer/brand, and can be in more than one AVA (American Viticultural Area). One such is Pisoni Vineyards, that supplies several wineries. It is in the Santa Lucia Highlands (an AVA), which in turn is a subregion of the Monterey AVA which is in the larger Central Coast CA region. Pisoni grows pinot noir. The closest you are going to see on a vintage chart is Central Coast Pinot Noir.



[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 01-04-2003).]