Wine vintage rating 1951

What was the vintage 1951 like?

1951 good Piedmont vintage for Barolo and Barbaresco, very difficult in Bordeaux, rarely but above average Rioja.

Why does the 1951 Bordeaux vintage have to be rated so poorly? There was way too much rain in August. And this is the period of the year when the vines need water stress to produce intense, flavorful wines. In order to allow the grapes to ripen as much as possible, the harvest was postponed to a very late date, well into October. The 1951 vintage is now more 70 years old. With such an age, it is not the quality of the vintage that plays the main role, but the coincidence of the wine storage. A natural selection takes place: only a few wine bottles survive the time in the wine cellar undamaged with perfect filling levels.

Weather in the year 1951

The flowering phase was pleasing and the beginning of the growing season good. Cool weather began in south-west France in May. Finally, in France, both in Bordeaux and in Burgundy, the summer became very rainy and cool.

One believed to experience the autumn sooner. The grapes took an extremely long time to reach maturity. The wait for the grape harvest was correspondingly long in cool but tolerably dry weather.

In Italy the weather conditions were much better, there was no heavy rain.

The current stock of wines from the 1951 vintage

All wines from the 1951 vintage are in our own wine cellar and can be shipped immediately or picked up at the wine shop. To the wines of 1951

Good filling levels, good wine quality

The fill level of an old vintage wine reveals important information on the drinkability of the wine.
Of course, the good condition of a wine from an old vintage depends on excellent storage. Above all, the wine must not have frequently changed cellars. Ideally, the wine will have rested in one and the same wine cellar.

But also the cork that sits in each individual bottle is very important. A perfect cork has few pores and keeps the wine stable. If an inferior cork happens to have been used in a bottle, the porous surface will begin to soak up wine and allow micro-quantities of the liquid to evaporate over the decades. Poor fill levels are the result.

A poor fill level therefore also indicates a high risk that the wine bottle could soon begin to leak.

The fill levels explained:
In the bottle neck (high fill to base neck) about 2 cm is perfect for wines.
Top and upper shoulder, ([very] top shoulder), approx. 3 cm is very good for very old wines.
Medium shoulder (mid shoulder), about 4 cm is only acceptable for rare top wines and in individual cases.
Everything below the red line should not be offered any more.

Wine rating

Do you have a 1951 vintage in your wine cellar and would you like to know how much it is worth?

Here are a few tips: in order to still have any value, the bottle must be leakproof. The wine must not be cloudy. It should be of good quality (not supermarket wine).

Search for the wine online without specifying the vintage. If it is a well-known winery, you will find the wine immediately and also the price you have to pay for the current vintage. If the current wine costs from EUR 20.00 upwards, that's a good sign.

The filling level is decisive for the value. Upper shoulder to base neck is required. Medium shoulder is only acceptable for extremely rare, already valuable wines.

No products found.