Wine vintage rating 1956

What was the vintage 1956 like?

1956 An average year in Italy with rather light, albeit intensely colored wines. The Piedmontese wines were deemed good to be stored and collected. That's why we keep finding bottles in very good condition in wine cellars.

In Bordeaux in 1956 there was an almost proverbial catastrophe: frosts in the spring destroyed large parts of the vine stock. Château Cheval Blanc produced so few cases of wine that the 1er Grand Cru was never put on sale. Contrary to what the talk of the monstrous vintage would suggest, the few wines that were produced were not bad at all.

Weather in the year 1956

February 1956 was extremely cold, temperatures down to minus 20°C were measured. When budding occurs on the vines, this is a very sensitive phase in the vegetation cycle. Unlike in winter, the vines are then very susceptible to frost. Exactly such an extreme frost set in in 1956 and not only destroyed the young shoots and thus a large part of the potential wine harvest of the year, but also the vines themselves, which had to be replaced by replanting.

The rest of the summer remained rather cool, especially in Burgundy. The south at least had a short period of high summer temperatures. September was warm.

The current stock of wines from the 1956 vintage

All wines from the 1956 vintage are in our own wine cellar and can be shipped immediately or picked up at the wine shop. To the wines of 1956

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 1956 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.

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