Wine vintage rating 1974

What was the vintage 1974 like?

1974 was a very heterogeneous vintage - excellent for Barolo and Barbaresco with many well represented wineries, great also in Tuscany, difficult for the wines from France. The weather conditions were very good until the end of the summer. At the time of the harvest, the rain started and in Bordeaux reduced the quality of the grapes and prevented them from fully ripening. Many Bordeaux remained lightweights. Nevertheless, some Bordeaux classics are good references for the year.

On the other hand, there are excellent 1974 wines from Tuscany. Tignanello from the Marchesi di Antinori was perfect and the first so-called Super Tuscan, Le Pergole Torte, made purely from Sangiovese, came onto the market. Very good Chianti are possible.

Weather in the year 1974

A warm spring led to a vegetation lead of about two weeks. This shrank during the cool start of summer.

The actual summer of 1974 was warm and dry. In August, the ripening of the grapes progressed well. Then it rained in France. The wines had good concentration and tannin structure, but many wines lacked complex aromas.

In the end, the Italian wine regions had a better constellation for very good wines with the average temperatures of the year.

The current stock of wines from the 1974 vintage

All wines from the 1974 vintage are in our own wine cellar and can be shipped immediately or picked up at the wine shop. To the wines of 1974

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 1974 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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