The vintage

1946

Cannes opens, the vines take a breath

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The 1946 vintage, rated

Cannes opens, the vines take a breath

In 2026 a bottle from 1946 marks a 80th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Modest · 2/5

The rebound year, and a disappointing one. A cool, wet summer and an uneven flowering gave Bordeaux light, quick-maturing wines, and Burgundy did little better. The Port shippers passed on it and Champagne skipped it, which tells you most of what you need to know.

What we would buy, and why

1946 sits between two of the most famous vintages ever made and deserves neither their price nor their reputation, and eighty years on the table wines are frail. An 80th birthday deserves better than a tired bottle, so go to Gascony or Madeira: a 1946 Armagnac at 350-600 euro is a genuinely good drink rather than a relic, and it will still be pouring at midnight. If it has to be Bordeaux, buy a first growth with an unbroken cellar history at 600-1,100 euro and accept that it is an object first and a drink second.

1946 in the world

The first Cannes Film Festival was held in September, seven years after the one the war had cancelled. In Italy the first Vespa went on sale to a country short of petrol and full of hope.

Best bets for 1946

  • Bas-Armagnac 1946 — 350-600 euro, and the pick of the year by some distance
  • A 1946 or 1940s frasqueira Madeira — 500-950 euro
  • 1946 Rivesaltes from Domaine de Rancy — 180-350 euro
  • A 1946 first growth as the 80th-birthday object, with certificate — 600-1,100 euro

How we grade a bottle

Fill level, label, capsule and cork, then provenance. Every bottle is checked by hand by people who have handled thousands of old bottles, and we write down the flaws as well as the good news. What the fill levels mean · How to choose a birth-year wine

Real people, not a chatbot

Ask a person about this year

The people who answer are the same people who check and pack the bottles. Ask for photographs, a condition report or advice on a year and you get a straight answer from the ANNO team, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 CET.