The vintage

1957

Lean wines, one very good afternoon

Delivery in 7–10 working days, tracked · transit cover optional at checkout

The 1957 vintage, rated

Lean wines, one very good afternoon

In 2026 a bottle from 1957 marks a 69th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Modest · 2/5

A hard, thin year in Bordeaux. Spring frost cut the crop, the summer was cool, and the wines came out lean and sharply tannic; a few survive on structure alone, but there is little fruit left to enjoy. Burgundy did rather better with firm, long-lived reds and Piedmont had a decent year, while no Port was declared and Champagne largely passed.

What we would buy, and why

Skip Bordeaux for 1957 unless the recipient collects the year specifically. A good red Burgundy from a serious house is the pick of the vintage at 500-1,000 euro, but ask hard about storage, because a lean wine has no fat to protect it. Below 400 euro, Bas-Armagnac 1957 is the more generous gift and carries no condition risk at all.

1957 in the world

On 6 July 1957, at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool, a sixteen-year-old John Lennon was introduced to a fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney. That October the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and people stood in their gardens hoping to catch it crossing the sky.

Best bets for 1957

  • Red Burgundy 1957 from a Cote de Nuits grand cru - the vintage's firm structure suits it well
  • Barolo 1957 from Borgogno, Marchesi di Barolo or Fontanafredda, around 350-700 euro
  • Bas-Armagnac 1957, 300-550 euro
  • A 1957 Tokaji Aszu or a mid-fifties Madeira, for a sweet bottle that will certainly still be alive

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.