The vintage

1969

The Moon, the rooftop and Burgundy

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

The 1969 vintage, rated

The Moon, the rooftop and Burgundy

In 2026 a bottle from 1969 marks a 57th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Good · 3/5

Bordeaux was poor - a cold, wet end to the season gave lean, hard wines that never came round, and it is among the weakest years of the decade. Burgundy was the reverse: a small crop of concentrated, long-lived wine and one of the great Côte d'Or vintages. The Northern Rhône also did very well. Port was not declared.

What we would buy, and why

For once the answer is Burgundy rather than Bordeaux, though old Burgundy is fragile and heavily faked, so insist on a named source and a photograph of the actual bottle. Expect €300-600 for a village or premier cru from a serious house, with grands crus climbing steeply from there. A 1969 Hermitage is the sturdier and cheaper alternative, and it travels far better.

1969 in the world

On 30 January the Beatles played their last live set on a rooftop in Savile Row until the police asked them to stop. Concorde flew for the first time in March, and on 20 July Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon.

Best bets for 1969

  • Red Burgundy 1969 from a house that has kept its own stock - Bouchard Père et Fils, Drouhin, Jadot or Faiveley
  • Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie 1969 from Chave, Jaboulet or Guigal
  • Bas-Armagnac 1969 from Darroze, for a gift that needs no explanation or decanting
  • Madeira colheita or Colheita Port 1969 as an unbreakable fallback

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.