1973

What we would buy, and why

Treat 1973 as a year to buy sideways. A colheita Port — tawny aged in cask and bottled with the year on the label — is the best value on the table at €150–250, and it will be in good order rather than merely intact. Armagnac is the other dependable route, and a Rioja Gran Reserva from a traditional house is the one still-credible red.

1973 in the world

Britain joined the European Economic Community on 1 January 1973, the Sydney Opera House opened in October, and Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon in the March.

Best bets for 1973

• Kopke or Barros Colheita 1973 — cask-aged tawny, nutty and sweet, €150–250
• Armagnac 1973 from Château de Laubade or Delord — about €150–250
• La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 1973 or López de Heredia Viña Tondonia 1973 — the honest red of the year
• Stag's Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. 1973, the red that beat Bordeaux blind in Paris in 1976 — a collector's object rather than a drink, and priced as one

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