The vintage

1988

Built to last, slow to open up

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The 1988 vintage, rated

Built to last, slow to open up

In 2026 a bottle from 1988 marks a 38th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Excellent · 4/5

A classic, firmly structured Bordeaux vintage. A dry summer and healthy fruit gave high tannin and wines that spent thirty years being called austere before finally coming good. Sauternes was outstanding, the first of the famous 1988, 1989 and 1990 run. The northern Rhône made one of its greatest vintages, Champagne declared widely and elegantly, and Burgundy produced tannic, long-lived reds.

What we would buy, and why

This is the year for someone who likes wine dry, firm and serious. The Sauternes is the exception and it is exceptional: rich, still golden rather than brown, and about as safe a bet as a bottle of this age gets. The northern Rhône is the value play at €150 to €300. Reckon on €120 to €250 for a good Sauternes from a property just below the top rank.

1988 in the world

Stephen Hawking published A Brief History of Time and it stayed on the bestseller lists for years, bought by rather more people than finished it. Rain Man was the film of the winter and Seoul held the Olympics in September.

Best bets for 1988

  • Château Climens or Suduiraut 1988, a great Sauternes vintage that is still youthful
  • Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage 1988 from Guigal, Chave or Jaboulet
  • Château Léoville-Las Cases or Palmer 1988 for structured, classical claret
  • A 1988 vintage Champagne from Pol Roger, Bollinger or Krug

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.