The vintage

1991

Frost took Bordeaux, Port saved it

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The 1991 vintage, rated

Frost took Bordeaux, Port saved it

In 2026 a bottle from 1991 marks a 35th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Modest · 2/5

A brutal year in Bordeaux. A severe April frost destroyed much of the crop, worst in Pomerol and St-Emilion, and what survived was thin; even the first growths made little that is worth opening now. The northern Rhone, oddly, had a fine year, with excellent Cote-Rotie and Hermitage, and in the Douro the Symington houses declared a vintage Port that has aged very well. Burgundy's reds were respectable, its whites less so.

What we would buy, and why

Leave Bordeaux alone entirely this year, and be wary of any merchant offering a grand 1991 label at a tempting price - the label is all that is left. Graham's or Dow's 1991 Port is the honest gift and costs a fraction of a good claret. A 1991 Armagnac is the other dependable route, since Gascony bottles every year and thirty-odd years in cask smooths out a difficult harvest.

1991 in the world

In August, Tim Berners-Lee posted a short note to a public newsgroup that let anyone, anywhere, use the World Wide Web. Nirvana released Nevermind a month later.

Best bets for 1991

  • Graham's 1991 Vintage Port - declared by the Symington houses, still youthful, 110-150 euro
  • Dow's 1991 Vintage Port - drier in style, similar money
  • E. Guigal Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde 1991 - a genuinely fine wine from a ruined Bordeaux year, 150-220 euro
  • A 1991 vintage Armagnac from Delord or Castarede - 90-140 euro and far less exposed to a poor harvest

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

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