Wine-making year refers to the harvest year of grape raw materials used for wine-making. For example, the year indicated on the label of a bottle of wine is 2000, which means that this wine is mainly brewed from grapes harvested in 2000. In GB 15037—2006 "Wine", the year of wine is stipulated: the year marked by year refers to the year when grapes were picked, in which the proportion of wine in this year is not less than 80% (volume fraction) of wine content. Why should wine pay attention to vintage? Because the quality of wine is largely determined by the quality of its brewing raw materials (grapes). As a crop, the growth and fruit quality of grapes are closely related to local climatic conditions, even if the climatic conditions are different in different years in the same area. In the year of too much rain and insufficient light, the grape fruit has too much water and poor maturity, which will lead to the weakening of wine flavor and the decline of quality.

It is best to drink wine during the drinking period. How many years of drinking depends on many factors, one of which is the year, as well as grape varieties, planting and brewing methods, ripening methods and different wines. For example, Hungarian top noble wine can be stored for hundreds of years, while Beaujolais new wine can only be stored for about one year, and the best drinking period may be less than one month. Most low-priced wines sold in the market (below 300 yuan) have the best drinking period within five years.