What a difference a year makes — just 12 little months, but a universe of subtle changes. In the esoteric field of wine, the unique, seasonal alchemy of rain, heat, humidity, sunshine and coolness often conspires to make wines that are markedly different year-to-year. This is the frustrating, unpredictable lot of the farmer and the vintner — but it is what gives wine its unique magic and cachet. Where else, after all, do we categorise produce by the year in which it was made? Naturally, the vintage phenomenon is most pronounced and profound in the spiritual home of wine itself, France — where superstitions mingle with state-of-the-art technologies to monitor and harness the weather patterns and atmospheres that render a crop truly great. Here are some of the finest French vintages of all time, and the reasons for their brilliance.

The summer of 1947 was devilishly hot, yielding a big, healthy crop with whopping sugar concentrations. It was a true curveball for the winemakers of Bordeaux, who had rarely dealt with such punchy grapes, and lacked the modern technology or advanced yeasts to manage them. Many wines thus became overly acidic, and have certainly not stood the test of time. But others — particularly those from Bordeaux’s right bank — turned out miraculously well. (There are rumours that the winemakers had to have blocks of ice delivered from Bordeaux to cool the must in the fermentation tanks, such was the fierceness of the heatwave.) Château Margaux, for example, made arguably their greatest ever wine in 1947, and the Petrus and Mouton offerings from this year are equally exquisite — leading, tellingly, to a great surfeit of counterfeit bottles flooding the market in recent years.

With good sun in early spring, and another hot patch in August and September, 1959 created a small-but-perfectly-formed vintage of great character. Low in acidity but deep, velvety, and indulgent, 1959’s wines are characterised by good alcohol and well-structured tannins, and are drinking perfectly right now.

 Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Often cited as one of the greatest vintages of modern times, especially where Bordeaux is concerned, 1982 was almost dreamlike in its quality. For Jean-Bernard Delmas, then manager of Haut-Brion, ‘It was an armchair summer, hot and dry, so there were no diseases, no insects to worry us’, while June and July provided a near-perfect blend of warm sunshine and scattered showers. The resulting wines are punchy and yet brilliantly balanced, with one critic writing that they performed ‘like big men dancing lightly’ — the ripeness of a late summer heatwave doing nothing to overpower the taste. Wonderfully structured and almost California-esque in their richness, 1982’s wines were the first from Bordeaux to exhibit a modern, fruit-forward dimension.

: Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac, Bordeaux

A mild winter and scorching summer led to 1989 producing one of the earliest harvests in history — August 28th — and a notably hefty yield. The crop was ripe, fleshy and very rich, and produced remarkably high alcohol levels. There were some worries that low acidity would produce short-lived wines, unsuitable for ageing. But these have since been allayed, and this year’s crop is now drinking better than ever — especially the great communes of Pomerol, St-Emilion, St-Julien and Pauillac. Structured, fruit-forward and formidable.

Château La Dominique, Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux

A warm, dry July was followed swiftly by a cooler, damper August, and then a bright and sunny September in 1996 — an unusual weather pattern that led to heartily ripe and well structured wines across the country, but especially in Bordeaux. The year provided one of the truly great vintages for Cabernet-based wines, which emerged deep, rich, and complex, simmering with juicy, succulent fruit and excellent structure. Perfect for ageing, distinguished and distinctive, it is one of the final great years of the last millennium

Château Calon-Ségur, Saint-Estèphe, Medoc, Bourdeaux

A phenomenally good vintage across the world, 2005 produced some of the greatest French wines in modern memory, too — an almost instant classic of a year. Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Sauternes all had truly stellar times of it, with pleasantly warm and reliably dry summers allowing grapes to slowly accumulate great concentration, true depth and general complexity. The pinot noir of Burgundy adored these conditions, creating smooth, soft and elegant wines with good balance and long, deep, almost sweet finishes. Hard to beat.

Clos des Papes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône

After a wet and cloudy start to proceedings, 2010 broke into a gloriously sunny summer, with good dryness and cool nights. Most grapes thus had the opportunity to ripen at leisure, leading to rich, rounded fruit without any loss of complexity — while higher-than-usual alcohol levels and tannins contributed excellent balance and structure. Wines from 2010 are characterised by deep, dark fruit flavours with exceptional length and brilliant ageing potential. A modern classic.

Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy

Producing a more approachable and ‘modern’ style of wines than ever before, perhaps, 2015 was a year dominated by soft, silky fruit that left tannins and acidity playing second fiddle. Unique in its, well, uniqueness among modern vintages (the stock wisdom in the wine world is that new technology is increasingly homogenising wines from year to year), it has proved a standout year for the classic regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône in particular. Aromatic, beguiling and with a certain purity, 2015’s wines will only reveal their true greatness in around 2025, perhaps. But they’re already looking like world-beaters.

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