in vinetis - Wines and Vintages

Vintage Chart

This chart gives an estimation of quality and ageing of different vintages for the last 20 years for most of the french wine regions.
Concerning quality, it only indicates the average value of wine in a particular region for a particular vintage (certain wine-makers produce great wines with difficult vintages).
And as for ageing, we are talking about the period necessary for the wine to be at its best (and not the potential length of time one can keep it, which is often much longer).
The wines concerned in the chart are great wines "de garde" which means at least "AOC village" or superior.

NB
Contrary to general belief, when the quality is the same, a white wine keeps better and longer than a red wine.
It is often more interesting to drink a wine in a good or average vintage when it's at its best, than to drink the same wine in an outstanding vintage too soon as you will probably be disappointed.