Vintage of 1968: Port, Bordeaux, Rioja
Choosing a Forty Year Old Wine for an Anniversary Celebration
Nov 17, 2008
If you or someone you love is turning 40 this year, you have every reason to celebrate. A forty year-old has passed through the intemperance of youth and is flexing the muscle of vigorous maturity. He or she probably sports a touch of wisdom and a bit of wit. If it’s a relationship or a business that’s turning 40, well, there’s even more reason to celebrate-hooray for a job well done.
It’s very tempting to celebrate milestones like forty years of something or other with wines from the same year. In fact, online wine-search sites like wineaccess.com have been swamped with inquiries about the wines of 1968.
Alas, there’s a cloud on the anniversary horizon: there’s not much wine left from this otherwise notable year. Forty years is nothing for a tree, not much for a human, but it is a very great age for a wine and 1968 was one of those years when the greatness of the people born in it consumed all the goodness available and there was little left for the wine.
1968 Vintage Port
The winter was dry with little rain, which only came late in March and April. Flowering was late. A very dry summer was followed by an exceptionally hot August. Then there were ten days of rain in mid-September followed by hot sunshine and warm winds. It resulted in an average Vintage, not declared by any of the houses.
Fully mature, but well cellared, the best wines will last for some years. Vintage Port is one of those wines where a bit of legerdemain can make up for a less-than-stunning wine. By all means, try an impressive aged cheddar cheese and chill the wine a bit more than usual.
These are not over-complex wines, though they are fruity and well balanced: look for Rocha.
1968 Vintage Bordeaux
A rainy summer made for a poor harvest, most of the vintage was gone by 1976. No drinkable examples survive.
1968 Rioja
A few good examples survived to this century: Murrieta Y Gay tasted in 2002 was all roses and raisins. Lopez de Heredia is probably still in good shape.
So what’s a wine lover to do? How shall she celebrate? There are cognacs, armangacs and calvados that are labeled “40 years old”. There is some tawny port which is nominally of that age. But those choices are a bit of strain.
Let’s take another tack: there’s an old joke about the woman whose husband has just turned forty and who wonders aloud if she can trade him in for two twenty year-olds. So if you can’t find a forty, how about two twenties?
Try the search box on these pages and type in the year 1988. You’ll end up with twice the amount of wine and a good laugh besides.
