▪ I. vintage, n.
(ˈvɪntɪdʒ)
Also 5–6 vyntage.
[a. AF. vintage (1353), altered f. of vindage, vendage vendage, OF. vendange, by association with vinter or vintner.]
1. The produce or yield of the vine, either as grapes or wine; the crop or yield of a vineyard or district in a single season. Now rare or Obs.
Quot. 1460 refers to the capture of large supplies of wine from the French.
| c 1450 Brut ii. 372 Þere þay restid ham a while, and sette þe cuntre yn pees & rest tylle þe vyntage were redy to sayle. a 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 239 Than the vyntage of Ynglond took a othir felauchip, where thei had a thousand tunne wyn and V. hundred. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. xxii. (1812) II. 55 And there he taryed tyll they had inned all their corne and vyntage. 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg. ii. 21 Not one and selfe same vintage hangs on our Italian trees. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §11 By reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of their vines, they had a great vintage. 1657 Burton's Diary (1828) I. 327 The commonwealth will be cheated; for most of the wine of this vintage is now in the vintners' cellars. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. v. 109 Two Goblets will I crown with sparkling Wine, The gen'rous Vintage of the Chian Vine. 1713 Young Last Day ii. 348 Shine we in arms? or sing beneath our vine? Thine is the vintage, and the conquest Thine. 1748 Gray Alliance 57 With grim delight the brood of winter view A brighter day..; Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose, And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows. 1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenst. i. (1865) 62 Never did..the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage. 1818 Shelley Euganean Hills 221 Where..the milk-white oxen slow With the purple vintage strain, Heaped upon the creaking wain. |
| fig. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xxi. (1589) 89 The Vintage of my thriftles loue is blasted in the bloome. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. ii. (1739) 19 This was the vintage of Kings and great men, but the gleanings of the People were much more plentiful. 1820 Shelley Ode Liberty xii. 7 How like Bacchanals of blood Round France, the ghastly vintage, stood Destruction's sceptred slaves, and Folly's mitred brood! |
b. poet. Wine,
esp. of good or rare quality.
| 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 51 We had excellent cheere, rare vintage, and were drunke after supper. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 67 In solid gold the purple vintage flows. 1820 Keats To a Nightingale ii, O! for a draught of vintage, that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep⁓delved earth. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 266 The great knight,..Whom they with meats and vintage of their best And talk and minstrel melody entertain'd. 1887 Bowen æneid i. 729 Soon for the goblet she asks,..Then with the vintage fills it. |
| transf. 1856 B. Taylor Summer's Bacchanal 109 Where the crystal vintage of the mountain Runs in foam from dazzling fields of snow. |
c. Used with reference to the age or year of a particular wine, usually connoting one of good or outstanding quality; now
spec. a wine made from the grape-crop of a certain district in a good year and kept separate on account of its quality.
| 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. v. 6 Nor old,..nor excellent, my Wine, Of five Years Vintage, and a marshy Vine. 1760 Johnson Idler No. 97 ¶4 He may..regale his palate with a succession of vintages. 1817 Byron Manfred ii. i. 18 Taste my wine; 'Tis of an ancient vintage. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 407 Honest Averill..fetch'd His richest beeswing from a binn reserved For banquets, praised the waning red, and told The vintage. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 605 The principal claret vintages of the 19th century are considered to have been those of 1815, '25, '28 [etc.]. Ibid. 608 The last year when the wine was shipped as a vintage. |
| transf. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1879) III. 231 There are vintages, both material and intellectual, which are more frequently praised than heartily enjoyed. |
d. A property yielding wine.
rare—1.
| 1840 Hood Up Rhine 231 Last summer we purchased a small cask of wine from a woman who owns a little vintage. |
2. a. The gathering of the ripe grapes in order to make them into wine, including the preliminary processes of wine-making, as pressing and placing the juice in the fermenting vats, etc.; the grape-harvest.
Also in the phrase
† to make vintage (see (b)).
| (a) 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §2 From Burdeux to London for everie tonne Wyne at the fyrst vintage,..xviij.s. 1550 Nicolls Thucydides iv. 114 b, Sone after that, a lytle bifore the vintage, that selfe somer. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Micah vii. 1, I am as the somer gatherings, & as the grapes of the vintage. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 405 The grape⁓gatherer in time of Vintage. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Vintage,..Vine-harvest, Grape-harvest, Grape-gathering, Wine making. 1710 J. Clarke tr. Rohault's Nat. Philos. (1729) I. 175 For if it rains a little before the Vintage, the Wine is sharper. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 261 The produce of the vintage in Guienne and Languedoc. 1833 Redding Mod. Wines iii. (1851) 53 The time of the vintage being fixed, the gathering is begun as early in the day as possible. 1863 T. G. Shaw Wine, Vine & Cellar xi. 285 The vintage is often delayed to such a late period of the season as to incur the danger of injury from frost. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 605/1 The vintage in Médoc usually commences between the middle and end of September and lasts from two to three weeks. The process is a very simple one. |
| fig. 1860 Pusey Minor Proph. 197 It was a vintage, not of wine, but of woe. |
| (b) 1600 Nashe Summer's Last Will F j b, My Lord askes thee, what vintage thou hast made? 1609 Bible (Douay) Jer. xxxi. 5 The planters shal plant, and til the time come they shal not make vintage. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Vitis, My Conjecture is founded upon more than twenty-five Vintages, which I have seen made. |
| fig. 1609 Bible (Douay) Lam. i. 12 See if there be sorow like to my sorow: because he hath made vintage of me, as our Lord hath spoken. |
b. The season or time when this is done. Also with
a and
pl.| 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Vintage, the time of yeare when wine is made. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 148, I lived in Charanton two leagues from Paris, a whole Vintage, purposely to see how wine was made in France. 1764 Harmer Observ. i. §18. 43 If St. Jerome may be believed, the vintage of Judæa is not till the end of September or beginning of October. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Vintage, the season of gathering grapes. 1876 W. C. Bryant in St. Nicholas Mag. Dec. 101/2 The cider-making season in autumn was, at the time of which I am speaking, somewhat correspondent to the vintage in the wine countries of Europe. |
3. transf. and
fig. a. The date or period when a person was born or flourished.
| 1883 Sunday Mercury (N.Y.) 23 Sept. 6/4 ‘I want to sue a man for breach of promise,’ said a maiden of the vintage of 1842, coming into a lawyer's office. 1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday vi. 129 Harding had no sooner arrived at the White House than a swarm of practical politicians of the McKinley-Foraker vintage reappeared in Washington. 1945 A. L. Rowse West-Country Stories 2 He was..a benevolent pluralist of a rich vintage. 1967 M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iv. 79 In many cases the hero has a well-defined style of social behaviour—compare..the cowboy of 1890 vintage. |
b. Hence, the date or period at which a thing was made or produced.
| 1929 R. S. & H. M. Lynd Middletown xiv. 199 Examination questions of the two periods indicate so little change in method and emphasis in teaching that it is almost impossible simply by reading a history examination to tell whether it is of 1890 or 1924 vintage. 1939 E. S. Gardner D. A. draws Circle vii. 105 Mrs Fermal drove up in a rattling car of ancient vintage. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh (1947) i. 11 His pointed tan buttoned shoes, faded pink shirt and bright tie belong to the same vintage. 1972 J. Rossiter Rope for General Dietz iii. 31 Her accent was a creamy 1969-vintage Roedean. |
4. attrib., as
vintage-ball,
vintage-day,
vintage-dinner,
vintage-eve,
vintage feast,
vintage-festival,
vintage-god,
vintage-home (after
harvest-home),
vintage-man, etc.
| 1876 ‘Ouida’ Winter City xiv, For the Palestrina *vintage balls. |
| 1857 Emerson Poems 51 'Twas the *vintage-day of field and wood. |
| 1838 J. Pardoe River & Desert II. 31 A *vintage-dinner, at which I have just assisted. |
| 1826 Mrs. Hemans Forest Sanctuary i. xliii, The hour, the scene,..came floating o'er my mind—A golden *vintage-eve. |
| a 1820 S. Rogers Jacquel. Poems (1839) 24 Thro' Provence had ceased The vintage and the *vintage-feast. 1846 Grote Greece (1869) I. 36 Even the spontaneous joy of the vintage⁓feast was conferred by the favour..of Dionysos. |
| 1833 Philolog. Museum II. 297 The difficulty of assigning a *vintage festival to the month of February. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VII. 247 The lesser Dionysia..were held..in the month of December. This was a vintage festival. |
| 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets ix. 276 The cultus of the *vintage-god [sc. Dionysus]. |
| 1657 Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 65 The young gallants thinking to keep the *Vintage holy⁓dayes. |
| 1839 T. Mitchell Frogs of Aristoph. Introd. p. cxix, The ingathering of grapes, and, if we may be allowed such a term, the *vintage-home which followed. |
| 1800 Moore Anacreon lix. 12 The choral song, the *vintage hymn Of rosy youths and virgins fair. |
| 1706 Stevens i, Vendimiador, a *Vintage-man that gathers the Grapes. |
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. vii. 29 An infinite number of little pimping Wine-presses, all full of *Vintagemongers, who were picking, examining, and raking the Grapes. |
| 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 197 Where aforetime was the *vintage-shout in thankfulness for the ingathering, there..should be wailing. |
| c 1820 S. Rogers Italy (1839) 280 From the first hour, when *vintage-songs broke forth. 1836 Earl Carnarvon Portugal & Gallicia I. 94 Groups of vintagers..were gathering grapes, and singing the vintage song. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 148 Staphis..waxeth ripe..at *vintage time. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 15 As a swarm of flies in vintage time. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Vitis, Dew is rarely wanting in Vintage-Time. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i. 574 'Tis the vintage-time for death and sin. 1885 Pater Marius xxvii. II. 222 To see their emperor living there.., his hands red at vintage-time with the juice of the grapes. |
b. In sense 1 c, as
vintage claret,
vintage class,
vintage wine, etc. Also
vintage chart,
vintage year (in
quots. fig.).
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 608/2 The cheaper wines are an exception.., also those of the so-called ‘vintage’ class, which are the finest wines of a good year kept separate and shipped as the produce of that..year. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 1/1 There does not seem to be much ‘depression’ in the market for vintage wines. 1900 Ibid. 1 Sept. 2/1 We are allowed to make our little bids for fame with clean shirts, cut hair, sound coats, vintage clarets. 1933 T. E. Lawrence Let. 1 Aug. (1938) 773 Rather a vintage year, for books. 1964 A. Launay Caviare & After xv. 104 If you arm yourself with a vintage chart—easily obtainable from most wine merchants—you can learn the best years for the best wines. 1973 Country Life 15 Nov. 1542/3 Characteristic and impish Lowry of a fine vintage year 1960. 1985 Times 1 May 23/5 Britain's offshore oil and gas industry achieved a vintage year in 1984. |
c. transf. Denoting an old style or model of something,
esp. a vehicle;
vintage car, a motor car made between 1905 (or 1917) and 1930;
cf. veteran car s.v. veteran n. 3.
| 1928 M. Arlen Lily Christine ii. 23 You should see mine in London—a vintage Buick. 1933 Sat. Even. Post 13 May 4/2 Alfred P. Sloan tries out a vintage model automobile. 1950 T. Guthrie in Plays of Year 1949–50 III. 569 Goes on working at her vintage telephone. 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 261/2 The details of a vintage aircraft or an early locomotive. 1965 Guardian 6 Nov. 3/8 A ‘veteran’ is any car made before December 31, 1904. From January 1, 1905 to December 31, 1910, the definition..is ‘Edwardian’, and from then to December 31, 1930, cars are classified as ‘Vintage’. 1979 J. Leasor Love & Land Beyond iii. 32 The familiar vintage car smell of hot oil and old metal and carnauba wax polish. 1985 New Yorker 27 May 31/1 A debonair gentleman..wearing a vintage tweed jacket. |
d. Characteristic of the best period of a person's work, etc.; classic.
| 1939 Country Life 11 Feb. 147/1 With a few minor reservations, this [play] may be recommended as vintage Coward. 1959 R. Gant World in Jug 7 My name is Larry Alden and maybe you'll only know it if you have a long memory or a stack of vintage jazz records. 1972 Guardian 25 Jan. 9/3 It was pure vintage Deauville to the background of Henry Hall type music. 1977 D. Mackenzie Raven & Kamikaze i. 20 The Pole's..tone was compassionate. ‘She is in love with me.’ This was vintage Zaleski. ‘Of course,’ said Raven. |
▪ II. ˈvintage, v. [f. prec.] 1. intr. (See
quot.)
rare.
| 1598 Florio, Vendemmiare, to vintage, to gather grapes, to make wine. 1893 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Vine Country viii. 153 A little, incredibly bowed woman, who had been vintaging here at Quinault for the last eighty years. 1923 F. Stark Let. 16 Sept. (1974) I. 77 The people here are vintaging... All the country from Cette to this place is vine. 1975 P. V. Price Taste of Wine v. 94/2 In many vintages, such as 1964, they can make wines quite different from those of the Medoc, because being further south they vintage a little earlier. |
2. trans. a. To strip (vines or a vineyard) of grapes at the vintage. Also
fig. ?
Obs.| 1618 Bacon Lett. (1734) 87, I humbly beseech his Majestie that these royal boughs of forfeiture may not be vintaged or cropped by private suitors. 1648 tr. Senault's Paraphr. Job 222 They either carry away the corne which is not yet cut, or pillage the vines which are not yet vintaged. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxiii. 99 The Devil take me..if the Close of Sevillé had not been all gather'd, vintag'd, glean'd and destroy'd. |
b. To gather (grapes) in order to make wine; to make (wine) from gathered grapes.
Usually with special reference to the production of wine of fine quality (
cf. vintage n. 1 c).
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 605/2 If..a first growth is vintaged a little too late and does not succeed so well as some second growths. 1890 Pall Mall G. 29 Sept. 3/2 The Department of the Marne, where the true sparkling champagne is vintaged. |