vintage year

English · EU 85% vintage rule

Under EU rules, a vintage year may be stated only if at least 85% of the grapes come from that year, not counting tirage and expedition liqueur.1

Quantities used for sweetening, expedition liqueur or tirage liqueur are excluded from the calculation.1 Appellations may be stricter. For Champagne labelled with a vintage, 100% of the grapes must come from that harvest, reserve wines are excluded, and the wine may not be sold before 36 months from tirage.2,3 Franciacorta Millesimato keeps the 85% share and adds 30 months on lees.4 The same 85% logic applies to variety labelling. See vintage and EU labelling.

See also

Vintage (millésime)StylesLabel terms in EU lawMethodsMillesimatoGlossaryvariety labellingGlossary

Sources

  1. legislation.gov.uk (copy of EU OJ text). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Article 49 (vintage year), original version as adopted (2018-10-17)
  2. DGCCRF (Ministère de l'Économie). Champagne : connaître le langage des étiquettes (2025-12-16)
  3. Cahier des charges de l'AOP « Champagne » - modifications approved by the INAO national committee on 11 September 2024 (national opposition procedure text) (2024-09-11)
  4. Associazione Italiana Sommelier (reproduction of the official disciplinare). Disciplinare di produzione della DOCG Franciacorta (text as amended by DM 7.05.2024, GU n. 114 of 17.05.2024), reproduced by AIS (2024-05-17)

Facts checked on 2026-10-19