This question is very easy and has a quick answer… the vintage is a guideline that corresponds to the year in which the grapes are harvested. Contrary to some beliefs, the vintage is not the year in which the wine is made, nor the year in which it is bottled, nor the year in which it is marketed. The vintage rating is made according to the parameters of the Regulatory Council of the Denomination of Origin, in our case that of the Ribera del Duero. This carries out a rating of the vintage each year with the aim of determining the quality of the wines. Each season it brings together an Exceptional Vintage Rating Committee made up of some of the best sommeliers in Spain, who carry out a blind tasting of several emblematic wines and rate the vintage as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Average or Poor. In the last decade, the D.O. Ribera del Duero has had four Excellent harvests and five Very Good ones. Not all wines include the vintage; some are a blend (a mixture of different grape varieties or different wines), or involve special vinifications such as champagne, cava or sherry wines. These wines need to have the same expression and taste year after year, and this is sometimes achieved by blending wines from different vintages. Above all, it is the weather conditions that determine how good a vintage will be, as grapes need a combination of sunlight, humidity, cold and heat, in the right proportion and at the right time. The conditions for a good year would be: a rainy and cold winter, a mild spring and a long, dry and warm summer, with cool nights to create a balance of acidity and fruit. Weather changes influence the growing conditions, and therefore the ripening and condition of the grapes; if it is too cold during spring or there is excessive rain in summer, it will be a bad year for the grapes, as it will result in poorly balanced wines. In areas where the weather variation is unpredictable, the quality of the wine is more variable. Knowing the vintage rating of a wine can be useful to know how long we can keep a wine, and to guide us on the quality of the grapes used in the production of a particular year’s wine, but a wine that does not have a vintage can be of the same or higher quality than one that does. Nowadays, with technical advances, the mastery of winemakers and the care of the vineyard, it is possible to maintain the quality of a wine, year after year. In short, the vintage is important, but what matters most is how the winery treats its vines and the care it puts into their production. At Bodegas Federico we take great care of our vineyards and produce our Tinto Federico wines with the passion inherited from our founders, with the aim of producing high-quality wines.