The wine world changes so rapidly that it's practically impossible to keep track of all the wines available. In restaurants and wine shops, you'll be confronted with unfamiliar wines, some young, some older. That's where vintage charts come in: to indicate both the quality of wines from a particular region in a specific year and when those wines should be at their most enjoyable.

While general in nature, vintage charts can help you make good decisions when faced with unfamiliar wines or help you determine when wines you've already bought will be drinking at their best.

The score will give you a quick snapshot of quality, the description sums up the growing season and the wines' characteristics, and the drink recommendation tells you whether the wines are ready to drink now or should improve with more aging.