Quick answer
- A drinking window is the span of years in which a vintage should drink well, from Ready from to Drink before, often with a best period inside it.
- Vinius uses a published window when enrichment finds one. Otherwise it estimates one from the wine's grapes, style, critic scores and structure.
- You see it on the wine's page, as a status in your cellar, and in filters such as Ready to drink.
- It describes the vintage, not your bottle, and you cannot edit it yourself.
What a drinking window is
A drinking window is a range of years attached to a vintage: from the first year the wine should be enjoyable to the year you should drink it by. Many vintages also carry a peak, the years in which the wine should be at its best.
The window belongs to the vintage in the shared Vinius catalogue, not to your stock. Everyone who holds that vintage sees the same window.
Where the window comes from
- From enrichment. When Vinius enriches a vintage, it looks for a published window from a critic, the producer or a wine database. If it finds none, the enrichment can estimate one from the grape, region, oak, tannin, alcohol and vintage.
- Estimated by Vinius. Without a window from enrichment, Vinius calculates one from the ageing potential of the grapes in the blend, the style, critic scores, the classification, time in barrel and the wine's structure. The estimate is recalculated when enrichment fills in more of that data.
A window from enrichment replaces Vinius's own estimate, never the other way round.
Some wines get no window. The estimate counts from the harvest year, so a non-vintage wine may have none, and Vinius makes no estimate when it cannot place a wine's style. On the web such a wine shows No drinking window data available.
Reading the status
| This year is | Web timeline | Status in the app and in filters |
|---|---|---|
| Before Ready from | Hold | Aging (Not ready yet in Advanced Search) |
| In the window, before the best period | Drink or hold | Ready to drink |
| In the best period | At its best | Ready to drink |
| After the best period | Drink now | Ready to drink |
| After Drink before | Past peak | Past its window |
Where you see it
On the web
- Edit Wine, Drinking Window tab. A timeline with today's status (Now: At its best, for example), the Ready from and Drink before years, the Best period and the Total window. The Blend Contribution card shows what the grapes add to the estimate. The tab is marked Experimental feature: algorithmic drinking windows may change.
- Wine Hub, Advanced Search. The Drinking window section filters on Not ready yet, Ready to drink and Past its window. Wines without a window drop out of the list while one of these is ticked.
- Dashboard. The Vinius Cellar Score card shows how much of your stock is ready to drink and how much is past peak. View these wines in Wine Hub lists the past-peak wines.
- Wine cards. When you pick wines for a card, More filters offers Hide wines still ageing. On the card's own list, Show only wines still ageing finds the ones to take off.
- Manage Storage. In a storage unit's layout, Suggest placement and Reorganise put the wines that are ready to drink at the front.
- Supplier catalogues. A wine's details list its drinking window and peak years when Vinius has them.
In the app
- Wine page. A Drinking Window card with the years, the status and a curve through Hold, Drink now and Past peak, with a marker for this year. The app calls the curve illustrative: timing depends on storage and bottle condition.
- Cellar. Every wine with a window shows its status. Filter on it under Status.
- Home. Cards such as "3 wines ready to drink", "2 wines still aging" (their window opens next year) and "1 wine past peak", counting the wines you have in stock. Tap a card to open the wine or the matching list.
- More, Stats. Maturity Status counts your wines per status. Tap a count to open that list.
Vinius sends no push notification or email when a wine enters or leaves its window. The Home cards are the reminder.
Can you change a window?
Not at the moment. The Drinking Window tab is read-only and the app has no field for it, whatever your role.
When a bottle you open tells a different story, record it in a full tasting note. Readiness (Too young, Can drink now, but can age, Drink now or Too old) is your own verdict on that bottle. See Tasting notes and ratings.
What a window does not promise
- Your bottle. The window describes the vintage. It does not take bottle size, closure or the way your bottles were stored into account.
- A fixed answer. An estimate can move when Vinius learns more about the wine, or when enrichment finds a published window.
- A verdict. Past its window means the drink-before year has passed. The wine may still be good, or it may have faded. Open one and check.
Who can see it
- Owner, admin and manager: every place listed above, on the web and in the app.
- Staff: the same for their assigned sites, except Manage Storage, which staff do not have.
- Viewer: Advanced Search on the web and the app's wine pages, cellar status, Stats and Home cards, for assigned sites. Viewers cannot open Edit Wine or change wine cards, so the Drinking Window tab and the wine card filters are not available to them.
- Nobody can edit a window, whatever their role.