The people who make wine have all sorts of euphemisms for really bad years. They say they're "useful," which means they can sell them to restaurants, which in turn dump them on customers who don't know any better. In particular, you hear a lot of off-year Bordeaux referred to as "restaurant wine." Supposedly, this means the wines are ready to drink, but what it really means is that the wines have no chance of aging.

There's another kind of year that isn't of interest to collectors. It's a year that isn't quite good enough, but isn't really so bad. If you know your years, or if you occasionally check out vintage charts, you'll see certain years that are well-regarded but somehow overlooked.

For years, I drank 1983 Ports, which were cheap and absolutely first-rate. I think they were overlooked because the 1985 vintage got everybody's attention. I suspect 1996 and 1999 California Cabernets, excellent wines, are thought of as very last century and aren't particularly coveted. But my favorite find these days are 1997 red Burgundies. The wines are seldom great, but they are soft, sweet, and early maturing—that means, drink them right now. Because the dollar was high and the growing conditions suspect, they didn't cost too much.

Nothing is better than a perfectly mature red Burgundy. Nothing. None of my okay-year Burgundies will approach the power or profundity of, say, a well-stored 1985 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche, but they might have similar characteristics: sweet fruit, pleasing acidity, hints of glorious decay in the nose. And the prices will be remarkable. I went off to Cru, a Manhattan restaurant with one of the best wine lists in America, in search of some '97's, in this case the least expensive ones. I have to warn you, though: Red Burgundy is almost never cheap.

I had two '97's I loved, a Volnay "Vendages Selectionees" from Michel Lafarge for $140 and a Nuit Saint Georges premier cru Clos des Forets St. George for $90. The Volnay, which in theory should have been the lesser wine, was not, simply because Lafarge is the greatest of all producers in that appellation. It had such wonderful structure I suspect it will last another 10 years. The Nuit St. George, from an excellent but less heralded producer, was more typical of the vintage—soft and round with a light body, but the sweet, slightly oaky, cherry-like bouquet was an absolute delight. If you liked those, in a few years start looking for the 1999 red Burgundies. It was an even better vintage, and it might be nicely forgotten by then.