non-vintage

Updated: July 17, 2025

There was a certain lack about a man who had been adopted, of reasonable guarantee he was like a non-vintage wine, or a horse without a pedigree; you could not quite rely on what he might do, having no tradition in his blood. His appearance, too, and manner somehow lent colour to this distrust. A touch of the tar-brush somewhere, and a stubborn, silent, pushing fellow.

John Galsworthy - The Dark Flower