I'm pretty sure we Americans ruined the real meaning of this word, awhile back. I seem to recall it meaning essentially "around" a certain timeframe, like "vintage '50s cars were better-made". We won't even touch the topic of "better-made than what?", we'll just note that the word vintage was most commonly used WITH a timeframe descriptor, like a certain decade, or an era. But us darn Americans screw around with everything, & now nothing works right anymore.