adjective

vintage

Showing the characteristic qualities of a person or thing at peak performance or quality.

The clever reversal is vintage Maya, full of her familiar wit.

Etymology

Vintage first identifies a wine's harvest year and associated quality. The adjective broadens to something displaying a person's or period's characteristic excellence.

More examples

That fearless finish was vintage Jordan.
The passage contains vintage humor from the novelist.
Their performance showed the band in vintage form.

Forms

vintage

Similar words

classic: Classic similarly means characteristic and exemplary.
typical: Typical need not imply admiration.