The phrase "a classic year" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a year that is considered exemplary or significant in a particular context, such as in sports, music, or historical events.
Example: "The year 1994 is often remembered as a classic year for the World Cup, with unforgettable matches and moments."
Alternatives: "an iconic year" or "a memorable year".
That really would herald a classic year.
German vintners, too, are talking up 2012, calling in a "classic" year.
As for the Clarke awards themselves, it's probably too early to comment – but, once the smoke has cleared, I have a feeling this will be remembered as a classic year.
There's a lot of variety this year and I think it will be remembered and enjoyed as a classic year.
It was an experiment that wasn't supposed to work quite as well as it did and most certainly wasn't supposed to be considered a classic years and years later.
There is a film of his Classic year, still one of the best documentaries on racing, from which two truths emerge: Sir Ivor had a brilliant turn of finishing speed; and he was tough, winning the Laurel Invitation in America at the end of a gruelling season that had begun in a Guineas trial at Ascot seven months earlier.
The legislation, he said, "is a classic election-year giveaway, a year early".
This beautiful dish is a classic New Year dish in the Chinese communities of Singapore and Malaysia.
I'm very much hoping that there will be a late surge of good stuff or I'll discover something I've overlooked, because although I've seen some very fine work (and quite a lot of shockers that I won't burden you with either here or on Twitter), it doesn't feel like a classic fringe year.
Even if it's not fully out of the recessionary woods, the electronics industry could be on the way to a classic multi-year upturn, after four years of weak pricing and the recession's sharply curtailed spending.
"Brown Eyed Girl" became Morrison's most played song and over the years it has remained a classic; forty years later in 2007, it was the fourth most requested song of DJs in the US.
