My wife and I welcomed our beautiful daughter to the earth this month! I have read all of the threads about birth year wines, and I wanted to get an updated take on a strategy, and perhaps with a slight twist in perspective.
I know that many people who have children in the 5-15 year age range have the benefit of knowing how a given vintage has turned out. I could easily take that approach, and wait and see how 2016 progresses before making any decisions (and I still might do so, of course). But in terms of an overall strategy, I am trying to come up with a common sense plan. The caveat is always that your child will not like wine or will not have an appropriate appreciation of my purchasing decisions at 21 years old. Anyhow, here were a few ideas I was kicking around. What do you guys think?
Buy several cases of popular things that I like to drink, such as Pahlmeyer, Rivers-Marie, Hourglass, a few $50-100 bordeauxs, a few Burgundys etc. Enjoy them with my daughter over a course of her adult drinking life from 21+.
Buy a single case of slightly higher end wines, perhaps one bottle from each region that highlights each, say Bordeaux, Burgundy, Napa, Spain, Australia, Champagne, Italy, etc – max $100-$200 per bottle. Pop one a year with her for 12 years.
Buy 4-5 bottles of truly baller stuff and let it age like crazy. Something like 1 Harlan Estate, 1 FG Bordeax, a GC Burgundy, and maybe something from Champagne (Krug?). Open one bottle every 5 years with her, starting at age 25.
Go wild and do all three?? May be a hard sell with my wife.
Thoughts and advice? As always, the collective sage wisdom of this forum is respected and appreciated.
There is really no hurry.
You have plenty of time to figure where the successes were in 2016 and buy accordingly. By the time, she is ready to appreciate the thought, and actually drink the stuff, your income and the wine’s affordability might be easier for you and you can find the wine in the secondary market. The chances of you making a mistake are highest when buying futures, your best bet of getting it right, is close to the time when she will legally able to drink it.
My son was born in 1994, and I bought a ton of Port from that year for him. On his 21st birthday, I gave him the Port, and some bottles that I liked from a range of years. It’s a fun exercise, and I am sure you love doing it, but stretch it out, and by the time you make the decision, hopefully, you will know more, and have more to spend.
If its a decent year, buy some vintage Champagne. Nothing like celebrating great milestoes with Champange. I have some for my kids graduation from college.
My daughter was born in 2015 and I think it’s fair to say I have gone a bit overboard. It’s so good in Bordeaux and Rhone and Germany that I have a few cases of preorders including some mags and a couple 3L as well. Nowhere near finished and plenty of that is for me, but suffice to say she’s going to have plenty of good swill in the future.
The fruit just came off the vines a short time ago in California, yet the few people ITB I’ve talked to have high hopes and say it should be a good year, especially for Cabs.
2016 is not shaping up to be a good vintage in Northern France, including Champagne. Hail, frost, and drought have made it tough for winemakers. Wait and see on those.
I guess your buying strategy depends on when you plan to open them, and if you’re going to share them or simply give them to your daughter. If your planning to open nice bottles on her 21st birthday and before her wedding, I’d go for the highest quality wines with proven longevity, like First Growth Bdx, Grand Cru Burgundy, Barolo, Champagne, California Cab (sign up for the Ridge Montebello Club), but adjust your plans based on the 2016 vintage quality in each.
If you’re going to gift her a case, or open bottles frequently through the years, those wines might carry a hefty price tag, and the stability of your marriage will be much more important to her than any wine ; ) In that case, I’d get fine wines that age but avoid the ones that will be too costly.
Don’t forget magnums, and don’t forget Rioja GR’s, Loire Valley whites and reds (read some Olga Raffault threads) that can give you big bangs for the buck and age beautifully.
This is a fun and joyous thread, and I’m sure many will chime in great suggestions. Maybe it will even be “snark” free!
There’s not necessarily any hurry. I bought some wines for my kids early but I still do. I have a daughter born in 1992 and I just bought a Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot today for $50.
If you can get in Ridge Monte Bello Futures, that’s always a good deal. I’m not sure there’s a better bet for long aging from CA.
This is the best advice in the thread. It’ll be years before most 2016s are released, and more years before there is a good sense of what are the best wines and the ones most worthy of that kind of long-term aging. And 4-5 years from now, you may have different opinions about what wines you like to collect and what wines you like to drink with 20+ years of age. Don’t feel any urgency to grabbing up wines for this purpose.
The other thing to consider is what are the odds your 21 or 25 year old daughter is going to like old clarets and things like that. She might, but I don’t know that most people that age really appreciate old red wines so much. The odds go up if you’re getting 2016 riesling, Sauternes, or things like that, plus those are more certain to hold up and improve over that length of time. Of course, if you’re doing it mostly for what you want to drink in her honor rather than what she would like (which would be totally fine, I don’t mean any judgment by saying that), then do whatever you think best.
Lastly, I don’t know how much wines like Rivers Marie are going to do at age 25-30. I’m probably the biggest enthusiast of aging California pinot on this board, or maybe I’m second to Blake Brown, but even I think that only certain ones are going to do well for that long a time. You might consider ones that have the most proven record for long aging, both the pinots and cabs.
As between your numbered options, I’d probably go with 3 or 2, in that order. Though in option 3, they don’t have to be Harlan and First Growths either, but just within whatever budget you have buy a small number of wines that are more special and more likely to age and improve over that period. Unless you have the luxury of ample perfect storage and will have that luxury for decades to come, it’s not a small thing to allocate several cases of room to bottles that are going to sit there for decades untouched. And again, I don’t know that your daughter in her 20s and 30s is necessarily going to want to have dozens of tastings with you of birth year wines.
Nice thread!
I guess my approach is to that its just an extra motivation about the wines to collect and put in the cellar. We want to pop a bottle of the vintage every birthday so need wines spanning a range of drinking Windows. I agree with the comments about not knowing whether ones child will want cases of ‘old wine’ that smells of mushroom and cigar box so I’m more thinking I’ll want a few choice mags to share on a significant birthday, pop on the top table at wedding date etc…
Also agree that there is time: initially I felt I needed to be in a rush but I realize now totally not the case! My first was from 2013 and I’m still waiting for next year when the barolo’s will come out. But whatever, it’s just fun to go through the process.
And of course I hope to share some glasses with him when the time comes. What’s clear is that at 4 years old he’s twigged that his old man is slightly obsessed by fermented grape juice, he’s already been tasting in burgundy cellars and now wants his apple juice in a wine glass so signs are encouraging that he may appreciate a bottle or two set aside for him!
I’ll add that you should buy enough so that you can keep some for yourself to open on special occasions when you’re thinking of her but can’t be with her. Or even to open together “virtually” if you’re apart. They do grow up and move out.
It´s too early to make any decisions - the grapes are not even through fermentation (if harvested at all).
If the vintage (wherever) is only of mean quality I would order Magnums in any case.
If the vintage is strong mostly 0.75 bottles will do.
It depends on how much you wanna spend on this matter -
I would at least buy 6 (4? 3?) bottles of each wine … so you can check in after let´s say 10-15 years how it is maturing. I´m not a fan of buying one bottle only of very expensive stuff … (except at auction)
BTW: fwiw 2016 seems to become very successful in the Northern Rhone (Hermitage …), but also in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and neighbourhood (if there has been some drops of rain over the last 2 weeks).
I think this is a fun, mental exercise, but way too unpredictable for my tastes. Who the heck knows what, if anything, our kids will like in wine once they turn 21, 25 or whatever. My son is nearing 18, and even though he has been around wine at the table his entire life, he has zero interest in it. Likes beer though. I grabbed a 1998 Mouton for him, he likes art and it’s his birth year. We’ll see what he thinks at 21, and perhaps that will inspire him, and thus me, to go backfill. Thus, I stick to buying what I like.
Were I to take a swing at it, I would buy something that has the gravitas to age 25+ years with aplomb, so my choice is likely to be Bordeaux. Even if we pop it on his 35th birthday, classic Bordeaux from solid years can easily run that distance and longer. The 1982s are drinking superbly right now. I would not buy anything modern at all, and likely not California unless it’s classics like Monte Bello. So I would go Option 3, skip the Harlan and use all that cash for classified growth Bordeaux, some Burgs, and Krug is a great choice. I would rather buy 4-5 Second Growths than spend the money on a First Growth right now.
Depending on the year, I’d go: Montrose, the Leovilles, the Pichons and Vieux Chateau Certan (Pomerol).
Definitely agree. Best to be ready if things break right, and even if they don’t, there are worse outcomes than having a lot of great wine on your hands.
Good to hear about the lad, I’m not sure my 4 yr. old is quite as far along but I feel pretty good about it. He asked for grapes to be included with his lunch yesterday, and I took it as an opportunity to tell him that all of my bottles were made up of (fermented) grape juice. He seemed astounded and intrigued.
