Have no experience here. What are y’all loving from the vintage? The person has been pretty open-minded on style/variety.
Have been using the below from Wine searcher as a loose guide, but with this much age really need to get more at the wine level than the region level.
———
The 1994 vintage was very successful for a number of regions around the world.
For France, Bordeaux and Burgundy may have had some hits but overall, they were misses. The Rhône had a few more hits but the undoubted star of France was Alsace. Many of the late-harvest wines were sublime and are likely to still be drinking well now.
Port enjoyed a legendary year, with many wines not only drinking well now but likely to carry on doing so for decades to come. Both Armagnac and whisky are available from this year, and are likely to be drinking well.
Neighboring Spain also had a very good vintage and it’s possible there are still some Rioja Riservas very much worth drinking today.
Both Germany and Austria had excellent vintages. It is likely that some of the Mosel Rieslings are still drinking very well and may even continue to do so.
In the New World, both California and Australia excelled. Wines, particularly reds, from top estates in either region should still have some life.
Overall, 1994 was a great year for European dessert wines, New World Cabernet and Port and there should still be examples of each still drinking very well today.
Port if they like dessert wine. Grab a case and drink it until you and it are 50 or even older. Just hwlped my sister get a case of Grahams for under $1,000 all in
Our son was born in 1994. Bought a few from California…Monte Bello, Montelena, Dunn HM, Forman, Spottswoode and Laurel Glen. Also bought the usual suspects of Vintage Port. Highly recommend Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca, Grahams, Dows and Vesuvio. I have tried them all and am happy to have a few of each left to enjoy.
I wasn’t expecting a ton, but I was really impressed with a 1994 Penfolds Cab Sauv Bin 407 a few years ago, and there’s a bottle for sale right now in NY for under $100.
I totally get the Port recos and i dig it myself…but port can be VERY polarizing. Unless you know peeps enjoy that style of wine, i would look elsewhere (especially since it’s a solid vintage in many regions).
Hard to argue against a 1994 from California. Some great stuff produced in that year, Dalla Valle, Caymus SS, Beringer PR, Togni, et al. I would get the Togni.
Now that said, I’d also offer the comparator, something cool from Bordeaux. Some really excellent but admittedly select wines if you are willing to look. Leoville Barton and Montrose are easy buys.
I agree with the advice thus far- the three go-to regions are Rioja, Napa, and Port. There are other great wines from other regions, but you have to hunt around for the right producers and they can be hit and miss. Honestly, hard to go wrong with a top producer from any of these three regions.
1994 Rioja that I have enjoyed: Lopez de Heredia, La Rioja Alta, Ygay, and if you’re on a budget, Riojanas.
1994 Port: Taylors is amazing. As others have mentioned, the sweetness can turn some off. But the quality to price ratio here is off the charts- you can get the very best of the region for much less than $200. You can’t say that for Napa or even Rioja these days.
Lots of great 1994 California recs already given above; wines like Dominus, Togni, Dunn, are amazing, but expensive. These are the true greats. Get these if you can afford them, but I’ve also had quite good luck with 1980s-90s Napa Cab from lesser (ie less expensive) producers. Specific wines I’ve really enjoyed that are more affordable include BV Tapestry, William Hill, Silverado, Inglenook, Duckhorn, Mondav, Forman. Good luck- you got some great options. Let us know how it goes.
If you like South Australian reds (Barossa, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale etc.) it’s a solid vintage and there should be plenty absolutely alive, and not especially expensive. Port also feels like a safe and not too daftly priced option.
Can’t go wrong with Port and CA, as others have said. Zind Humbrecht VT and SGNs have been stellar, and I’d imagine other Alsace is as well. Definitely some underrated (and relatively affordable) gems in Bordeaux, like Evangile and Batailley.
From the antipode, I would be very interested in trying Wynns Michael & Wynns John Riddoch, but, unfortunately, 1994 Wynns is not showing up on Wine-Searcher Pro.
On the other hand, according to Wine-Searcher Pro, there’s a ton of 1994 Dunn Howell Mountain out there.