Over the years, I’ve seen posts requesting recommendations for birth-year wines. Clearly, this is a popular notion, but it is really us projecting our passion onto someone else 21 years into the future. I am certainly guilty of this for my son and bought a bunch of birth year wines imagining that we would share them together in his early twenties. He is now almost twenty-five and has no interest in wine at all. I’ve never seen him drink more than a quarter a glass of wine, and if he does drink, his choice is tequila. He would have preferred the money to buy a Corvette. My twenty-one year old step-daughter shrugs with indifference when we offer her wine and her drink of choice is Scotch (!) or mixed drinks. She would have wanted money to go to grad school. Birth-year wine is a lovely idea, but it seems far more practical to buy a well-sourced bottle if the person in question actually expresses interest in trying it (I thrilled my wife with a 45 year old Bordeaux). Has anyone had success with birth-year wines purchased on release and opened decades later?
As they get older they will, at minimum, appreciate the effort and thought involved with purchasing and holding something that is important to you so that you can enjoy it together. If they don’t like wine, that is ok. At 21 and especially with no children of their own (if they don’t have any) it’s hard to understand the sentiment behind the gesture. They will get it in time. It will be worth it in my mind.
Edit- My boys are only 9 and 4 so I have a bit of a way to go until I can share a success or failure. The bottles I have for the 4 year old are JJ Prum Auslese GK so they should last and they will be more likely to at least enjoy them even if they don’t like wine. 
I still have to find a 2014 JJ Prum Auslese for the 9 year old (these are tough to come by)
My oldest is only seven years old. But I haven’t bought anything particular for my kids birth years. As you say who know if they have any interest in it…
I just realized one of my Goddaughters is 2002. I knew she turned 21 this year, but never really put it together with the epic champagne vintage. I’ll definitely pop a DP Rose or Cristal or Salon or whatever she wants next time we get together.
Lucky her! I hope she loves it.
My son will be 40 in January. Gulp. I bought traditional '84 Cali Cabs and blends, as I did in all good vintages back then. We’ve enjoyed many bottles of '84 Ridge Monte Bello, Diamond Creek, Dunn HM, Heitz Martha’s, Dominus, and others together over the years. I bought those wines because they were excellent wines from a good vintage that I’d buy anyway, not because my son happened to be born that year. If he had been born in '83, I’d likely have used the $$ to buy more '83 Margaux and Palmer, rather than California Cabs.
I bought Champagne in anticipation of his birth and his sister’s: Probably a rehash but here goes….(child birth year purchase) - #26 by M.Kaplan
I am fully aware that it’s all about me when buying birth year wines 
my kids are still young but I think the greatest success, at least for me, is that the oldest one feels proud and notice when I open a birth year wine. He knows I bought the wine because he was born then. I also don’t mind if he doesn’t care about wine when he gets older any it is a joy knowing that he knows that even in my hobby, something related to him means a lot to me.
Great success with the first two. They haven’t become geeks but have really enjoyed the birth year wines from splurge producers we’ve opened for their special occasions. Number 3 doesn’t like any alcoholic beverages but gets a very mild kick out of wines from her birth year gracing the table. 4 is a work in progress - likes the idea, but doesn’t (yet?) like the juice unless it’s sweet and/or fizzy.
My kids love it when I open one of their birth years, even if we don’t even let them taste it yet.
Not even a sniff?
I was born in a mediocre-at-best vintage, so I kept that in mind when buying for my kids. The criteria I used was:
1.) Will this have a high probablilty of being good/great 21-30 years from now, not just alive/not dead
2.) Buy wines I want to drink as I am planning to share not necessarily give.
3.) 4-6 btls of each so I can try at least one along the way to see if they are coming along as hoped.
Son (2017) not a great vintage, so he gets some year of conception (2016) concessions
2017 was great for Oregon Pinot Noir if that is your thing. A few of the board favorites will go that distance.
As a young (ahem, not yet 40!) dad of three, I appreciate this thread.
I have purchased birth year wine for all three of my kids (oldest is 11), but have focused on Champagne because it’s:
- “Celebratory”
- Can easily be unloaded
- Enjoyed by me, if not with my kids
I’ve got a bunch of birth year wines. But then again, I also have a bunch of pre and post birth year wines. I guess I just have a lot of wine.
Yeah, it doesn’t work out for some of us. And maybe it was mostly about us all the time, but we were also trying to be good parents in some sense, to create something memorable for the child and the family. Our minds and hearts were not in an entirely selfish place.
For all you parents who bought birth year wines, I salute you.
Cheers. 
Well done! 
Both my kids (26 and 21) love it when I open their birth year wines (and older). My eldest has decided she wants to take the WSET Level 1 course this winter because of her interest in wine, so that’s something
Both my son and daughter like wine - and I have a fair amout of birth year bottles to open at birthdays etc.
They are also the heirs of my cellar.
However, I have bad luck with my own vintage, Port being the only choice to drink with pleasure (1963).
I ve had enough disapointments from various regions
My kids are ‘19 and ‘21. I went pretty long on blue chip Bordeaux from those years as they tend to be pretty sturdy wines that will be just fine if the kids don’t “find” wine til their 30s or 40s. I’ve also been buying large formats from other regions and focusing on blue chip bottlings as well for more quality than quantity. Will see what happens in terms of ‘19 and ‘21 with Champagnes… have heard good things about ‘19 and less than great things about ‘21.
I suppose that is for a different thread, but I am curious too. There always seems to be mixed messages. 2018 was suppose to be awesome until it wasn’t. I’ve heard that 2019 is really good and that it was warm… I’ve heard 2021 is the one to look forward to. That certainly seems to be the case for the Loire Valley.
My daughter thinks it’s very cool when I uncork a Champagne (or other wines) from her birth vintage. She appreciates that I bought these wines years ago, specifically for, and to celebrate, her. And, that they have been cellared for many years, as long as she has been alive. Plus, there is a certain coolness factor. What else can I save from her birth year that is tangible and enjoyable?