Poll: At what age should your parents have given you birth wine?

[Matthew_King]

My real plan is to buy my daughter some 2016 Cristal and Dom Perignon (from what I read it’s being bottled). She can then decide what to do with it when she comes of age. Probably appreciate those two more than Burgundy or Rhone.

Ace of Spades baby!

[CFu]

My parents only started collecting when I was in my late teens, and they were really more drinkers than collectors and only have a small collection now - so no birthyear wines for me. My wife is another story. Her father has always been an avid collector and bought many cases of 1990 classified growth Bordeaux. My wife is now 28 and has only shared 1 bottle of 1990 Lafite with him lol.

The greatest lie is when we say we are buying the birth year wines for our kids

[Paul_Miller]

I bought some vintage port for my nephew, thinking it would be a wedding gift someday. He hasn’t turned out to be the fine young man we all hoped for, so I might drink it instead.

[William_Segui]

As someone not born in a generally great year - I much prefer people bring good wines, not just old dead ones that remind me of my own age creep. My daughter was born in 2013, so I’ve been buying Barolo for her (and I think Champagne did quite well too). Baby boy was 17, haven’t heard much about that vintage yet but regardless, I’ll just try to make sure the cellar has good wine in it and we will all just go from there.

[Dan_Kravitz]

Horribly flawed poll:

1. My answer for the right age was 11.
2. A lot of people don’t go to college.

Dan Kravitz

[maureen_nelson]

“22-23 - college undergrad”

Did your kids get held back?

[Robert_M_yers]

“22-23 - college undergrad”

Did your kids get held back?

I meant as in the couple of years before receiving or when receiving a bachelors degree, which for most I think takes 4-5yrs. I could have worded it better Im sure (or left it out all together!) but I left an option at the end for you guys

[Jayson_Cohen]

My real plan is to buy my daughter some 2016 Cristal and Dom Perignon (from what I read it’s being bottled). She can then decide what to do with it when she comes of age. Probably appreciate those two more than Burgundy or Rhone.

Do her and yourself a relatively modest favor. Bury a half case of Huet Le Mont Demi Sec also.

[Kris_Patten]

My daughter was born in 2016 so I’ve been using it as an excuse to just hoard 2016 N. Rhone and Burgundy. Cause nothing a 21 year old girl wants more in life than mags of Dujac and 3Ls of PYCM. LOL LOL!!!

My boy is a 2016, our rule is buy heavy and whatever is left when he’s interested in wine is his. Til then we’ll have something nice each to year he ages as the wines age.

[TomC]

Some of the best advice I ever received on this topic was from Brian Pattrick, who posts here from time to time.

Drink the birth year wines WITH your children, don’t just give it to them. I bought a bunch of 2000 & 2002 wines for the kids, assuming I would give them a cellar starter someday (1st home, wedding, 1st career job, etc), but I’m pretty sure the idea of pulling bottles for dinners with them throughout the rest of our days is more valuable to all of us. If there’s anything left when we either pass or move into the old age home, they get whatever’s left. Hopefully to enjoy with those they love.

We’re more in this line of thinking, but even more so - the birth year wines we have are mainly for the Mrs and I. Call it something for us to celebrate reaching the 21 year mark for each of our kids. The kids can have some as well… we’re under no illusion that they’ll latch on to much more than how alcohol in wine tastes like burning that first time.

[Mikko_R]

I have bought some bottles of my son’s birth year but I’m not going to give any of them to him. My plan is to have a nice celebration/dinner at certain milestones, like when we have a party on his confirmation at the age of 15, when he turns 18, 20, 25, 30. Also nice occasions would be when he gets engaged, married, has a child of his own, graduates from high school or has his masters degree (probably not gonna happend if he is anything like his father). Then we would have a nice get-together as a family and pop few of these special bottles and enjoy them with food as they should be. If I would give my son a magnum of Gonon’s St-Jo or Allemands Reynard at his 18th birthday he would probably make sangria from it.

[James_Billy]

Drink the birth year wines WITH your children, don’t just give it to them.

I think this really comes down to establishing wine as part of the ‘culture’ of your household - if it is not, then the idea of gifting wines to kids who are not ‘taught’ the joy of sharing this beverage with others will somewhat be lost. But perhaps that’s just me . . .

Cheers.

I agree with Chris and Larry.

I think you need to educate your kids from an early age. Let them touch new deliveries from their birth year when you purchase them. Let them take ownership. Refer to these wines as their bottles. Get them to read the vintage when they are just learning to read. Open a bottle every birthday. Maybe let the kids keep the bottles as ‘trophies.’ let them sniff or even taste at an appropriate age. Ask them to describe the wines. If they struggle (like, they fail to note sappy and mineral notes lol) give them choices. “Do you get lemon or plums?”, “Nuts or chocolate?” “Peach or strawberry?” Start with easy ones and make the pairs more subtle as they master the basics. Ask if they like it and why? Eventually they will have the skills to differentiate, describe and determine what they like or don’t. Hopefully you will create confident, wine loving humans.

Then you can drink bottles together at their birthday when they are old enough. It’s unlikely that they will enjoy them as much as you at first. You can give them bottles to consume without you when you are sure they can fully appreciate them and aren’t just going to waste them. Wine will be a lasting memory between you and your children and then your children and others even when you’re long gone.

[Bill_H_o_o_p_e_r]

Never I guess. I’ve been in the wine industry since I was 21, so anything beyond that would’ve been great. But I was born in a light, high-acid vintage for most countries outside of Portugal, and the wines have mostly been drunk up (1977). I’ve loved the German and Austrian wines I’ve had from that year though -and of course the Port.

-Cheers,
Bill

[edwardmilstein]

Mark, can’t play slap the bag with bottles of 98.( input from my 29 yr old )

[Michae1_P0wers]

This question might better be posed as “at what age should you give your kids their birth year wines?” since I’d assume the vast majority of people, even here, did not receive birth year wines. I’d be more interested to see how many people here actually had parents give them wine from their birth year, meaning wine actually put away for that purpose, aside from maybe a bottle purchased much later as a thoughtful gift. I’m entirely certain I never saw my father drink wine outside of the communion line.

As for my kids, I was still in school when they were born and didn’t put away much. I can always try to backfill though. In any case, unless I had a ton of it I’d plan to drink it with them rather than give it to them. Maybe a few bottles, but that wouldn’t be the purpose of putting it away. The odds of them caring enough seem rather slim.

[scamhi]

Drink the birth year wines WITH your children, don’t just give it to them… I’m pretty sure the idea of pulling bottles for dinners with them throughout the rest of our days is more valuable to all of us. If there’s anything left when we either pass or move into the old age home, they get whatever’s left. Hopefully to enjoy with those they love.

This^. Just opened an 89 Pichon Lalande last week with my daughter to celebrate her 29th.

[Robert_M_yers]

This question might better be posed as “at what age should you give your kids their birth year wines?” since I’d assume the vast majority of people, even here, did not receive birth year wines. I’d be more interested to see how many people here actually had parents give them wine from their birth year, meaning wine actually put away for that purpose, aside from maybe a bottle purchased much later as a thoughtful gift. I’m entirely certain I never saw my father drink wine outside of the communion line.

As for my kids, I was still in school when they were born and didn’t put away much. I can always try to backfill though. In any case, unless I had a ton of it I’d plan to drink it with them rather than give it to them. Maybe a few bottles, but that wouldn’t be the purpose of putting it away. The odds of them caring enough seem rather slim.

I worded the question that way on purpose to see if it would correlate to the question so many have asked about what wine to buy for a child’s birth year. I’ve never heard anyone here say they were passed a cellar of birth year wines, so this must be a recent phenomenon in cellaring. People have certainly been passed cellars, but I’ve never heard of cases and cases of birth year wines. A separate question might be why buy the birthyear only unless it’s truly a remarkable vintage? I’d love to have SOME 72’s but would prefer a mix around that era for obvious reasons.

The question is almost always assumed that a wine recommended must last 21 years and imo that’s not long enough for a child to truly appreciate it. If I had an aged cellar passed to me at 21 it would have been wasted. We all have a wine journey and while the children of parents here will have a jump start, they’ll need time to travel their own path too. I moved a half dozen times in my youth too, how Would I have handled storage ect of fragile wines until my life stabilized?

The idea of sharing with them at life events is a great idea and is probably how we hope they are cherished, but suggests that birth year wines need to last probably from at least 25 to maybe 50 years.

[Alan_Rath]

The greatest lie is when we say we are buying the birth year wines for our kids

I KNEW it!

[Alan_Rath]

Drink the birth year wines WITH your children, don’t just give it to them… I’m pretty sure the idea of pulling bottles for dinners with them throughout the rest of our days is more valuable to all of us. If there’s anything left when we either pass or move into the old age home, they get whatever’s left. Hopefully to enjoy with those they love.

This^. Just opened an 89 Pichon Lalande last week with my daughter to celebrate her 29th.

Exactly. Any birth year bottles are meant to open and enjoy with my kids, not just given to them. It’s an excuse to enjoy good wine together.

[Scott_Jameson]

Our kids started getting tastes of “their wine” around their 5th or 6th birthday, and at birthdays and major holidays after that. A few large formats (3,5,6,and 9 liter) were designated for “special events”, like high school and college graduation, wedding rehearsal dinners and the like. The kids also “donated” a couple of the larger bottles for other extended family events, like their grandmother’s 90th birthday party, attended by numerous relatives. While 2 of my 3 kids are interested in wine, neither has the proper space for storage. I’ve given them a few bottles over the years for events they’re planning, but most of the remaining bottles are still my cellar.