That is astonishing. I presume your financial adviser discussed 529 plans. It may be worth it if one of you takes a job at a college or university when the kids get into high school. (Time will fly. Trust me.) Higher Ed often provides free tuition to children of employees, and it can be a gateway to a (smallish) universe of other institutions via tuition exchange.
We’re fortunate enough that assuming the past 20 year annualized S&P return remains consistent, it should be doable, but I can’t imagine what it’s going to look like for those who have to put themselves through college in the future if the worst case prediction is true.
Regarding Robert’s original post, I agree that what is bought depends on vintage conditions. Our son and daughter were born in 1994 and 1997. Good for Vintage Port, and California Cabs, and Sauternes in 1997, so that is what we focused on. The other regions I was not as familiar with at that time, so did not focus on them. We open a bottle once a year or so, when all four of us are together. We drank some of the Cabs before they turned 21, but have not touched the VP’s yet.
A few other observations:
Back-filling is your friend. Find retailers you can trust and you can add as you like.
Buy different formats.
If you are focused on Bordeaux, which is great, find a reviewer whose palate you align with.
The beverage that we gave our son for his 21st that he really enjoyed was a bottle of 21-year El Dorado Rum. He loved that!
College costs are like home remodeling costs. Add in another 20-25% to account for travel and other miscellaneous expenses.
Ed
I hadn’t talked with an advisor, but I had roughly in my mind that $100K/year was going to be the all-in cost for college. My fingers are crossed that the money grows in the 529 plan…
On birth year wine (son born in 2018), I bought a mixed case and a half of Bordeaux and two magnums (Lynch Bages and Canon la Gaffeliere) for him. I got myself the same split (I didn’t want us to feel left out, after all). I figure that we will enjoy a good amount of our share of the loot over the years, and when he’s old enough, we can share his wines with him over time, on birthdays and special events (it would be cool to open a magnum with him on his wedding day if he gets married). That will give us time to find out if he likes wine…
My dad did the same thing for me, bought about a case of '96 wines but then bought several magnums which is the way I would go. Slower oxidation in the magnums will allow it to age better, plus if you have birthday dinners for kids when they are older (drinking age of course), decide to have a bunch of people over, magnums are a great way for everyone to enjoy the wines.
That is a lot of wine for a birthday year of a child. Your strategy is fine but that seems to be a lot of wine.
I’m a 1978 and still love drinking my birth year but it only really became interesting to me in probably the last 15 years or so. I’m more interested in getting them bottles that they can enjoy when they’re turning 40 or 50. That’s more than likely going to be much more meaningful than a bottle at 19 or 21. My two boys are 2010 and 2014. 2010 was easy and I have a mixed case of Bordeaux like LLC, Montrose, etc. as well as a Beaucastel Hommage, some Huet and some northern Rhones. My 2014 I just bought a bottle of La Tache. He’s a redhead and lives up to the hair colour, I get the feeling it will be better to buy him some birthyear scotch.
My kids were born in 95 and 96. I bought a lot of nice Bordeaux and for 96 Champagne. At 25 and 24 neither kid has much interest. My daughter definitely prefers younger Champagne to 96 Salon or Krug. Really they would both prefer a craft cocktail. Knowing them now pretty well as adults I don’t see this changing soon. I am enjoying these wines now (saving a few). I don’t really want to wait until I am into my seventies on the chance they will have an epiphany. Both kids have had a lot of chances and encouragement, just not really into it. It becomes clear that their"enjoyment " is politeness and not much more. I agree money may be better allocated to a 529.
I hate to say this but 100k is very near the all in cost today for private undergraduate degree. This includes tuition, travel, beer and bail costs.
On the whole I would say “buy for your own birth year”. If your kids end up sharing your hobby, then buy some birth year wines then. If you have to buy something, perhaps a good port, that you can hang onto in the vain hope they’ll stop drinking tequila slammers and try some wine instead.
We have a '13 and a '15. I am 6 and 8 bottles in, respectively. My strategy is to gather wines that I want to drink and that will educate them to various parts of the world. Fortunately the wines I am gathering for each is slightly different. This experience is a family affair, I doubt they will have a wine cellar at 21 and so we will drink, discuss and enjoy together as their mother and I store their wine.
My strategy is those of many others here: for my own birth year and the one of my significant other (1983 & 1988) some immortal Yquem in all sizes and then a focus on long-living high-end names (Margaux, Palmer and some selected other Bdx for 1983, a bit of Northern Rhone, Champagne mags and Tuscany for 1988).
For my godchild born in 2018 some big bottles of Bordeaux 2018 (with an Imperial of Lafite as the centre piece).
This sounds simply out-of-this-world to non-US people.
My Uni studies cost 60€ per year (not 60k, roughly seventy dollars). Living was covered by the state. Unfortunately I had to pay for the travel and beer (and wine!) myself.
I guess this is what a layperson would consider “communism” on your side of the pond? ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Anyhoo, no kids so no need to worry about purchasing birth year wines. I might grab bottles if they are my or my SO’s vintage (we’re fortunate to have been born in quite good years considering great vintages) but I’m not obsessed about them. I prefer to buy good bottles of wine, not certain vintages for the heck of it.
I always assumed that that might work out to be the case. But, as my daughter approaches 21 years old, she’s increasingly interested in fine wine. So I’m lucky to have planned properly.
Her birth year is 2001. So, Sauternes, Barsac, Barolo, and Bordeaux are all on the menu. If anyone has some Togni they want to sell… that’s a regret.
d’Yquem is certainly great, but so is Climens for a lot less money. And, don’t forget Burgundy!!!
I know it’s not necessarily the way to pick the best wines but I’ve also enjoyed thinking about wines that have some connection with our name. In my case, with our last name Chappel, it’s not hard to find specific generally really good to great wines to be connected to (at least somewhat) by name. I’ve tried to set aside 6 of each birth year of my kids (01, 03, 06) of Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. Unfortunately my wedding year was 1993 when they didn’t even make that wine. But for kids, other celebrations, there also other connections name-wise like Chappellet, Chapelle-Chambertin. May not work for everyone’s name of course but I personally like the angle . . .
PS If anyone has a 1967 Hermitage La Chapelle lying around, I’d love to find one! (Way past it’s prime I know, but it’s MY birth year)
High school would be too late. Typically, it would be 5 years before fully vested. It’s a benefit other students pay for via higher tuition.