Why Greg? Even the lightest, weakest vintage of the past 30 years in 1992 still drinks well today. There are some excellent deep and rich 2018’s that will easily meet the criteria of aging.
I agree with Prum and Grunhauser as having reputations for long term cellaring, but I am not so sure about Donnhoff. Excellent wines, but to me, more mid-term drinkers. And, I have not tasted that many 2018 German wines yet, but the ones I have had seem a bit flabby for long term aging.
Welcome Evan! 2018 Lafon Genevrieres, Perrieres, and Montrachet. Under Diam so should last.
Bordeaux First Growths, D’Yquem or Dunn from Cali .
My 1st child/son was born in 2018. I purchased a couple futures at that time in large format for him to enjoy at special occasions 21+ years down the road. I purchased a 2018 Ridge Monte Bello 1.5L, 2018 Chateau Canon 1.5L, and 2018 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1.5L. I decided I wanted to buy a CA Cab and right and left bank Bordeaux’s.
Im addition, I have been collecting many 2018 Bordeaux and Napa Cabs 750ml and if there are any worthy of hanging around for several decades, I’ll plan on enjoying several of those with him and my family.
I have a 2nd child/son due this September. I plan on collecting in a very similar fashion for him as well.
Congratulations and good luck finding the right bottles, there are some great ones to age!
Great news. I hadn’t seen that. Thank you
And the best part is those won’t be released for another 6-8 years so you have time!
We have very different palates for Burgundy, of course. But picking and choosing from a very ripe vintage is a risk when the question is which region is best to lay wines down for. If you’re looking for the best 2018s to age, it’s hard for me to see how the answer is Burgundy. If you only really drink Burgundy, and want to age them, then it’s a moot point, as it’s going to be Burgundy by default.
There’s no question that some 2018s will make good old wines, like any vintage. As with any categorical statement, there are always exceptions. However, I think most will not, in which case you have to age a lot of wines just to ensure you have a few that age well. If you are determined to age Burgundy, then I’m sure some will make old bones, but there are better places in 2018, like Bordeaux (which is always an easy bet for aging wines, frankly). It’s a question of percentages.
From having tasted 2018s in barrel and some now in bottle, it’s not a vintage I have confidence in long term. I’ve passed on a number of my usual allocations because I think the vintage has neither the value nor the quality. I found the Cote de Beaune reds better personally, so if I was going to age anything, it would be Lafarge (though I suppose that wouldn’t be grand cru!).
As one producer said to me when I was in Burgundy, “this vintage reminds me a lot of 2003”. Not what I’d want to hear if I was looking for wines to age, personally.
Great advice.
Also, 2018 is a phenomenal vintage in Oregon as well. Look to people making structured wines from vineyards with a reputation for aging, but 20-30 years should be very doable.
That’s a lot of food for thought. Thanks for the insight.
2018 was great, both for my chardonnays and reds…looking forward to see them unfold over time.
To be fair, I’m just one rando on the internet with an opinion 
Other people like this vintage more than I do, but even at best there’s a lot of variation.
My advice would be to go with Bordeaux, German Riesling and Barolo / Barbaresco. Absolutely, there will be great wines from many other regions already mentioned - but it’s trickier to find and buy the right ones. Why? Well, I infer from you asking and being a first time poster that you’re not already well-connected into a number of merchants who will offer you really cool stuff. So if you want Burgundy you will have to pay top top dollar - if you can even find some of the “best”. Bordeaux is easy. There are many reviewers (so you can pick which wine) and nearly all of the serious wines have serious production. These will not be hard to get, and you won’t pay a 300% premium for the privilege. Bound to be really great examples say around USD150 (like Lynch Bages) all the way up to where your wallet struggles, and they will (nearly) all cruise for decades. Why German Riesling? Again, lots of great stuff is readily available - and not even expensive. And I’ve never had even an “average” producer from '71 or '76 that’s been too old. Perhaps lucky. Why Piedmont? Well, you seem keen on a selection so this is the wildcard: the region is still “affordable” (cf Burgundy) and good value, the vintage reports sound promising, and these wines are made to last.
I’m cellaring 18s from DRC, Rousseau, Roumier, Vogue, Mugnier, Mugneret Gibourg, Millot, Arnoux-Lachaux, Lignier and d’Angerville as well as my usual producers; I imagine some of these will go the distance.
Lots of great advice here - 2018 is a solid vintage in so many places. So I’ll give some different thoughts on the subject.
Don’t only look for the ultra top end (that you can afford). Some wines appreciate in price wildly, some don’t, it’s very hard to guess. But I’d recommend buying multiple price ranges and styles. Yes, some wonderful top Champagne, Bordeaux, (or any) Burgundy can reach in the $500+ range now, and if you can afford them and you’re excited, go for it. But also buy some Bordeaux, Port, German Riesling that are less than $100. You never know what your circumstances will be in 20+ years, or what your child will think of fancy wine. Maybe they will hate wine. Maybe they’ll be excited at the prospect of drinking some. Maybe they’ll say “Well dad, that nice bottle you bought is now worth $2500. Instead of drinking it can we buy me a new computer/watch/phone/trip to Europe/semester of college/whatever?” Less likely to happen with a $50 bottle (eg. Lagrange/St. Julien - a super reliable Bordeaux that will likely age forever) that becomes worth $80. So, buy a mix!
That’s certainly a wonderful collection of wines Michael, but I don’t think it’s very representative of what a consumer looking to lay down a case of Burgundy for a birth year is going to buy.
Things I haven’t seen mentioned are Loire reds, Bandol, spatburgunder, Colares. I’m not sure on Northern Rhones–but probably going to buy my favorites like Marc Sorrel Hermitage Le Gréal, Billon, Rostaing, JPC Jamet, Balthazar.
Congrats! Our son is 2018 vintage as well. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Here’s what we’ve been buying or will end up buying when they are released. 2018 was a good vintage just about everywhere, so you really can’t go wrong if you store the wines properly;
GC and 1er Cru Burg (both white and red, limited availability right now)
German Rieslings (stick with Spat+ ripeness. GG should also age well)
Classified Bordeaux
Port (a couple houses are releasing a vintage, the best being Quinta do Noval. Many others will be releasing either LBV or single-Quintas)
Champagne (when it’s released)
We’ll also selectively buy some domestic stuff from Napa, WA and OR, which all had good vintages in '18. Probably some Italian (Brunello, CCR, Piedmont) and Spanish (Rioja) when they are released, as well.
Basically, buy from good producers, store properly, and you’ll be rewarded.
Abundant harvest of top quality fruit. Some may lack acidity.
There are many threads about this over the years. Just some “big picture” thoughts for you to consider:
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These days and going forward, it’s easy to source back vintages of wines from both auctions and retailers, so you might question whether it’s necessary to buy things now to store for decades later. For example, you could easily buy good 1999 wines from all kinds of different today if you wanted.
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Do you have the proper kind of storage for decades of aging these wines? Even if so, do you want to commit a portion of your limited space to this purpose?
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Is this for your enjoyment down the road, or your son’s? Consider that many 21 year olds aren’t going to be enthused about wine in general, much less some old bottle of claret, or maybe wouldn’t appreciate it until a much later age.
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Also, if the hope is that your son is going to love it at around age 21, you might steer towards wines like Riesling and Sauternes that are more likely to be tasty to a young person like that, or maybe new world cabs and cab blends (though the kind that can age that long), rather than the kinds of mature wines that adult wine enthusiasts would more likely appreciate (Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo, etc.).
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Even if you still think you want to make a plan like this, you might consider waiting several years from now. Not only are many or most of the long-aging 2018s not even out yet, but some number of years will help clarify which regions and which bottlings are really the good ones with aging potential from the vintage. Don’t feel as though you need to act right away to get good 2018s to store - you can do that years down the road with a lot better information about which ones to buy.
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Some wines being released today will appreciate greatly in value, and you could look back and say “if only I’d bought the 2018 Domaine X at the time, I’d have one for my son’s 21st, but now I can’t afford it.” But most will appreciately either modestly or not at all, especially given how much prices have gone up for premium wines by this time. And even if the nominal price down the road for a good 2018 is higher than it would be today, (a) you wouldn’t have had to store it for that long, (b) time value of money, and (c) you have more time to learn which are really the good wines from that vintage.
I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but I just wanted to help you to think it through some more and make good decisions for yourself. I hope that helps and you have a great experience with whatever you do.