99 grand cru burg is about 2x what current releases are and I imagine a great deal more than what they were when released in 2002 or so. I think some posted a premier cru email from the mid 2000s listing 99 Rousseau Chambertin for 300 or something, as opposed to ~4K now.
Yes, as I noted, we will look back in 2039 and some bottles will have appreciated greatly compared to their release price.
But that isn’t true for most wines, and I doubt the appreciation of premium wines generally will be as great from today to decades from now as it is looking back several decades to now, just because there has been so much run-up already and there is so much more information available.
And even if a wine goes up 50% or 100% or more in the next 20-30 years, that’s still a lot less than it seems when you consider the time value of money and inflation, plus the storage cost and casualty risks.
Again, I’m not saying it’s wrong to do that, by any means, but just that it is worth thinking through in more detail.
One thought I’d share (and I should have put this in my prior post) – if the buying and holding these wines as birth year wines from now until decades from now is something that Evan will enjoy, and will enjoy even if his son may not have the ta-da moment with them that he hopes, or if it doesn’t turn out it made sense financially to have done it, then he should totally do it. This hobby is for fun, and if it’s fun and makes sense for him, go for it. I guess figure out what your reasons and priorities are, and that would make the decision more clear.
One thing to consider is if you’re planning on opening said bottle with your child at or near his 21st birthday. Why? Enjoyment for both of you. When I was 21 (heck, in most of my 20s), I liked wine quite a bit, but really didn’t “get” or enjoy Burgundy or Bordeaux very much. I liked the taste of up-front fruit. So, if you’d like to increase the odds that he will like the wine you bought for him, I’d stay new world and go with something from California.
Not sure how much fruit you’ll have at age 20 with most ca cabs…
Well, I had several 40-year old Cali Cabs that were full of fruit. Yes, the winemaking was different in the 70s, but the better Cali producers will most certainly be very full of fruit at age 20.
Diamond creek. Personally not a fan of Bordeaux blends. Tasted a 86 at a Wb wine tasting, it held up. You have a half year or so to decide. Unless you purchased a future. I think the mags are sold out.
I plan on having both my boys through their “big fruit” days by the time their 21.
Geez… stop buying bottom of the barrel producers will ya? 
Just being a realist here - most people in their early 20s are not really going to appreciate finely aged wine…
Just depends on their exposure.
There’s a lot of very good Burgundy recs in the thread but most seem to be producer driven.
I would suggest looking to buy a few bottles of Bonnes Mares specifically. I had a wine from this vineyard that was 40 years old, and it was mind blowing and extraordinarily formative for me. And I was smack in the middle of my big fruit phase at the time.
Each kid is different (as are family dynamics) but I was able to ‘genuinely appreciate’ top level wine by 16 or 17. I don’t think I got on the internet to specifically learn/chat about wine until I was 21, but the internet was a smaller place back then…
Be optimistic that the kids ‘get it’… and try not to be too heartbroken if the love doesn’t stick, which is thankfully less likely!
Regardless of whether someone is going to be into wine or not, who is not going enjoy having a toast with a glass of champagne or a fine German Riesling as desert? Food for thought…
I have kids 01 and 04. Auslese and Barolo (due to vintages) lead the way, along with a host of other selections.
you mean you plan to cellar some of those?
Lots to think through, and lots in here I hadn’t considered; my tastes are burgundy- and champagne-centric so I appreciate the thoughts from a more global perspective.
Yes once the ones I don’t have yet are released.
It’s not the fruit that concerns me (as somebody else before mentioned the Napa Cabs from the 60s, 70s, 90s or early 00s usually have more, not less fruit than their Bdx counterparts), it’s more that too ripe and extracted wines with too much alcohol, could collapse earlier and suffer from oxidation. I’ve seen that in quite some big Aussie Shiraz from 2000-2010, in a lot of wines in Napa wine verticals (incl. Harlan! from mid 00s) but also in two vintage retrospectives of the 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux vintages with several faulty wines on the right bank (a premoxed Ausone anyone?; if I remember correctly LPB, Martin and Suckling all mentioned some too fast ageing 2010s in their vintage retrospectives).