Your Birth Year Buying Philosophy

Just celebrate his 5th birthday champagne.gif

I would assume you are buying these wines for two totally separate reasons and purchase as such:

  1. for you and mom for the first 20 birthdays. possibly a few for you and mom for birthdays when kid is out of the house on their own (30, 40, etc?). this should be whatever you like and will age well.
  2. for your kid 21+ years from now. I would make sure there are at least a few sweet wines in this group and I wouldn’t limit to just the region you like. especially if its Bordeaux. I dont think I could name a single of my friends at 21 that wanted or would have liked aged Bordeaux. I would grab at least a few moderate to high end burgs, Italians, etc. seems like most of the world that didnt have fires had a pretty decent year (COVID aside) in 2020.

With my dad I just straight up told him his birth year vintage was terrible so I’d just try open great wines regardless of vintage for his birthday

'61 is my mom’s birth year! Bordeaux is usually out of my price range, but we’ve drank some pretty fun barolos from that vintage over the years champagne.gif

1955 conception year wines if born early in ‘56!

Equally, it’s not only expensive wines that are capable of aging very gracefully.

I’m born in 1989, and I wish my parents had bought a pallet of 1989 Joguet Chinon (or even Olga Raffault). That would have cost next to nothing. And I think there are comparable bargains to be had today.

For my daughter, born in 2017, I have everything from DRC and Coche-Dury to magnums of cru Beaujolais.

my daughter’s birth year—Haut Brion, a case of Lynch Bages, some red and white Burgs . . .

My kids are 2015 and 2017 - the burgundy I’ve accumulated for them will not go undrunk :wink:

I think buying 11 cases to put away for a child is too much. My daughter’s birth year is 18 which is an ok vintage; I’ve put away more than 10 cases certainly but not stuff to save for her.

I would probably get 2-4 cases of wine at a mix of price points in 6-bottle increments, but which wines would completely depend on the vintage. If the vintage was exceptionally good for one region over others, I would consider buying all that wine - but most likely I would buy a mix of wines

I think it depends on the vintage. I bought wines for my two nephews (1977, only Port, and 1981 a variety of wines that would age 20 to 30 years). For my 2017 grand niece, I have about 40 bottles, Riesling, Huet, Sauternes, Ridge Geyserville, and a smattering of others). For my 2019 grand nephew, a case of Bordeaux (no first growths, but Clinet, Montrose, Sociando, La Conseillante) and Riesling and will be adding to that in the next couple of years. For the 1981 nephew, I had bought a half case of Petrus (at $60 per bottle), but then sold five of them for his college fund.

Wish I had an uncle like you!

Great topic - I’ve been struggling with this myself the past year or so & what to sock away… I knew 18 was solid for BDX/Burg but wasn’t sure how 19 would turn out, so my approach initially was conception occurred in '18 :slight_smile: stocked up on BDX futures/Burg GC/1ers (will add a few Cali cabs too). If 19 turned out to be great, then I’d grab some too… if not, then we’d stick to the conception approach. When I learned '19 would be just as great (delivery), started grabbing BDX futures (& Burgs shortly). Now we ?un/fortunately doubled what we wanted to put away :slight_smile:

where I struggle, was what format(s) to buy? Obviously 750s & mags seem the way to go, but what about 3L/6L? Does anyone also go that direction? It would be pretty cool to pop some Canon or Lalande, etc from a 6L, but along the lines mentioned above, is it worth the risk if they don’t love wine? So many other factors… storage/real estate in the cellar, potential bad cork, do 3L/6L have that much premium on auction if they wanted to sell…?

My buddies say go 1.5/3/6L - “harder” to find years down the line & backfill

Curious to hear a little more on format approach/philosophy… thx

What format? While I bought a few magnums for the grand niece, as I thought about it, I wasn’t sure of whether there would be occasions to drink them, and stopped buying them for the most part. I still have two magnums of 1977 Taylor (for the older nephew), wanted to drink one on his 40th birthday but that didn’t work out, hoping to drink one on his 50th, and let him figure out what to do with other one, since I’ll probably not be around to share it with him.

My grand nephew’s birth year is 2014 and although I doubt that everything I’ve purchases from that vintage will survive my corkscrew, certain acquisitions were made with him specifically in mind, e.g., various Bordeaux (2 750s and a mag of Domaine de Chevalier, pairs of Ducru, Haut-Bailly, Leoville Barton and Pichon Lalande, plus four Climens); mags of Rhys Alpine pinot (750s of the rest of the Rhys lineup but they might not get to him), Ridge MB and Grivot Boudots; and some Selbach-Oster auslese “Schmitt” (tough vintage for mosels and Loire chenin although there is some Huet Le Mont DS that might end up with him). Other burgs i bought that i think will end up with him (or his mother, a big wine geek) include Chevillon Cailles, Grivot Beaux Monts, M-G Chaignots, Gouges Pruliers, Faiveley Clos du Corton and Trapet Chambertin. I suspect I will drink the 2014 villages wines, the Dubleres, and most of the white burgs altho maybe I will leave him the Corton-Charlemagnes (BdM and Boillot) and hope they last.

My grand-niece’s birth year is 2018 and apart from the mags of Rhys Alpine pinot and Monte Bello and the Clos du Cortons, her cellar is pretty different. Once the tariffs are gone, she will have a nice assortment of Mosel VDP auction wines (e.g., spatlesen from Prum, Haag and Schaefer, kabinett from von Schubert and Lange goldkaps from Lauer and Clemens-Busch) plus some Schaefer, Selbach and Richter auslesen. She’s got pairs of Huet moulleux 1ere tries from each of the three vineyards and however many of the Le Mont DS I don’t drink. I also got her a mag of Boillot Clos du Moucheres and there is an assortment of M-G (Echezeaux probably all she gets though), some Voillot Rugiens and Champans and Hudelot Noellat ( she’ll get the Clos Vougeot and Beaumonts; I am likely to drink the villages wines I bought to get those).

I hope that is it. I confess I scratch my buying itch by focusing on those two vintages and justify it as being for them but I doubt that either of them will get the 12+ cases of “birth year” wine I’ve bought.

Haven’t read the entire thread yet, so apologies if previously mentioned - don’t buy for them, buy for yourself based on what you may open “with” them. Seems antiquated to stock a cellar for their adulthood, when you have zero idea of their tastes. On the other hand, if you stock a range of birthyear wines you will enjoy and can hold onto long enough to open as they grow older - win win. I’ve done this with my 20 & 18 yr olds. Apart from a few 2000 ports which will be for the 2000 son and be ready when I’m an old man.

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No philosophy. I can’t predict what the future will bring and what alcohol will be trendy to Generation_? in 20 years. Figure if they want to try something, there will always be a vintage of that year somewhere to try, whether in your collection or not. Speaking of birth years, I’m still waiting for my own after decades in this hobby!

In general I’ve focused on fewer but better, age-worthy wines for my son (2018), including a disproportionate amount in magnum format since I’d like him to be able to enjoy these throughout his life rather than just in early adulthood. The exception to this is some Yquem where half bottles are just so much more likely to be opened and enjoyed, and have no problem aging.

One other thought here that with regard to difficult vintages, my wife was born in a difficult year (1984), so we have used her zodiac years instead. Fortunately for her, these include 1996 and 2008, and she loves Champagne. If you are willing to be creative, there are many ways to make good memories.

My process has been to buy reds in magnum, German Riesling and Huet Vouvrays in 750ml and then 3 bottles of Sauternes.

My suggestion is to put aside two sets of wines. One set is a gift to give them and they can do what they want with it-sell it if it makes sense for them. One set is wines you can drink with them when they and you are older. I would choose wines from a variety of classic regions that could age based on what you can afford and what works for the vintage. That is what I tried to do for my children (2001,2003,2006) although I keep remembering that I think I need a bottle or two of something for my younger two kids to make a complete case for them.

I agree with Howard on marriage year wines, but when it comes to birth year…

Lucked out with a 1989 vintage daughter.

I bought wines I like that I thought would go 20-50+ years: red Bordeaux and Sauternes.

Yquem and La Tour Blanche 750s for more and less-“serious” celebrations and a 6L of Guiraud for her wedding. She didn’t want the Guiraud for her wedding so it went off to auction. I couldn’t think of any other practical way to do it justice.

Lots of 3s and 4s of 2nd through 5th growths and a half-case of Haut Brion to open with her or just for ourselves for milestones. Wish I’d gone longer on the HB. Two cases of Lynch Bages: one to give her and one for us.

She has a good palate and likes wine but isn’t really into it like we are. The remaining wine still all resides in our cellar.