Recommend a "birth year" case
 

Hi all, hope it is okay to post this question here...

My niece and god-daughter's birthday is coming up shortly and I'd like to get a case of wine from her birth year (2012) to put away for her until she is an adult. Budget = ~$400.

I have bought a lot of wine and mixed cases in my time, but never a case of a single vintage of wine that I intend to save for 20 years. I'm leaning toward Riojas for family tradition reasons.

Any recommendations for how to go about this? As far as I know, many 2012 wines aren't even on the shelves yet. I'm not wed to rioja but apparently 2012 was not a great year anywhere and so it is not a great loss to avoid other regions to maintain a family tradition.

Thanks.

I'd go for a savings bond towards a potential home deposit.

:)

Recommend a "birth year" case
 

That's an inspired gift. As you probably know, it requires a considerable amount of care. Will you, or the recipient family be able to store the wine in proper conditions?

What if she doesn't drink?

And if she doesn't, do you as a god father want to encourage her to start as a young adult?

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dh

2012 Riojas are not even bottled yet
 

Generally speaking, Any Riojas intended to be ageworthy are not bottled prior to spending at least two years aging in Oak barrels. And Rioja in particular is a region where the best and most age-worthy wines - typically called Grand Reservas, are not released to the market until they have been aged for a full five years, much of that in new Oak barrels. As you said that 2012 is not a highly reputed vintage, so there are not even likely to be any Grand Reservas and very few Reservas released from the 2012 vintage. So as a result, the vinification process for these wines is not yet even complete, and those wines which will be available from the 2012 vintage are probably going to be best drunk well before they are 20+ years old. It would be tough to recommend anything based upon anything other than the long-term reputation of the winery/vineyard at this point in time.

In general, some of the best, most ageworthy wines from the area come from the following producers:

La Rioja Alta - one of the oldest producers of ageworthy Reservas and Grand Reservas

Bodegas Muga - a newer, more modern winery, and my particular favorite winery in the region

Marques de Riscal - another famous old line producer - but my experience is that the wines below Grand Reserva class are nothing special - while their Grand Reservas can be great, I would doubt you'll ever see one from 2012.

Bodegas Lopez de Heredia - another old line artisinal producer.

That being said, you are probably at least 3 and a half years away from being able to buy any 2012 Rioja that's distinguished and ageworthy enough to improve for 20+ years. But those 4 wineries would be a good starting point.

Thanks all, this is helpful. It seems like I have some thinking to do about this - the long-term storage may be the biggest hurdle. I'm happy to hear that it will be a few years before bottles will come available, as it will give me time to consider. Right now I'd be storing the wine in a cool closet of my house, but after some brief googling it looks like cooler temperatures are recommended. There are commercial wine storage units locally but that is getting more complicated than I want to deal with. problems, problems.

You can sell old wine you know. It likely will be worth more than a bond. It'll be funny though if her and her friends plow through the wine or make nice sangria with it on her birthday.

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Storage is vital in these circumstances and cool closets MUST be avoided. Any decent wine merchant will have storage facilities, either of their own or access to shared.

Rioja can be a great wine (despite the vast majority being indifferent) but it's not investment grade and I'm not sure that it would make a good investment. This is important because you don't know what your godchild's interest in wine will be like when turning 18 or 21. Also, do you want it all drunk when the palate is not very sophisticated?

Traditionally, laying down wine always meant Port or fine Bordeaux. Port is very out of fashion nowadays and Bordeaux 2012 was not a vintage to lay down. However, if you chose a really good Cote de Nuits (if your pockets are staggeringly deep) or a really good 2012 southern Rhone (if your pockets are merely deep), they both should have enough life in them and offer a chance of really good appreciation AS LONG AS they are professionally stored throughout their existence, and you can prove it.

Dear me....

Maybe to offer a perspective from the receiving end: My father did exactly that for me and my sister, both about 8 bottles each. They were not stored properly and hence completely useless 20 years later. While it seemed like a nice gesture to us, having to throw them away was quite unpleasant... The gesture itself was still appreciated (and makes for a nice story). I think i would've thought of it as nice even if i didn't drink wine in the end (and it would've been less hurtful to realize they are undrinkable.. :) )
So in essence: If wine is something you cherish and you have a way to store it properly, i think it's a nice present. However, if you also throw in a saving's account, they won't mind i'm sure :D

When people think through the idea, at second thought it isn't always as good an idea as it first seemed. Thoughtful and romantic - yes, but people often think that they'll simply stick a case under the stairs or in the cellar. Most wines today are not intended for storing. Very few wines improve with lengthy age, many more deteriorate.

I suspect that most kids born now will have much more pressing needs on their mind than drinking a case of wine that may or may not be drinkable. A nice printed savings certificate over this length of time will probably be much more tasty than some wine. Perhaps they'll buy a single bottle of decent champers and spend the rest on something they really need at that time. Housing, travel, education, their own kids .......

:)

My favorite aged Rioja is Bodegas Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia. It seems to last forever due to high acid content. I've enjoyed 70-year-old bottles.

QL

Wouldn't know it from the prices on vintage ports...

(...although I don't think 2012 was a declared vintage year for port, to begin with, was it? There will still be single-quinta vintages, which are often a good value.)

those are very great wines the grand reserve is a bit pricy.

add marquis murietta to the list. i think it less expensive

both make a range of wines. the great ones are big bucks. i think a case for $444 us is a bit tight.