Wine
I just found out my wife (Michelle) is pregnant! After the prerequisite waves of disbelief, amazement and joy passed, I made a poorly timed joke about a DNA test. Then I began to wonder which wines will emerge as birth-year wines for 2007.
The idea of buying wine from the year that your child is born is intriguing. The chosen wine must be capable of aging for at least 21 years (unless you are Canadian). This narrows down our choices considerably. If money were no object, it would be simple enough to buy a case of first Growth Bordeaux, Vintage Champagne, Penfolds Grange or a cult Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.
Unfortunately, 12-bottle case prices for these wines range from $1,500 to $8,000. With all but the wealthiest of toddler-toting parents priced out, it becomes necessary to search out less expensive wines meeting the aging requirements.
Port would make a brilliant birth-year wine. The high levels of alcohol, sugar, and tannin found in Vintage Port allow it to age effortlessly for decades! While some vintage Port will cost hundreds of dollars, many can be found for around forty bucks. There are two distinct disadvantages to Port, however, and the first one is Alabama. Alabama considers Port to be liquor instead of wine (Alabama considers anything with an alcohol content greater than 14.9 percent to be liquor).
This stipulation was created back in the 1980s, when most wines contained 12 percent alcohol. These days, you are hard pressed to find a bottle of wine with less than 14 percent. What does this mean to the consumer? It means the ABC stores sell the Port, and with their recent inventory reductions, you will be hard pressed to find anything with a year printed on it. An (eight dollar) gallon jug of Dow’s Ruby Port will still be sitting on the bottom shelf at the ABC store when you child turns 21, so that might not be such a great gift after all.
The second disadvantage is that vintages for Port are only declared when the year has produced grapes suitable for long-lived fine wine. The most recent vintages declared are 2000, 1997, 1995, 1994, 1992, 1991, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, and 1980. You basically have a 50 percent chance of having a child in a year that declared a Port vintage. If you are still interested in vintage Port, you may have to shoot across the Florida line to purchase it.
Riesling, in its greatest form, is fully capable of aging 20 to 30 years! The searing acidity and residual sugar found in Auslese, Spatlese and Beerenauslese not only preserve but also transform the wine into a delicate thing of beauty. I’ll be able to make specific recommendations shortly, but keep an eye on the 2005 German Rieslings; it is considered a spectacular vintage with many $30 wines qualifying for birth-wine status. These wines will easily be found at your nearest bottle shop. Make sure that you tell the proprietor how long you intend to store it.
Storing the birth-year wine is as important as choosing it. Cool basements are virtually unheard of in South Alabama, and the top of the fridge will turn the best wine in the world into vin ordinaire before Tiny Tim starts to toddle. The simplest storage solution would be an inexpensive wine fridge from Wal-Mart or Home Depot. They vary in capacity from six bottles to 60 bottles for less than 100 bucks. A compact 6-bottle wine fridge filled with a half dozen reasonably priced birth wines would be a creative and unique way to celebrate the transformation of a special child.
Contact Matt Devan at wineguy@lagniappemobile.com.
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