2001 vintage bottles to lay down for 2019?

So in 1998 when my first son was born I thought, wouldn't it be fun, in a long term kinda way, to lay down a few excellent bottles of something or other which could age 18 or more years and be quaffed when he graduates from high school or reform school or whatever.

Of course, it was about three years before I actually could buy anything vintage 1998, but with the help of the Wine Spectator's website and a couple of good wine shops I found a couple of nice Chateauneuf du Papes which were reasonably priced but had the aging potential to warrant the cellar time and still be good at the other end.

Well, my second son is now 3 and it seems time to start shopping. Unfortunately, the Wine Spectator's top 100 list doesn't have the cellaring info in the writeups any more (and the website is much more restricted than it used to be.) So, any thoughts on:

1) What kinds of wine had a good year in 2001 that could produce longterm aging potential, especially at a C-d-P-level price (I think one was $60/bottle and the other a steal at about $30) rather than a Bordeaux level price?

2) Any specific bottle recommendations?

Have you thought about vintage port? A good producer like Grahamns or Cockburn can be obtained at new for around $50, but of course, be worth hundreds more as time passes, and you do not have to drink it all in one sitting. In fact, I often think of auctioning off my bottle of 1995 I have in my basement just to take the profit (kinda like leaving the craps table while you are still ahead).

We recently drank a bottle of Opus One vintage 1991 that we bought because it was the year we were married. It cellared well. Talk about smooth.....

2001 was the first in a string of great vintages in Germany. Great German rieslings have excellent long term aging potential. Look for quality producers such as JJ Prum and Gunderloch to name a few. Anything Auslese, BA, and TBA turn into works of art over time.

2001 was also a great vintage for Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Opus One is going to set you back considerably more than $60 per. I believe 2001 was reputed to be an outstanding year for Napa cabernet.

Also for German riesling, though I don't know much about ageing riesling. I think that a 2001 from a top-notch vineyard and producer would be pretty spectacular in 15 years. It's getting a bit hard to find 2001s in stores at this point, but you could surely find something of high quality here or online. And these wines are a good value, generally speaking.

Do you have a wine fridge/cellar, or are you renting space somewhere? I've been thinking about doing the same thing for Watson, but I'm not sure I'm ready at this point to invest in proper storage capacity.

The vineyards of Opus One had to be replanted as a result of phylloxera and the last three or four vintages have been way overpriced. It will take a while for them to make a comeback, I am afraid. I can't justify the price for the quality of these wines lately. There is alot better wine from Napa today for alot less money.

Riesling, eh? Well, that's an interesting possibility. I had thought red rather than white, but I'd go for that.

As far as storage goes, there's a little closet in the basement that we jokingly called the wine cellar. When we rehabbed and put air conditioning in, as it happened an exposed duct wound up running through that room. So when the A/C's on, it cools right to around 60. (No, it doesn't heat up to 85 when the heat's on, because we have radiant floor heating.) I've actually kind of charted its temperatures throughout the year and it stays pretty solidly in that 50-60 range all year round. Not as perfectly as a wine fridge but, I think, very similarly to how cellars in old chateaux probably behave.

Humidity could be higher, I think one of my next steps will be figuring out how to keep humidity up.

winebabe wrote:The vineyards of Opus One had to be replanted as a result of phylloxera and the last three or four vintages have been way overpriced. It will take a while for them to make a comeback, I am afraid. I can't justify the price for the quality of these wines lately. There is alot better wine from Napa today for alot less money.

Well, at least I still have one bottle of the 1991 left. I think Opus One has always been overpriced compared to other vinyards. I think we paid nearly $80/bottle when we bought the 1991 back in 93 or 94 (or whenever it was released.) Back then, that was a lot for a bottle of California Cab. Interestingly enough, we also bought a couple bottles from the then unknown Jordan winery for around $8 - 9 in the same vintage. Today Jordan Cab is one of the high priced/high valued wines.

You might lay down some 2000 Bourdeaux if that was when he was conceived!

Mike,

I do a similar thing for my son. Last year, I bought a 2000 Churchill port. This year (actually, on Saturday) I bought a 2001 Sauternes--I'll check the name and post it later. My price point for my purchases is between $50 and $75. I think for the first 5 years or so I'll be sticking to the ports and white dessert wines--probably look at German whites next year. Any of these should age well, and be at their peak when my son hits drinking age (legal drinking age, that is.) Then I'll start on the reds.


Another tip--I actually buy two bottles. One never knows if your child will want to share, so I'll be able to see how my selections held up regardless.

I do the same thing, aiming to find a "large format" bottle on the assumption that we will have a big time on the kid's 18th b-day. I went with a 99 Barolo for my first.

My second, born in 2001 is named Paloma. Thus, I have looked, without luck, for some of the over-hyped but still great merlot of the same name and year (I've had it in a restaurant, obviously very good now). Maybe for a quince (15th B-Day) it would still stand up. Not sure it would last much longer.

Otherwise you (and I) can't go wrong with a Spanish red from '01.

I think that 2001 was another good year in Chauteau Neuf de pape, so you could stick with the theme. They may be starting to be hard to find since the 2002 vintage was really bad and a lot of producers didnt make anything, but it should still be available. I personally prefer Gigondas on a value basis for a similar wine, but I am not sure that it would last long enough. I did just taste some 84 and 86 gigondas and vacqueras that were holding up remarkably well, but you would be taking a risk.
-Will

This makes me curious to research wine from my birth year.Any recs where I should look?I will admit only to being born between 1960-1980.

I think the BA or TBA riesling is a real nice idea. After that, the '01 Barolos were not at the spectatcular level of the '98/'99/'00, however they were quite good and these are wines that really age well.

I had a tasting of '74s (a perfectly average, even mediocre year by most people's rankings) when they were about 18-20 yrs. old, and they were absolutely scrumptious.

I don't have a breakdown of which parts of Barolo may have fared better or worse in '01 - sometimes, as in Burgundy, the consensus favors La Morra over Serralunga, or whatever - but a good retailer should know. In the $60-80 range you ought to be able to find a bottle that will be terrific in 15 years. I have a weakness for the 'old-style' monsters, like those from Giacomo Conterno. But there has been a revolution in style and the new generation is certainly turning out terrific wine as well.