Birthday Wine

[Sparrow88]

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to wine, and this site, and I'm looking for some pointers. A cousin of mine is expecting and I thought it would be a nice present to give her a bottle of wine that she can use to celebrate her son's twenty-first birthday, but I have no idea what to look for in a wine that will age well. Help?

Thank you all in advance

[Innkeeper]

Hi Sparrow, and welcome to the Wine Board. You have the best of intentions, but before you jump into something, let's take a look at the landscape. First off, the grapes for vintage 2002 are just beginning to mature of the vine in the Northern Hemisphere, and just being crushed in the Southern Hemisphere. The wines that mature well over twenty one years won't be released (offered for sale) for four or five years. The wine will cost $80 or more per bottle. The wine must be stored in ideal conditions, preferably in a temperature/humidity controlled system. Storage can be rented or leased, but not inexpensively. There is no wine that can be guaranteed to be OK in twenty of years. Even in the best of wines, the chance of the cork lasting all those years without problems is low. Finally the young man has to like wine when he is twenty one. My kids are all in their thirties, and only one likes wine at all, and she only drinks white zin.

Why don't you just buy your cousin a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the birth of her son.