My parents started a tradition when my brother was born that we kids should get 12 bottles of fine wine from the year we were born. When my brother turned 20 he got 12 bottles of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou (78').

When I turned 20 this New Year's Eve I got the same number of bottles, but they're called Chateau Mouton-Rothschild from 1987. It was a bit nervy to try such an old wine, it could have turned bad over the years and you never really know of hte quality, but it was the best wine I've ever had! Such a smooth and nice taste.



1987 was actually one of the worst years that decade, so my parents had to buy a wine that could last for at least 20 years. They have gone up quite a bit in value now but I think I'll drink most of them on special occasions, and save maybe 2-3 for the rest of my life.

For how long would you guys think it could last? Should I enjoy the majority these coming 5 years or can I keep them for another decade?

 

thats really cool of your folks to do that fo you guys...

for my kids i bought 4 cases of champagne for each of their birth year (00 and 02) (2) cases of Dom (2)cases of Cristal for their weddings . . .

hope we can make it till then!

 

Yeah it's a great tradition and I shall carry it on for my kids.

 

Man I would save the hell out of those. I might drink maybe 1 every 10 years or so if I were in that position. But thats nice man, I love wine too. Nothing is like it.

 

I think I'll keep two for the rest of my life to keep the nostalgia running and then drink the others at special occations in the near decade. I've started to appreciate red wine a bit more now since I first tasted. I can't say I'm very fond of drinking wine, I'd rather have a beer, but this wine was the best I've had Dad was a bit worried it could've been all f'ed up after such a long time..

 

My folks got me a case when I was born too. Still sitting in their cellar, I hope it has not turned.

 

Nice Have you tried one?

 

Sorta related story:

My grandfather had a bit of wine collection, ±500 bottles, and when he passed away that collection was split up amongst his children. Many of the wines were quite old (think several decades at least). Well one night we decided to open a bottle wich had lost its etiquette/sticker for you yanks just to try and see if it was still drinkable. Turned out to be perfectly ok and tasted very good, especially if you like the 'stronger' red wines.

A couple of days later my mother came across a bottle wich looked completely identical to the one we had opened, and this one still had it's etiquette. Well turns out the wine was almost a century old. Don't remember the chateau sorry.

I'm by no means an expert on the subject but seeing as Rothschild is a pretty famous name and red wines generally last longer plus with the aforementioned experience in the back of my head, I'd say you could safely keep those bottles unopened for quite some time, no?

 

Not yet.

 

Wups, should check the wine if it doesn't have an etiquette haha. It must have quite a wine if it still was fine then!
Another story on wine:
A work colleague of my father when we lived in a small town in Sweden had a great wine collection almost as large as your grandfather's. He was very proud of it as he had studied a lot about different wines and he could declare his own title to be a somelier.
bad thing about having a large winecellar in a small town though, is that the rumours start to fly. It flew all the way to the town's local A-team (the drinkers) and they figured they should have a little winetasting of there own.
One day when he got home his whole wine cellar was stolen! all the bottles he had were gone over night! The police a few days later found the bottles on a small island at the nearby lake, the A-team had had their litte wine tasting out there for their own and didn't spare a bottle...


About the rothschild, I think they are said to last about 20-25 years if it's a good year. Maximum 30. Maybe I should have one each year from now on then