2011 vintage - what to buy for birth year wines?

My baby Evan was born in 2011. By all indications, not an easy year for birth year wines that he (and I) could enjoy 20-30 years down the road. We just missed the iconic European vintage - 2010 - by a thin margin :(  For those lucky parents whose babies were born in 2010, your choices across France, Italy, and Germany are vast!

Right now, I am looking closely at top 2011 Sauternes (D'Yquem, Guiraud, etc...) - Sauternes is anticipated to be one of the top performers world-wide in 2011. To a lesser extent, some of the top reds in Bordeaux are worth looking at as well (Palmer, Pontet-Canet, 1st growths on the Left Bank, and some of the top wines from Pomerol, etc). While greater vintages (like 2005 and 2010) virtually assure high quality at all levels of the cru hierarchy and thus are worth focusing on the less prestigious properties, lesser years are great for getting the top wines, as their prices may be less than half of the "great" vintages, while their performance tends to be consistently great.

With that philosophy in mind, I will also be looking at the 2011's in Burgundy - although there are no solid reports as of yet. If the vintage is perhaps at the level of 2008, it will be worth paying attention to.

For the next 2-3 years I will be on the lookout for great 2011's worthy of investing $$$ for Evchik's birth year wines. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Comments

Anonymous said…
2011 was when I got married. Northern Rhone is getting good press.

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