In April, part of the 1275 team travelled to Bordeaux for the annual tasting of its new vintage. While we are not En Primeur buyers, it is important for us as advisors to assess the quality of the wines and gather early insight into the campaign, as En Primeur pricing can influence the wider Bordeaux market.
The 2025 vintage carries particular personal significance for 1275’s Managing Director, Chloé, as it is the year she welcomed her first child. Alongside the intelligence gathered to help shape our clients’ collections, she returned with a personal question of her own: how do you build a wine collection for the next generation using both emotion and logic? Below, she shares her answer.
Investment isn’t always logical. At 1275, we often talk about building fine wine collections with head, not (just) heart. As a principle, this matters. But rules can sometimes be bent. Wine is not only a real asset. It is a product of place, of time, and of human endeavour. It can realise returns, but it’s true value lies in the creation of lasting memories.
Mother…
In 2025 I became a mother. As many parents will recognise, this reshapes how and why we invest. It’s no longer just about us. It’s about the next generation. I want my daughter to share my passion. I want her to experience the great wines of the last 10-20 years – what I believe will be remembered as the Golden Era of winemaking. In my ideal future, we’ll open these bottles together. When I’m no longer around, perhaps she’ll enjoy those left in memory of me. Of course, this is a romantic, and ultimately selfish projection. She may never drink wine. She may not care at all. Parenting, like tasting wine, humbles you quickly.
…Nature
When people think about collections built for children, birth vintages are the obvious starting point. They have the primary emotional pull. Tasting the 2025 vintage En Primeur in Bordeaux earlier this week*, I felt it myself – the temptation to build a deeply personal shopping list of the wines I liked best for my daughter. Thankfully, I have colleagues who are more disciplined than my heart. Birth vintages make sense sentimentally, but they can be problematic structurally. Vintage quality varies, drinking windows matter, and market value disparities can be stark. A child born in 2010 inherits a very different financial outcome than one born in 2013 (at least for a collection of Bordeaux) – through no fault or intent. A meaningful transmission collection does not need to rely solely on the year of birth. Anecdotal inclusions are lovely, but the foundation should be built on the world’s greatest wines, in their greatest vintages.
Pragmatic Love
If my preferred scenario unfolds, in 30 years my daughter and I will enjoy together top Bordeaux from 2016 and 2019, Champagne from 2013, Super Tuscans and Barolo from 2021 – the very pinnacle of winemaking. A handful of 2025 bottles may appear on birthdays, perhaps a few double-magnums for her wedding if she chooses to marry. But what will matter most is not the vintages themselves, but the moments and memories they create around her table.
And if my daughter ultimately has no interest in wine at all? Her collection will nonetheless remain a highly desirable, highly liquid selection of assets, ready to be redirected towards whatever brings her happiness and security. It may bruise my heart. But even if the bottles are not appreciated in the way I envisioned, my passion will be passed down with purpose, and this in itself is meaning enough. Afterall, a mother’s love knows no bounds.
*A few words on Bordeaux 2025, for any wine-loving 2025 parents:
- The growing season brought prolonged heat & severe drought; conditions the best terroirs coped with well, but quality below “super second” growths is heterogenous
- Despite the heat, alcohol levels at the top end are low (12%-13%), and the wines are extremely balanced
- Yields are lower across the board due to the drought
- Overall conclusion: not a “buy all” vintage, but quality & style at top estates between a 2015 and 2022