A birth year gift, for a dear friend’s 40th.

As with the collection of most long-lived things (cars, watches, and of course wines), birth year wines are a bit of a silly thing that collectors like to indulge in. While I don’t collect wines from my birth year (given how insane prices have gotten), I do it for Hart’s.

B is a weird friend of mine. I had random conversations with him over a few years in the office (back when I would make my way to the other division to raid their snacks). But we really only became friends, catalyzed by a completely random event: I was playing with a friend’s dog, in a completely random dog park in a random part of town in SF. And I heard someone yell out my name from a random building across the park – it was QH and B. But even then, I think we only became friends after he moved to join me in New York. I also ended up forcing my way into picking them and their newborn (hello M!) from the hospital.

Anyway. B was probably the person who introduced me the most to wines. He’s also the only person that I leave wine-ordering completely to whenever I have the chance. I doubt he remembers it, but he was also the person who ordered my first birth year wine (a Pontet Canet) at my birthday dinner at Gabriel Kruether.

Trying to find a 40 year old wine that still shows well – not an easy feat. But yall know i am obsessed with Cos d’Estournel, and this feels like a very fitting gift.

@cosdestournel #cosdestournel