Book 210 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Don’t Keep Your Life Locked Away in a Cabinet!

Book – 99 Bottles: A Black Sheep’s Guide to Life-Changing Wines by Andre Mack

Book Description:

In this entertaining, informative, and thoroughly unconventional wine guide, award-winning sommelier, winemaker, and wine educator Andre Mack presents readers with the 99 bottles that have most impacted his life. Instead of just pairing wines with foods, Mack pairs practical information with personal stories, offering up recommendations alongside reflections on being one of the only African-Americans to ever work at the top level of the American wine industry.

Mack’s 99 bottles range from highly accessible commercial wines to the most rarefied Bordeaux on the wine list at The French Laundry, and each bottle offers readers something to learn about wine. This window into Mack’s life combines a maverick’s perspective on the wine industry with an insider’s advice on navigating wine lists, purchasing wine, and drinking more diverse and interesting selections at home. 99 Bottles is a one-of-a-kind exploration of wine culture today from a true trailblazer.

Reflection:

What a fun read, if you love wine, stories, and a good memoir…check this one out.

I consider myself to be a wine lover and know enough about wine to be dangerous, at least I feel like that is the case. I’ve visited wineries all over the world, taken a course on wine when I was in college, and “sampled” plenty of wine in my time to be able to at a minimum carry a conversation on the major regions and varietals that exist in this world. With all that said, I actually learned a ton about a lot of different wines, varietals, and new regions in this book that I’ve personally never really experienced or knew a lot about and I’m excited to try them. Specifically, after hearing Andre passionately share his enjoyment for a lot of unique white wines, I can’t wait some types and regions I’ve never known much about like “Orange Wines”, Chablis, and the Alsace region of France.

Like Andre, I have a lot of very special memories that connect with wine in my life. Andre mentioned in the book that early on in his wine journey he learned a valuable lesson that wines are meant to be consumed and enjoyed. Instead of collecting, he wanted to experience the wine and that was more valuable for him.

I couldn’t agree more, but unfortunately for me I learned my lesson the hard way.

My wife and I love to experience wine together, it is probably one of the only shared passions in life that the 2 of us have together to be honest. When I think of wine, it always takes me back to a memory with my wife of a beautiful sunset in Tuscany, touring a vineyard in Napa, amazing bed and breakfasts in the Niagara on the Lake region, or a little wine cave in the tiny village of Beaune in the heart of Burgundy. These memories are so special to me and always bring me joy when reflecting back in my mind.

After all of these trips, we would bring back some of our favorite wines and add them to our small “collection”. I say small, because it is small…like 30 bottles or less. We would place the bottle in our wine cabinet and that would lock away that memory stored in that bottle of wine forever. That was my mindset, I don’t think I ever had any intention of consuming any of those “special wines” because they were how I hung on to that feeling whenever I would open the cabinet and see them.

I would always tell Felicia that we should only ever open those wines for “really special occasions”. Anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, promotions, and new jobs came and went, but I just could never bring myself to open any of them. It became a running joke in the house that will never be an occasion special enough to drink any of these wines. That was honestly probably true! I had no intention of ever drinking the majority of those wines as the memories were just too damn special to let go of in my mind. I kept thinking to myself that these wines were more than wines, they were my memories of special times with my wife and friends on adventures…I can’t drink my memories!

So, in the cabinet they went, and sat, and sat, and sat.

10-15 years have come and gone since some of those were acquired and I was content with letting them sit there for the rest of our lives. One bottle in particular which I knew that I would NEVER drink was a 2012 Pinot Noir from Lynmar Estates in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. This was our favorite wine and our favorite memory of any vineyard we’ve ever visited. I can’t fully explain why it was our favorite, but my wife and I were both agreed that it was top of the list in our small collection. Maybe it was the rolling hills of the vineyard, beautiful gardens, incredible wine, awesome friends we experienced it with…who knows. For whatever reason, this bottle just brought pure joy and happiness to my mind whenever I saw it and thought of it.

It wasn’t going anywhere.

On April 22cd, 2020, I pulled the Lynmar Estate 2012 Pinot Noir out of our cabinet, opened it up, and Felicia and I drank this crying on our patio together. April 22cd was the day that our whole life changed. April 22cd was the day that our daughter passed away around 6am in the morning at Riley’s Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

After we got home from the hospital that morning, got a little sleep, and woke up to the reality of our first real day without our daughter in our life, hanging on to the past didn’t seem as valuable to me anymore. This was the day that I realized that life was too precious and short to keep it locked away in a cabinet. This was the day that I realized that life is short and deserves to be enjoyed to the fullest doing the things you love with the people you love.

So, we drank the stupid wine, talked about our amazing daughter, and I haven’t shut up about her since!

Life is meant to be enjoyed. Get out there live, experience the world, and share it with as many people as you can!

Question: What beautiful memories are you keeping locked in a cabinet that deserve to be shared with those you love?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - 99 Bottles: A Black Sheep’s Guide to Life-Changing Wines by Andre Mack