#12. Buy a bottle of wine that should be consumed only for a monumentally celebratory occasion. Drink it on a Tuesday night, for absolutely no reason.

A couple months ago, I shamelessly admitted that I love cheap beer. Now, I stand before you to admit something else about my libation tendencies: I don't think I could tell you what good wine tastes like. 


Now, that's not to say I haven't had good wine. I have. It's just that my definition of "good wine" is more like "wine that I like". And wine that I like has, at any given point in my 8+ years of wine drinking, varied from Arbor Mist Sangria Zinfandel (yes that's a thing) to this brand of boxed wine that I haven't seen in forever, but was definitely called "Party in a Box". In the last couple years, thanks in large part to the influence of my dad and visits to several upscale wine bars in DC, I have come to like a few bottles of wine that actually cost more than a copy of People magazine. I've also been branching out: I used to prefer only whites, but have made the bold leap into appreciating, and even sometimes ordering, pinot noirs. Baby steps.


I came up with this entry on my list after hearing about a similar one on another person's 30th birthday bucket list. It appealed to me because of the decadence, and the idea that sometimes you need to celebrate just making it through a Tuesday. To make this one extra special, I enlisted the help of my college friend Jon, who truly lives a life worth envying: not only is he a sommelier in California, he also boasts titles like "wine director", "wine consultant" and "wine badass" (okay I made the last one up). He also just launched his own brand of wine, Amos Cellars! And to round out the awesomeness, we share the same birthday.


Anyway. I told Jon about my mission and asked him to point me in the direction of some good bottles. I told him I wanted a bottle in the $30 range, white, and on the sweeter side. Jon had the truly inspired idea of getting a vintage from my birth year, 1982, and then, in a total baller move, he said he'd send me a bottle. I have awesome friends.


True to his word, Jon sent me an awesome bottle of 1982 Jordan white from the Russian River Valley in California, along with a note that this wine isn't made anymore. My dad, quite the wine guy, was impressed, so I figured I was off to a good start. Jon sent the wine to my parents' house in NC so I could enjoy it on the Tuesday of winter break, when Wednesday wouldn't matter.


And enjoy it I did. It was definitely sweet, but was still really rich. It wasn't like any wine I'd ever tried. I could make comments about "berry notes" or "floral bouquets", but I honestly have no idea how I'd describe it except that I liked it. But this time, thanks to Jon and the delightful year of 1982, I actually know what I was drinking was "good wine". Sorry, Arbor Mist.


And you know what else was good? The idea to drink a fancy bottle of wine on a Tuesday. I recommend all of you try it.