Today is my birthday. Exactly which birthday is none of your business. (Oops, did that sound harsh? Sorry…let me rephrase: Exactly which birthday is a closely guarded secret.)
Feel free to sing the “Happy Birthday” song while you read this blog. Then choose a present (for moi!) from Bob’s Birthday Wish List…
- A bottle of Chateau d’Yquem, preferably from the 1921 vintage.
- If you can’t find a bottle of the 1921, I suppose a bottle of the 1929 would suffice.
- Season tickets to Next, inarguably Chicago’s buzziest restaurant, and arguably its best.
- A ticket for Auction Napa Valley, perhaps the greatest four days of wining and dining excess on Earth. For your convenience, here’s the ticket order form.
- If somebody already beat you to the Auction Napa Valley ticket, do not despair. Instead, you may buy me a ticket to Winesong, a wine-tasting event held along the bucolic Mendocino coast of California. Either way, know that part of the ticket price goes to charitable causes, so you can feel really good about the gift.
- Two bottles of Screaming Eagle’s 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I need two just in case one is corked; I’m sure you can understand that.
- Just to prove I’m not a Cabernet snob, feel free to give me a case of Petrus, which is made from Merlot, and is a bargain when compared to the 1787 Chateau Lafite. You choose the vintage; I’m not picky when it comes to Merlot.
- Two bottles of 1958 Mascarello Bartolo Barolo. Why 1958? Because it’s the year of my birth. (Oh, wait a minute… Delete that!) Why two bottles? See gift suggestion No. 6.
- A four-day, three-night stay at Burghausen Castle in Bavaria, meals and wine included, please.
- Peace on Earth. I know, I know…everybody asks for that. But you know what? If all of our world leaders sat down together with a few cases of 1921 Chateau d’Yquem, it might be possible.
Are you still singing?