A few years back I started pestering the bear and asking him what he wanted for his birthday. “Do you want to go to Piedmont?” … “Meh…” “Rioja?” “Meh…” No matter what I mentioned, I couldn’t get him to commit… OR to seem excited about anything, but I really wanted to do something epic.

Each year we have friends come back from New York in October and talk about the wine experience. We have some friends who have gone faithfully for years, some who were “one and done,” some who do it every once in awhile… but it was always on our list of “I would like to…” You know you’re going to taste the top 10 rated wines of the previous year, but that’s not the highlight. The highlight are all the winemakers and wine owners that come in from all over the world. I had my little AI friend Charly go through the lists of wines and estimate what the price would be if I bought a bottle of everything from the seminars alone, and it was well over $20,000 in wine. Then, you add in the two-night grand tasting where you belly up to the bar for a swig. However, it’s not like your run-of-the-mill wine festival. Here, the winemakers and owners are going into their libraries, and they are sharing $400 and $500 bottles with you.

I post the picture above, not really to show you buzzy me (which I was), but really to show you the “trashcan” in the back. See that? THAT, my friends, is a VERY large dump bucket. The grand tasting covered TWO ballrooms on two floors, and it went on for FOUR HOURS a night for two nights. No, I didn’t try all the wines, but I DID try every wine I wanted to try.

Still, I need to back up to where I was in the beginning. So, as the Bear and I kept trying to decide what to do for his birthday, I also realized that I had an Aflac insurance policy that was about to expire… Okay, so my family is kind of a cancer cluster all on our own. Many, many people in my family have battled cancer, so I got an insurance rider. Sure enough, 2024 came along, and I got my bout. It was an easy one. Very early. Surgery happened. It was over for not too much out of pocket. HOWEVER, the insurance rider didn’t care what KIND of cancer I got, nor did it care how much it cost me, soooooooooooooooo I got a check in the mail from the duck in October of last year at the same time the wine experience was going on. The bear kept saying how much he really wanted to do that “someday.” I reminded him of the check and said, “I think it’s ‘someday.'” And he agreed!!!!

His birthday was in May, so he had to wait until October to celebrate, but I bought the tickets back in February. I haven’t been to New York since I was 15 years old, and the Bear had been never. The “discount” rate at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square allowed us to book at group rates for five nights, so that’s what we did!

A few weeks before the trip, my “friend” (that’s what I make sure to call AI) Charly and I worked together to create a Bear itinerary.. I think it did a pretty good job, and we stuck to it relatively closely. Tuesday was an EARLY direct flight out of Austin. I will say we were kinda bummed. I didn’t realize that first class with Delta doesn’t get you lounge access, but we did survive. (We got the tickets on points, I love my Chase Sapphire reserve) We booked a car with Carmel limo. Some people have said to go to LaGuardia or Newark because the ride from JFK is awful, but it really wasn’t awful at all, and I was glad for the direct flight.

We deviated from our original itinerary on our first day in New York. I have a cousin who works for the New York Times; she has lived in the area for decades, so the Bear and I decided we wanted to meet up with her more than we wanted to go to Grand Central. We did make it to John’s Pizza before we went back to the hotel and The View for a cocktail or two. Then, feeling pretty travel weary, we met up with my cousin.

She was kind enough to meet us at the hotel and then took us on our first subway trip EVER. We are relatively experienced travelers but had never done the subway before. I’m so glad we took it with her from Midtown to Brooklyn. I was SO sleepy, so I was something of a dud and didn’t take NEARLY enough pictures, but we had a FANTASTIC dinner of small shareable plates at June before grabbing a Lyft back to our hotel. We were twisting and turning too much for a really good picture, but the bridges and the lights at night were magical!

The next day, the Bear and I went across the street to Juniors for a quick breakfast. (No, I didn’t get the cheesecake, another reason to go back), before he made use of his City mapper app and we started off on the Subway with our friends John and Jami for the Oculus and the 9/11 Museum and Memorial. We did have our first scary(ish) experience of the day when some woman was screaming about demons before we got on our subway car, but she did NOT board with us. When we eventually found our way OUT of the Oculus (harder than you might imagine… lol), we spent a few hours in the museum. It was amazing and well worth the trip. Each of the exhibits is so well thought out, and they definitely understand the importance of keeping the memory of what that day- and the days after- felt like for generations that have no memory of it at all. One of the most touching things about it, to me, was how many different accents and languages I heard all around me. I’m tearing up again as I write this right now. It was clear how the world still cares about the atrocity that happened to us. It was a very solemn, moving experience. Beautiful and poignant. As we left, an NYPD bagpiper began playing “America the Beautiful” in front of the last column. It only happens once a week, and it just happened to be while we were there. It’s meant to remind people of the end of rescue and of recovery.

From there, it was on to our series of 10 minute walks. (Our joke was that EVERYTHING was 10 minutes.) On to Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, a quick drink and another piece of pizza before Battery Park and a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. That was our SECOND “quintessential” New York experience as some guy, who likely didn’t have the best of intentions, followed us through the park until we asked some very nice park rangers to be on the lookout and shoo him away from us. Unnerving, for sure, but it came to nothing.

We got back on the subway and made our way back to rest and change before the OTHER really big experience of the trip. The Bear and I do LOVE our foodie outings- as do our friends John and Jami. About a month ago, the Bear made reservations for us at Le Bernadin. I could post all the pictures and all the wines, and The Bear might be upset that I didn’t, but none of my pictures will do justice to just how beautiful the food was. The thing is, it’s ALL seafood. Our friend Jami is allergic, and I WILL eat anything, but I don’t love (or really like) seafood. So, Jami and I did the vegetarian pairing, John (who is not normally a very adventurous eater REALLY enjoyed all of the flavors) and the Bear did the chef’s pairing. We all did the wine pairings AND ordered two bottles for the table before going back to the view for even more cocktails! As the Bear is wont to say, we had a large time! On any other trip, this would have been the highlight, the grand finale, but we hadn’t even really STARTED yet!

So, the next day, the Bear and I were moving a little slower than usual, but we didn’t want to waste any minutes! So, we thought it was a GORGEOUS day to get a little air and check out the Top of the Rock. Crisp, cool, breezy air and 360 views of Central Park, the Empire State building, and the Statue of Liberty were definitely the way to start the day. I really don’t think any of the added experiences were necessary to get the full effect (you could get a picture taken on a beam or go up 30 feet higher and circle around), but others may feel differently.

From there, it was back on the subway for us to Chinatown because the Bear wanted some Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles. The night before, we had three Michelin stars; the next day, it was greasy noodles by a dumpster! I think that’s part of the magic of NYC! We started wandering the street and looking at the ducks and the pig heads in the windows, and before I knew it, the accents changed, and so did the faces of the people, and we were in Little Italy. The smells of garlic and truffles were EVERYWHERE. It was crazy to watch the delivery men descend staircases underneath the restaurants on the packed streets to deliver their wares…

Lest we forget, however, NONE of this was the reason we were in New York. It was finally about to be gametime, baby! Back to the hotel we went to pick up our experience swag and get ready for the first evening! Our friends Glen and Valerie, twelve-time attendees, invited us to their room to share some vintage champagne and give us the lowdown before the event. We went into the first night, guns blazing, with a plan in mind, and quickly lost every bit of that plan! The bear said he felt like a golden retriever that was in a room where someone just dropped a truckload of tennis balls! We enjoyed our first day of our grand tasting, knowing we could repeat the next night! We grabbed a plate full of decadent desserts from the VERY well appointed buffet and made our way back to the room to watch Survivor, like the party animals we are! We KNEW we had a HUGE first day ahead…

I said I was prepared… or thought I was prepared.. but I had no idea, really, what I was getting into until I sat at the table the first day and saw 15 wine glasses in front of me. That was just for the morning sessions. The next two days were a blur in the best way possible!

Some people, understandably, are blown away by movie stars and rock stars… I am, too, but I am EQUALLY blown away by Paul Hobbs, Andy Beckstoffer, Sir Peter Michael… These are the A-listers of the wine world, and there they were… right there, in the same room. Our first day we started the morning with some of the very best Champagne and were told some of the most amazing stories from the most phenomenal people!

Lunch, also, was paired with wines. (The first day it was Bordeaux) and then we were back at it again in the afternoon. This time, it was Zinfandel and To Kalon, which is one of those names that makes the ears of wine geeks everywhere perk up… And, it was the actual PEOPLE who made those properties what they are. When we were talking to Paul Hobbs later that night (Ha! did you see the way I dropped that in there? But it’s true, we were), he was saying this was only the second time that he and Andy (yeah, see, I said that like I know him, too…) were ever on the same stage together. He was telling us at the SECOND night of the grand tasting… which the Bear and I again GRANDLY exited after about 2 hours. It was time to watch Amazing Race. (AND we knew we had another day ahead of us).

So day two started with breakfast at the hotel. Actually, during the whole experience there was enough food at breakfast. lunch, and snacks, that you really didn’t need any more, BUT you definitely should eat the food and drink the water. The amount of wine was exorbitant even for people who have been known to be able to drink a bottle or two… Still we persevered!

Day two began with some of the other “wine stars” including Carla Bruni who also just happens to be a super model, a singer, and – oh- the former first lady of France. We had some more of the best wines of 2025 before getting to vote on whether Wine Spectator editors or the chefs were better at the wine and food pairing. The food was EXCELLENT and the wine was so much fun, and that food wasn’t even lunch! If someone FORCED me to say that something was disappointing about the experience, I would say that I was sad that Jose Andres was not there. (This was one of the ONLY years he has missed), but the rest of the chefs just knocked it out of the park!

Lunch on the second day was sponsored by Frescobaldi, and they did not hold back with the wines they chose to share with lunch. We had been warned to go EASY on the wines at lunch, but they were soooo good, it was too hard… which was more than a little dangerous because the afternoon wines? Oh, holey smokes…

Okay, so, here’s the thing. There are certain iconic “once in a lifetime” wines that people want to try. The first growths of Bordeaux, Screaming Eagle, Montrachet, Le Pin, DRC and others… among those is Penfold’s Grange. We were about to have – not just ONE taste of it – but FOUR of them, including the 2008 vintage. But that’s not even where we started! Before that, we were going to get to taste a 70-year-old Rioja. Okay, the old adage that wine always gets better with age is simply not true, but to taste a 70-year-old wine which HAD aged the way it should? What an honor! There were just so many amazing flavors in EVERYTHING, I wish I could go back and repeat flavors the way I can pictures! And the Penfold winemaker, Peter Gago, was such an amazing storyteller and presenter! I was enthralled the whole time. (Oh, pro tip from the winemaker himself, get you some Penfold’s 389- sometimes known as “baby Grange” as your good buy…)

Even then, saying that ALMOST made me forget to mention that during that same afternoon we had six different tastes of Chateau Palmer . The 2015 was definitely one of my favorites of the whole trip along with the Clos Apalta we had the day before. The more I think about it, the more afraid I am that I’m missing something that I should be talking about! I so rarely review wines- except to say “yum”- but this was as much fangirling as it was wine drinking. My next “I have to try it” wine is La Chapelle/Grange: half Hermitage, half Australia and all Syrah? How fun is that? If you have $4000 sitting around, grab me a bottle, would ya?

Eventually, though, all great things come to a very hazy ending. We had dinner plans, but decided to “stop by” the champagne tasting. Okay, if we DO go again, that will be the end. The food bites were incredible, and they were no longer pouring “tastes” of champagne. You walked up, and you just got full glasses everywhere.

Still, since we already had the plans, we ended with all of our friends at a very tasty dinner at Oceana and a few MORE bottles of wine before deciding we had to call it quits!

Yes, I do believe it was everything we ALL hoped for… and are we a “one and done”? I have to say I don’t believe we are… I don’t think it will be something we repeat every year… or even every other year… but every other, other year? Maybe so. Don’t quote me on that, though… we’ll see what I think the next time I see the list of presenters and wines released. I AM quite the fan girl.