Birthday Lessons
What pairs with birthday cake?
It’s my birthday today! Every year, I joke that it’s the anniversary of my 25th birthday, so here are 25 lessons from another trip around the sun. Hope you enjoy it.
Hello everyone! Brunello Bombshell just hit over 100 subscribers, and I’m so thrilled to see so many of you reading week to week. To commemorate this milestone, and to celebrate my birthday, I wanted to throw a little deal your way…
I’d love for up-and-coming Latino/a/é talent in wine and movies to see some financial support. There are two great charities that I’d like to shout out: The Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship, which provides college funds and mentorship for children of vineyard workers, and Latino Film Institute’s Youth Cinema Project, a school program for majority-Latino students to learn about filmmaking in a hands-on environment surrounded by film professionals.
If you make a donation to either the Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship or Youth Cinema Project during the month of September, I’ll comp a paid subscription to Brunello Bombshell. A $5-14 donation gives you 1 month free, $15-29 gives you 3 months free, $30-49 gives you 6 months free, and a $50 or larger donation gives you a free year of Brunello Bombshell. Send me a receipt of your donation to brunellobombshell@gmail.com and I’ll take care of the rest.
This is the best birthday gift I could ask to receive. Thank you for your generosity! Now on to the birthday lessons.
If it’s a maybe, it’s a no. (The best shopping advice I’ve ever received, with so many other applications.)
Always save room for dessert at a restaurant.
Three essential bottles to keep in the house at all times: a good bottle of champagne for celebrations, Chablis for tacos, and Provençal rosé for kickbacks.
Popeye’s and Piper-Heidsieck on Oscar Night. Trust.
When in doubt, get a magnum of your favorite bottle and bring it to a party. Instant conversation starter.
People who love wine are some of the most intelligent, generous, and passionate people I’ve ever met. Make friends with a wine person and you’re a lucky duck.
Ditto goes for writers. Major green flag if you befriend someone with a Substack. Share their work, engage with their material, and learn something new every time you open the app.
Push through the fear. You never know what’s on the other side.
If you’ve stopped learning from the other people in the room, you have every right to enter a new room.
This one’s for wine students, but applies to anyone in deep study mode: Don’t forget that expanding the brain goes hand in hand with expanding the human experience. It’s okay to put the book down and go on a walk, or spend one single day binging as many housewives as possible.
Get nerdy about the things you love, and never let anyone yuck your yum.
Go see a movie in theaters at least once a year. (Goes back to the earlier point about expanding the human experience.)
Take some time every once in a while to listen to an entire album from start to finish and only focus on absorbing the music. Bonus points if it’s a vinyl record - science says the physical sound waves change our body chemistry. Let music change the way you encounter the world.
From the late, great Reid Davis: Keep it simple, stupid. The longer it lives in your head, the less time it has to get on paper.
Becoming a student of the world is as simple as observing and participating in the world around you.
Learning another language is always a good idea. There is nothing more humbling or rewarding than attempting to communicate with a native speaker of your second or third language.
The best way to learn information is to teach it. If a student’s right is to learn information, the student’s responsibility is to pass on the knowledge to someone else.
The art of listening is a skill worth cultivating.
So is the fine art of speaking up for yourself and others.
A little friendly competition can light a fire, but a rising tide lifts all boats. People who work well in a team usually rise faster, and with people they care about.
Life becomes more cinematic with the person you love.
Beauty can get you in the door, but brains will keep you in the room. Both are valuable assets.
An effective leader is one who can and will be prepared to do any task, but trusts their team to execute every task as well as the leader.
You are not confined to - or defined by - your résumé.
Use the Coravin to study the wine, but pull the cork to enjoy the wine. Savor every last ephemeral detail with the last sip.
I love you too!
Happy Birthday, my love!