2025 Year in Review
I’ve always had a soft spot for those crazy Christmas letters that are so braggy and over the top, filled with exotic luxury travel and reports on their perfect kids. I guess Facebook has replaced this tradition. But God knows their kids are anything but stellar. Nonetheless, sometimes it’s nice to give an update so here you go, read or ignore as you wish.
I spent more time offline this year cultivating space for art, literature, nature, and rekindling long time friendships. I’m horrified by the amount of AI slop on the feeds. I don’t want to see that crap or have it linger in my subconscious. I’m aghast at how so many people find it “fun” but in my opinion it just contributes to downfall of civilization and will accelerate illiteracy. If you ingest a steady diet of junk, you will come to accept junk as the baseline and will no longer be able to distinguish that which has value vs that which is worthless.
Here’s what I loved (and a few things I hated) in 2025—
Wine
So many wines to love this year, from Fort Ross Pinto Noir to the Deliquente Pretty Boy Nero D’Avola Rosato I had with Sabrina Silva and Chris Young at The Redwood in Sebastopol was an unexpected pleasure. Uncomplicated and full of sass.
Books
I read a tremendous amount every year, but this year I tried to keep better track of all the books. I don’t buy books that often anymore—it’s mostly library for me. So, without the physical book to remind me, I tend to forget what I read.
Five Stars
Heart the Lover ~ Lily King
A Truce That is Not Peace ~ Miriam Towes
Open Throat ~ Henry Hoke
Memorial Days ~ Geraldine Brooks
Desert Solitaire ~ Edward Abbey
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead ~ Olga Tokarczuk
The Most ~ Jessica Anthony
The Calculation of Volume Book 1 & 2 ~ Solvej Balle
So Far Gone ~ Jess Walter
The Box Set: Complete Works of Annie Ernaux ~ Annie Ernaux
The English Understand Wool ~ Helen De Witt
When the Going Was Good, The Last Golden Age of Magazines ~ Gradon Carter
Oh William! ~ Elizabeth Strout
Lucy By the Sea ~ Elizabeth Strout
The Secret War of Julia Child ~ Diana M Chambers
Hot Air ~ Marcy Dermansky
Art Above Everything ~ Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Homework ~ Geoff Dyer
A Long Game ~ Elizabeth McCracken
Joy Ride ~ Susan Orlean
The Angel of Rome ~ Jess Walter
Book of Lives a Memoir of Sorts ~ Margaret Atwood
Truth is the Arrow Mercy is the Bow ~ Steve Almond
Black Wave ~ Michelle Tea
Spent ~ Alison Bechdel
The Monkey Wrench Gang ~ Edward Abbey
Four and Three Stars
Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar ~ Cynthia Carr
Crumb: A Cartoonists Life ~ Dan Nadel
Careless People ~ Sarah Wynn-Williams
Care and Feeding ~ Laurie Woolever
Get The Picture ~ Bianca Bokser —I loved Cork Dork but this exploration of the Art World seemed forced.
Hysterical ~ Elissa Bassist
I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris ~ Glynnis MacNicol
On the Hippie Trail ~ Rick Steves
How to Lose Your Mother ~ Molly Fast-Jong
Warhol’s Muses ~ Laurence Leamer
Hitchcock’s Blondes ~ Laurence Leamer
A Physical Education ~ Casey Johnston
Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly ~ Hannah Selinger
Zero Stars 😱
Is it a coincidence that the books I hated were all wine related? It’s not the subject matter that was problematic—it was the writing that was awful.
Friends in Napa ~ Sheila Yasmin Marikar
Wine People ~ Michelle Wildgen
Breakfast Wine ~ Alex Poppe
DNF (Did Not Finish)
I Regret Almost Everything ~ Kevin McNally
Around page 90 I realized that while I was quite interested in the design and build out and inner workings of his vastly popular restaurants—I really didn’t care about him personally.
Flesh ~ David Szalay
I found this dense dialog format unreadable.
Fave Substacks
🥞The Morning Claret ~ Simon J Woolf
🥞Fresh Hell ~ Tina Brown
(Her comparison of Steven Miller’s bald pate to “a sallow cue ball” lives in my head rent free.)
🥞Mobile Homes ~ Robert Holmes
🥞The Checkout Grocery Update Grocery Nerd ~ Errol Schweizer
Geek out on the world of CPG. This has changed the way I view everything when I walk into a grocery store. His piece on Trader Joe’s was, in my opinion, worthy of a James Beard Journalism Award. Delightful hilarious, informative, and highly entertaining
🥞Martha’s Monthly ~ Martha Adams, a newsletter about reading diverse and translated books
🥞 As Seen On ~ Ochuko Akpovbovbo, a business and culture newsletter that also discusses books
TV/Streaming
The streaming apps— so much content so little to watch. But we found refuge in a few foreign imports.
Shows I Liked:
Nada
The Agent
The Offer
Cats and Dogs
Boots
Bad Sisters
Shrinking
Dexter Resurrection
White Lotus
The Friend (Loved that Dog!)
Shows I Hated:
Stranger Things — I got through two episodes. I know it’s super popular, but I found it tedious and frankly, quite stupid! The horror/sci-fi genre is not my jam.
Travel
In March a quick trip to La La Land to pick up yet another Taste Award for the Wine Road Podcast. We have 6 now. It’s time to retire.
In early June I rediscovered my own backyard with the WWET led by Fred Swan. I wrote about it here and still marvel that I get to live in such a dynamic wine region.
At the end of October we went to Zion National Park during the government shutdown. The park was open but sparsely populated which was wonderful. To go from the coastal west to the True West, was mind blowing. The air, the light, the landscape so foreign yet fascinating. Our hotel, The Dessert Pearl was a short walk from the entrance to Zion. It was the tail end of tourist season, and we had a tranquil and peaceful stay in our room just steps from the river. A true oasis.
I want to go back to Utah to visit all the other Nat. Parks and monuments. But this time —I’ll bring my own supply of wine. For in a word —outside of the state regulated bottle shops—the wine situation in Utah is abysmal. Liquor and spirits they have covered, but I got the feeling the last time a wine sales person stopped in the Zion area it was 2016.
Early December we spent 3 glorious days in Carmel by the Sea. While it was foggy and cold with temps hovering in the low 50’s in Sebastopol —we enjoyed cloudless fog-free days and star-filled nights with temps in the high 60’s —we celebrated a friends birthday and raised a toast to the season with all the lights and decorations and festiveness that befits a tourist town at Christmas —except there were very few tourists. There were probably only four other guests where we stayed at The Carmel Beach Hotel and just a handful walking the streets. What a great time of year to go to Carmel.
Do you see a pattern here? If you want a crowd free experience at a popular destination just wait till I’m on my way—it seems to be the trick. People clear out quick.
Cheers to you and yours and may we SMASH the oligarchy / patriarchy in 2026.
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