I woke up to the loudest thunderclap I’ve ever heard last night. It had to have been centralized directly above my neighborhood because the entire house shook and it sounded like a bowling alley in my bedroom. Then came the downpour, followed by a scared kitten who immediately jumped into the bed with me and hid under the blanket.

I was up for a while after that, so I was thinking about the last couple of months and what I’ve seen happen in retail sales:

• Never, ever, ever, ever, ever have I seen so much Don Julio 1942 move out the door. It’s like we’re selling a bottle every five minutes. Just in the Sherman Oaks store, I think I personally rang up over 100+ bottles last week.

• Stoli Elit is the new “it” vodka. I was selling it by the case! CASES of Stoli Elit going out the door like it was $10 Chardonnay.

• Watching all of these bulk sales had me thinking about added value to Mission, because if you’ve been shopping with me previous to 2020, then you know that I haven’t been trying to sell you 1942 or Elit. Those things are moving out the door based solely on price. Everything I’m adding to Mission is based solely on curation. It’s going to be fun to see how much we can add to our business in 2021, since nothing that I’m doing was being done here previously.

I drank a lot of fun things over the weekend, starting with a magnum of the 2008 Dom Perignon that my wife and I split on Christmas Eve (FYI—my wife and I can each kill a bottle of wine like most people do an evening cocktail).

We grabbed some caviar along with her new obsession—Taramosalata—that we spread on the blinis with the roe. I had never even heard of Taramosalata last week, but it’s a Greek caviar spread that’s made with fish, lemon juice, and canola oil, so it’s non-dairy. Both of us hate crème fraîche, so this was a fantastic new discovery for us, and one I’d highly recommend if you’re into caviar and Champagne. I’ll never go back.

We binged The Flight Attendant on HBO over the weekend and when you watch someone drink that much vodka, it’s hard not to join in. We walked down to the market for a second round of caviar yesterday, so this time I paired it with a U.S.S.R.-era Stoli bottle I’ve been keeping in my freezer for the last year. I can see why the Russians pair caviar with vodka. It really highlights the saltiness of the spread, especially if you’re using the smoked Taramosalata like we were.

For dinner last night, we did Thanksgiving sides without the meat: stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, paired with the 2018 Hirsch Bohan-Dillon Pinot Noir. If you haven’t bought any of this wine yet, don’t wait too much longer. It’s the best Pinot Noir I’ve had in 2020, and it’s in the running for the best red wine I’ve had this year—period. It delivers every single time, especially with a meal like this. I didn’t even touch the cranberry sauce because I was getting all the same flavors out of the wine.

I dipped into the whiskey after dinner last night, finishing off the bottle of Baker’s 7 year Bourbon I had been weaning for the last month, then polishing that off with a fresh bottle of Lagavulin 9 year. Since I’ve got another 27 bottles stored away in the closet, I’m being quite liberal with those pours.

Back to work today for the final 2020 push. Gotta grab some more Champagne for myself. If you need a value option and you haven’t tried Paul Laurent yet, that’s your new house bottle. I’m buying another 6 bottles for myself today. And I’m considering a second magnum of the 2008 Dom. Because……I’m worth it.

-David Driscoll