You know what you need for this weekend’s warm weather drinking session? This bottle in the image above: a light, carbonic red wine made with 100% grenache that belongs in your refrigerator rather than your wine cabinet.

After chilling it down, I housed an entire bottle in about twenty minutes last weekend with the help of my wife, and I’m going back in for more this evening. The 2020 Petrichor Carma Estate Grenache is the sub-$20 bottle of explosive, juicy, mood-lifting party wine you’ve been looking for and it has a story. First off, all of the fruit was farmed by my friend Steve Matthiasson, the most coveted viticulturalist in California right now. It’s 100% organic and 100% carbonic, meaning rather than press the juice and add yeast to start fermentation, the grape clusters are piled into a vat with carbon dioxide and the fermentation actually begins inside the grape itself (like Beaujolais Nouveau wines).

The result is a bright and easy-drinking wine with low levels of tannin that lights up your palate and drinks like a big bottle of alcoholic fruit punch. Trust me, you’ll want one. Get Chinese take out, get Texas BBQ, get Indian food, get Burritos to-go—anything with spice and flavor—and this wine will knock your fucking socks off.

Then, when you’re done with the Petrichor and your Friday dinner, grab one of the new sticks we just received from Room 101 and sit out on the patio with one of the coolest cigars I’ve ever come across. Matt Booth is sort of like the John Glaser of cigars: a guy who got into the business and began making his own non-descript blend of tobaccos with a number of different producers all over the world. You don’t know what’s in it, but since Matt had a hand in it, you know it’s good.

But whereas John Glaser is a buttoned-down, clean cut guy who lives in London, Matt Booth started as a jeweler in downtown LA, making chains and skull rings for rock stars and bikers. Everything about him is edgy, and seeing that I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone with him as of late, he’s beginning to rub off on me. As an example, this is how Matt describes his Doomsayer cigar:

In light of certain and final doom, I do not offer any solutions nor salvation. I offer you escapism in the form of a value premium cigar. Place gingerly into your suck-hole, ignite and consume. Allow yourself to drift away from the looming clouds of nothingness and psychologically emancipate yourself, at least for a moment – for a price that is more than tangible. You’re welcome.

No specs. No details. Nothing. Either get on board, or get out of the way.

I love Fridays.

-David Driscoll