Watching the evacuations from Lake Tahoe, reading about mussels and oysters being cooked in the record Pacific Northwest temperatures, and hearing about earlier and earlier harvests from my vineyard-managing friends has me scared about the future of our planet—and wine.

Granted, as my friend Jeff Garneau said to me on the phone this morning: “If things get so bad that we can’t drink real Chardonnay anymore, we’ll probably have more important things to worry about.”

That being said, if we’re headed down the path of climate catastrophe, I’m going out drinking the world’s finest cool climate wines while I still can.

I have enough whiskey in my house to last me the next twenty years, and it’s never going bad, so I’m fine on that front. Crisp, clean, mineral-driven Chardonnay—from blancs de blancs Champagne, to Chablis, to the whites of California’s Central Coast—are another story, however. I always tell myself: “I can grab another bottle from the store when I need one,” but that’s not necessarily going to be the case moving forward.

There’s a reason French Champagne houses are purchasing land in England right now. The soil is composed of the same chalk that runs underneath Champagne, but the temperatures are generally far too chilly to ripen grapes in a significant volume. They’re clearly expecting that to change in the years ahead.

Since turning 41 last year, I’ve come to realize how many bottles I’ve opened, how many whiskies I’ve tasted, and how many experiences I’ve consumed that were completely taken for granted in my mind. When you’re young, you assume you’re going to live forever—that another great experience will always replace the current one.

I’m trying to break out of that habit. As a result, I spent most of this past weekend slowly sipping two of the best Chardonnays I’ve tasted this year: the Billecart-Salmon Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs and the 2017 Hilt Estate Chardonnay. Salinity. Pureness of fruit. Distinction in every sip. Grace.

Watching Tahoe burn this morning, the smoke polluting the air for my family members up north, I’m no longer taking anything for granted. Give me the finest white wines our planet’s current climate can still produce, please. I promise I’ll savor every last drop.

-David Driscoll