Let me start from the beginning. I put on a new set of clothes—I suppose I should call it an outfit—to go into the office. It was khaki slacks, a blue dress shirt, and a thin vest to keep me warm. Yesterday was quite hot and today was about 30 degrees colder and we even got some hail. I walked into the my office feeling like a million bucks and as I opened my email I saw a message congratulating me on landing an interview for a job I’m very interested in. Then I got the news that my dad was being released from the hospital today and I could go pick him up. He spent a few days in the hospital but is doing very well now. This was one fantastic day so I promised myself a bottle of wine when I finally made it back home.

So I uncorked a bottle of a 2016 Muga Selección Especial Rioja. I paid about $45 for it a few weeks ago—more expensive than my usual, but certainly nothing to write home about. I was at Total Wine and saw this Muga bottle and looked through my old messages on my phone. Wasn’t this the bottle a former friend of mine once told me was his favorite? It was. I was curious but not excited. I met this friend in Madrid years ago at the suggestion of a mutual professor. We had dinner and toured Madrid and continued our friendship for a few years after that. But boy was he a pretentious fucking asshole when it came to food and wine. So I bought the bottle to see what it was all about and tonight I had two glasses of it. Damn, the motherfucker was right! It is one of the best wines I’ve ever had. I am cringing as I write this, but I am now a Muga fan.

I should have probably played the lottery today because even the wine I wanted to hate turned out to be outstanding.