It all began in Bordeaux, in the open air of a city that has long known the weight of history. The night carried voices—laughter from university students too young to know time is fleeting, murmured conversations from those who did. The stone walls absorbed it all, just as they had for centuries. And between us, a glass of Saint-Émilion.

I did not know, then, how much you would shape the years to come. Not showy, not eager to impress—just quietly, unwaveringly yourself. There was restraint in you, a quiet discipline, a refusal to be anything other than what you were meant to be.

We chased you from Bordeaux to the Loire, where you stood alone, unblended, unapologetic. Then to California, where you adapted without losing yourself. Where the sun kissed you differently, where your edges softened, yet your essence remained unchanged. And now, in Paso Robles, you stand at a crossroads—a place where tradition and innovation meet, where the rules are still being written, where you are no longer just the quiet backbone of something greater but stepping forward to take center stage.

Here, you are becoming something new—not forsaking your past, but not bound by it either.

And in all these years, I have come to understand that love—true love—is not always loud. It does not need spectacle. It is, more often than not, the quiet presence that remains, the grounding force, the certainty in a world that is always shifting.

So here’s to you—Kunal, and to you, Cabernet Franc. To the past that shaped us and the future that awaits. To those whose depth is not in the proclamation, yet who hold the world together all the same.

Yours, Always.

#CabFrancMasters #PasoRobles #LXVWine