The Centenarian Playbook: 2025 Year-In-Review

Why unplanned moments often become the most defining ones.

Welcome to a newsletter themed at the intersection of longevity and wine history. 🍷

1978: My cousins and I (that’s me, #40) pose at Grandpa Mario’s last grape crush

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Do you ever wonder how many of your life-changing moments were caused by an accident or happenstance?

I’ve been thinking about that as I’ve rounded up this year-in-review for 2025. Three pivotal moments: where would most of my family be (or would I have even been born) if it hadn’t rained for four days around a particular New Year’s Eve? What if a clumsy wine cellar incident didn’t occur in 2001, prompting a blind tasting event organizer to reach for my grandfather’s winning 1970 Gemello Cabernet as a replacement? What if a college student’s Vietnam draft number hadn’t been cancelled and the future winemaking assistant had gone off to war?

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What About You?

Do you have special moments in your life caused by happenstance? If so, share them in the comments.

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Below is the roundup of all my posts for this past year. Feel free to dip into the archives and read any posts you may have missed.

Wine History Stories

1. A clever scheme that launched the Judgment of Paris

2. In 1934, Prohibition ends and the Gemello Winery is launched

3. Ridge Winery’s secret crop in the vines

4. A ride of a lifetime during a Soviet Ukrainian wine tour

5. Baseball legends and a game with Grandpa Mario

6. The lost wine records thanks to Prohibition

7. From Prohibition bootlegging to a century of wine at Guglielmo Winery

8. Revisiting the Judgment of Paris at age 25

9. Wine collectors from three states unite to uncork a 1960 Gemello Cabernet

10. A baseball trip and a journey through time

11. From war draft to dinner and wine with Jack Nicklaus

Health & Longevity Stories

1. Grandma Kay’s proof that healthy habits can help you outlast the odds

2. Okinawa’s lessons on living to 100

3. Ten takeaways from a longevity summit

4. Preventing Alzheimer’s through food, a Q&A with Annie Fenn, MD

5. Singapore’s secret to a longer, better life

6. Grandma Kay at 104: from underground clubs to birthday cupcakes

7. The daily battles inside a mind at 104

8. Meet the 106-year-old who refuses to quit flying

9. Why older adults resist going to the emergency room

10. When love lasts beyond a lifetime

11. Mining Grandma Kay’s memory at 103

12. Revenge on the grandma scammer

13. Simple hobbies bring joy and mental stimulation

14. How the pandemic lockdown led to me launching this Substack newsletter

If you’re new here—hi, I’m Kevin!

I’m the author of 🍷 Rain on the Monte Bello Ridge,🍷 my forthcoming memoir about health, aging and winemaking. (Read the origin story of the book.) 🍇

The Centenarian Playbook is my newsletter, which features:

• Healthy aging/longevity tips and stories from Grandma Kay’s long life.

• Wine history & stories of the Gemello Winery

• Ancestry & family research tips