Wine is a social and familial lubricant, nothing more than a vehicle to share and mark the moment with family and friends. It's not what you drink, but whom you drink it with that counts. As the year draws to a close, I am reminded that I am grateful to have wine in my life and friends and family with whom to share it. The following list represents my top wine moments of this year.

Beaux Frères Pinot Noir 1999: Cooking for nine friends as the New Year began, with a believable promise of hope from a new president, it was a good time to pull out some favorite wines. One of my top Oregon wineries is Beaux Frères, in the Ribbon Ridge spur of the Chehalem Mountains. On what used to be a wooded, hillside pig farm, Michael Etzel has practiced organic winegrowing since 1988. Michael's winemaking style has changed along the way, evolving from big and bold to a more refined elegance and finesse. From a classic Oregon vintage, the 1999 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir is just beginning to hit its prime. It showed extremely well in magnum — enough to go around for 10 friends bringing in the New Year together.

Montecalvi Chianti Classico 2006: Ten years ago when my brother and his wife bought their small Italian winery in the Chianti Classico village of Greve, they had one of Italy's top enologists as their winemaker. Over the years, my brother's knowledge of winemaking grew and he was able to take over the reins himself. The sappy, transparent, red-fruited Chianti Classico 2006 he fashioned from his small plot of land is proof that he knows how to best express what is unique to his and his wife's Montecalvi hillside vineyard. Like other leaders in Tuscany, the '90s trend of made-in-the-cellar ripe, dark and oaky wines have thankfully been replaced with non-manipulated wines made from the vineyard that express their sense of place.

Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2008: My mother passed away suddenly this spring. And while it caused much grieving for all 10 of her children, it also brought us closer together as a unit — a maternal blessing that keeps on giving. My mother was not much of a drinker. When she did drink, she liked a small glass of rosé. I remember when growing up at her dinner table, she loved a glass of Paul Mason Sparkling Rosé on Saturday night with the Italian food she was so adept at making. I can also recall drinking Côtes de Provence rosé together with her at an outdoor café in Paris when we traveled there together in my early 20s. A few years ago, I threw a rosé party at her house in California during a family reunion to witness the christening of her 20th grandchild. At my mother's memorial, all 10 of her kids and 20 grandkids gathered to spread her ashes on Mount Diablo in California. We spent the rest of the day on the mountain with a picnic barbecue and shared magnums of Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2008 in her honor.

Ca' del Bosco Franciacorta Cuvée Prestige Brut: The only other time I had been to Verona was 25 years ago. I arrived on bicycle and enjoyed Valpolicella and pasta alone in the city made famous by Romeo and Juliet. This year I arrived by car with my best friend. We ate risotto with wild mushrooms at Tre Marchetti Trattoria and drank Italy's best sparkling wine. The golden color of Ca' del Bosco Prestige Brut radiates in its elegant, clear-glass bottle. In the glass, the wine's bead is lively, its nose is of fresh-baked brioche, its palate crisp and elegant. Romeo never had it any better.

Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc 2008: The Spottswoode Victorian home in the Napa Valley village of St. Helena is a landmark. Better still is the addition of a swimming pool in the backyard bordering the estate's famous Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. Beth Novak Milliken along with her sisters and mother, Mary Novak, also make a few hundred cases a year of Sauvignon Blanc, a wine with herbaceous notes intertwined with tropical fruits. Though I would drink this wine anywhere, I can think of no better place to enjoy it than in the middle of summer with Beth at her Spottswoode home while our mutual Labradors and kids swim together in the pool.

1959 Margaux: It cost a whopping $100 when I bought it 20 years ago from a friend. It has lived in the same place ever since. As planned, since it was from my birth year, I fished it out of the dark recesses of my closet on the eve my 50th birthday and shared it with my favorite drinking partner. Dinner, of course, was my "go-to" comfort meal of steak au poivre and pommes frites. The 1959 Margaux was light purple and clear at the center, brown at the rim, redolent of compelling violets and plums in the nose; and on the palate, surprisingly, it was still vibrant and youthful. Just like its drinker.

Pieropan Soave 2007: On my annual summer visit to see my college roommate in Los Angeles, we brought our families together at Pizzeria Mozza and started with my favorite white wine of the summer. From perhaps the best producer of Soave in Italy, the Piorpan is light on its feet yet filled with beguiling minerality. At $16 a bottle, this is a wine to buy by the case.

1999 Giacosa Barolo Falleto: For my first ever visit to Babbo Restaurant in New York this fall, we splurged on a special occasion wine. The food was sublime: two pasta dishes — one with pork jowl, the other with beef cheeks — followed by rabbit cooked three ways. The wine had to be the best Italian wine I could find on the list. Giacosa Barolos are always a thrill to drink. Having been properly stored for five years in the restaurant's cellar, the Giacosa Felleto 1999 was no more expensive then the retail price of the current release (2004). From his Serralunga vineyard, this Barolo's brilliant red color swirled in the glass released Christmas spice aromas, and on the palate, the wine was crisp and compelling with a super long finish.

1997 Ridge Monte Bello: I can think of no better way to spend a Friday night than sandwiched between my two daughters on the couch watching a movie on our "steak night." At 12 years old, my youngest daughter will sniff wine and say it smells like grapes. My oldest, 15 years old, will enjoy a sip now and then and eloquently describe what she tastes. From the Santa Cruz mountain limestone vineyard 2,200 feet above the ocean, Ridge's Bordeaux-blend Monte Bello 1997 was on this night seamless and youthful, a very pleasing mouthful of cassis and blackberry fruits with proper acidity and low alcohol (12.9 percent). Ten years from now, when my daughters visit for the holidays, this would be a fine wine to share together.

All the best to you and your family and friends in the New Year!

Greg O'Byrne is executive director of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta. His column appears in Taste on the third Wednesday of every month. Questions or comments? Write to vinevents@aol.com.