“Coming off the NBA championship, my wife, Shannon, and I took a 10-day trip to Europe with some friends. After all the media [obligations], the parade and celebrations, it felt good to get away. We went to Capri, Rome, and Paris, but the highlight for me was four days in Bordeaux; I got into wine [during my time] on the Lakers, when I’d drink it on the plane with LeBron and Rajon Rondo. Bordeaux was like traveling through a history book. There are cellars with vintages dating back to the 1880s and old wine caves covered in mildew and mold, which were a dream for a wine lover like me. We visited about seven wineries total, and a favorite was Château Lynch-Bages. After lunch, the co-owner Kinou Cazes-Hachemian arranged for a semi-blind taste test, which is when you know the wines but don’t know when they will be poured; she said it is something she loves to do. Six bottles were brought out, including a 2018 Château Haut-Bataille and a 2010 Lynch-Bages. The staff labeled each glass 1 to 6, and we had a paper; after we’d taste each glass, we’d write down which wine we thought it was. There was just one white—Blanc de Lynch-Bages 2025—so everyone got that one correct. Five or six years ago, early in my wine days, my wife gave me a semiblind taste test of just two wines: a 2016 Château Pontet-Canet and then one from Nine Suns in Napa. I got it wrong, and she never let me live it down. But I got 100 percent this time, beating even Kinou! I got a pin that said “Keep Calm and Drink Lynch-Bages.” They knew I would be talking about it for a long time. My wife and I have already discussed maybe doing Burgundy and Champagne next year, but I would go back to Bordeaux tomorrow. The history, the hospitality, the conversation, the lunches and dinners—everything was amazing.”
Josh Hart is a starting shooting guard for the New York Knicks, with whom he won the 2025–2026 NBA championship. The NBA’s 2026–2027 regular season starts October 20. This article appeared in the November 2026 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
