February 25th is Open That Bottle Night! (OTBN)

Do you have a special bottle or bottles of wine in tucked away for a special occasion. I know I do.

But the "occasion" never arrives and that special bottle passes its prime.

That's why Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, the married couple who write the "Tastings" column for the Wall St. Journal, decided seven years ago to create Open That Bottle Night, where the bottle itself is the occasion.

Excerpted from,

Tastings: Savoring a Storied Evening --- The Many Ways to Celebrate Open That Bottle Night; Sediment and Sentiment

By Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher

27 January 2006 The Wall Street Journal

(Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

We invented OTBN for a simple reason: All of us, no matter how big or small our wine collections, have that single bottle of wine we simply can never bear to open. Maybe it's from Grandpa's cellar or a trip to Italy or a wedding. We're always going to open it on a special occasion, but no occasion is ever special enough. So it sits. And sits. Then, at some point, we decide we should have opened it years ago and now it's bad anyway, so there's no reason to open it, which gives us an excuse to hang onto it for a few more decades. So OTBN -- which is now always the last Saturday in February -- offers a great opportunity to prepare a special meal, open the bottle and savor the memories.

To be sure, the real point of OTBN is that those bottles should be opened throughout the year, not just on a special night. But we understand that sometimes it takes a village to open a bottle and, indeed, over the years, OTBN has gotten bigger every year. At first, it seemed to be celebrated primarily by couples and intimate groups. One of our all-time favorite post-OTBN notes arrived the first year from a couple in South Florida who opened a prized Chateau Latour 1986 with pizza fetched from a sentimental-favorite pizzeria after a two-hour-and-15-minute round trip. "The pizza was great," wrote the husband. "The Chateau Latour was good, not great. But it got better toward the end of our meal, and much better as we entered the Jacuzzi with Mr. Barry White in the background."

Now, we're hearing more and more accounts of OTBN being the main event at large dinner parties with friends and family. It is also being celebrated at restaurants, clubs, museums, libraries and wine stores such as The Wine Store in Alpharetta, Ga. OTBN was even a question on "Jeopardy!" last year (and the contestant got it right, for $200). We're especially touched by the event in Rochester, which will include an auction and a dinner at which each couple will bring a bottle of wine to share with their table. The Bivona Child Advocacy Center says it "is looking to establish this event as both the signature event for the agency and the pre-eminent OTBN party in Rochester." The center, which opened on Aug. 1, 2004, and evaluated more than 600 children last year, hopes to raise up to $75,000 at its event at the Oak Hill Country Club. "It need not be old. It need not be rare. It need not even be expensive. Just bring the bottle, and we'll make it special," the invitation reads.

So, how do you participate in OTBN? First and most important, grab that bottle you are saving. Don't worry about whether it's over the hill. This event is about the memories, not about the liquid itself. As far as we can tell, just about every household in America has a bottle of wine saved from a trip to a winery, for instance. Now's the time to open it and remember the visit. If you don't have a special bottle on hand, think about buying a bottle of wine that brings special memories.

Comments

[tommyeats]

so, peter, what did you open?!?! we had a 1994 haut-medoc that had been sitting around for some time. just wonderful, and what a great idea!

[John Stubblefield]

We hosted an OTBN event last night February 25, 2006. The food and wine were remarkable and were matched by the stories of our guests.This was our first OTBN and we would love to hear the experiences of others with their OTBN nights. Thanks, John Stubblefield [email protected]