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OTBN Conundrum
OTBN, short for Open That Bottle Night, is my favorite wine holiday. Nowadays, there are lots and lots of wine holidays, usually associated with a particular grape – International Chardonnay Day, International Cabernet Day, Beaujolais Nouveau celebration, and so on. The majority of such wine holidays encourage you to open a bottle of wine made from a particular grape, whether there is a story behind the bottle or not. You can take these grape holidays with all seriousness and meticulously prepare and select the right bottle, or you can just grab any random bottle you will see in the store – or skip the grape holiday altogether if you don’t feel like drinking Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay on that particular day.
OTBN is different. OTBN was invented for people who take their wine seriously. Or maybe rather those who take their wine too seriously. Over the years, we accumulate wine bottles that are deemed special; brought home from the winery you visited in France; got this bottle after an amazing tasting event; a bottle from an amazing family vacation many years ago; a bottle given to you by a dear friend. We can continue on and on, but you got the point.
Many of those special bottles in your collection would have some similar traits: they exist in the quantity of 1 and they are too special to be opened at random. Those special single bottles stay put in your cellar, waiting for the special company, special circumstances, special moment, special friend’s visit to be opened and enjoyed. More often than not, they keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting, because that special moment keeps not happening. And then, when it finally arrives, you might open that special bottle you preserved with the best care in the world, only to find that the content can solicit the memory but can’t bring you joy anymore because the wine in the bottle simply turned past prime. And it also kind of ruins the moment. This is why OTBN was invented, and this is what makes it such a great holiday for all the winos out there.
My personal conundrum draws exactly along the lines I just described. I have a lot of single bottles (actually, an absolute majority of my wines in single bottles – I practically never buy any wine by the case), and as such making a decision about a “special” bottle of wine for an event or a holiday, never mind the hallmark of them all, OTBN, a long and tedious process. “Is this bottle good enough? Okay, but I only have one. What if I will open it now and would never know how great it could’ve been? What do I do? What do I do?”
Same as the last year, I had to celebrate OTBN early this year due to the business trip spanning over the intended OTBN last Saturday of the month, February 25th. My wife doesn’t drink much wine nowadays, so I had to count primarily on myself. I had no good ideas coming to my head, there were no special bottles of wine I was ready to sacrifice. Looking at one of the wine fridges, I noticed the bottle of Jean Bourdy from Jura.
I don’t take Jura wines lightly, they are very hard to procure in the US. And then Jean Bourdy is a legend in itself – I better have a damn good reason to open such a special bottle. Then I thought that I already had some Jean Boardy in the past – maybe I would find some notes in the blog? I entered Jean Bourdy in the search box, and sure enough, this post came up. I tasted this wine in 2011 when I attended a Natural Wines seminar at PJ Wine store in New York – my first, a truly memorable encounter with natural (low intervention) wines as a category. I tasted this exact wine, 2006 Jean Bourdy Cotes Du Jura Rouge (fun fact: 2006 was the first vintage of Biodynamic wine production at Caves Jean Bourdy). I really liked the wine then, and my note said “It appears that wines of Jean Bourdy are known to age very well (note to self)”. As soon I saw this “note to self”, I instantly put that single bottle of Jean Bourdy back, as 17 years is most likely not an age for it.
In the same post, I noticed another wine that happened to be next to Jean Bourdy bottle on the same shelf – 2007 Le Pavillon de Saint Jacques Lalande de Pomerol. I pulled this bottle many times from the fridge before, always remembering that this was a natural wine, but again, no moment felt special enough. Then I read my note from 2011, which was clearly less than favorable. Here it is in its entirety:
“Very interesting. Smells like dirt, pure dirt after the rain. Very vegetative, no fruit on the palate, just pure dirt again. Almost no acidity. This wine was fermented in concrete tanks, aged for 18 months. It is “certified organic” and made with 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc – classic Pomerol wine. I would love to taste it in 10-15 years – I think it will greatly evolve, but it is not easy to say ” I like it” now”.
This “note to self” clearly stated that the wine was not good in 2011, but I should give it another try in 10-15 years. I was pretty much in the middle of that suggested term – 12 years after the original tasting, so opening that bottle all of a sudden became a perfect thing to do.
Cork came out easily, showing a good amount of crystals on the bottom, but otherwise perfectly fresh. The first sip instantly put my inner wine geek into a nirvana state. Barnyard. Pure, beautiful barnyard. If you belong to the group which screams “brett” at the first whiff of the barnyard smell on the wine, I’m sorry but we can’t be friends. Yes, there are limits to everything, but the reasonable amount (don’t ask me to quantify, everyone has to define their own “reasonable amount”) enhances the wine pleasure for me. I typically find barnyard associated with Syrah wines – possibly, this was my first Bordeaux with the barnyard aroma – but the barnyard aromas were followed by the classic, concentrated cassis. Layered, concentrated, softly rolling harmonious wine with perfect, firm structure and clean acidity. Beautiful, classic Bordeaux. This was truly an OTBN-worthy pure pleasure experience (by the way, my wife also loved the wine very much).
Here you go – my typical wine selection conundrum, happily resolved to make another memorable night. And as a bonus, the expectation of improvement of the wine with age fully came through (patting myself on the back).
The official OTBN night is almost here. You still have time to select the bottle or 5, maybe get some friends together and make some wonderful wine memories. If you want to celebrate only one wine holiday a year, make it OTBN – don’t risk the wine not being there for you, or you not being there for the wine.
And please share your OTBN stories – I would love to hear them.
Open That Bottle Night 2021 – What A Night!
Traditions, traditions, traditions.
Traditions need wine. Wine needs traditions. Makes sense? If not, express your disdain with a flaming comment. But if you are an oenophile (wine aficionado, wine snob, wine geek, …), you understand and can easily relate.
Open That Bottle Night, or OTBN for short, is one of the shortest living traditions of the wine world, where thousand years might be a good measure for some – OTBN was first celebrated in 1999 when it was created by the wine couple – Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, wine writers behind the “Tastings” column in Wall Street Journal. The OTBN was created to help wine lovers part with the special wine bottles which might otherwise become a waste.
There are two parts to any wine tradition – the first is a special wine itself, always carefully selected to match the tradition, and the second is sharing – sharing of that bottle with the world. Not with the whole world at once, but with the friends.
Let’s talk about finding and sharing.
Finding a proper bottle is never easy – and it might be even worse for the holiday such as OTBN, which was created specifically to help us part with the special bottle, the bottle which has a special meaning for us – no matter why and how, but special in whatever way. Sharing is typically not a problem – unless it is 2021 and the world is still mostly in lockdown – and that includes all of one’s wine friends.
I was lucky for the past many years to have wonderful celebrations of the OTBN with the friends, sharing the most amazing wine experiences (here is the first-hand account for 2017, 2019, and 2020). The only possible way to share OTBN 2021 was the one using for the majority of the gatherings during 2020 and 2021 – the virtual one. I’m not complaining – I’m grateful that at least we have the technology with allows us to spend time with each other face to face, no matter how physically distant we are. So sharing portion was rather easy, and now let’s talk about finding.
Finding is not even the right word. Finding is easy – but selecting is not. OTBN asks for that special bottle. Deciding on what makes one bottle more special than the other, when your cellar is full of unique bottles all present in the quantity of 1 (one), is the hard part. After some amount of deliberations, which included pulling numerous wine fridge shelves back and forth, back and forth, I settled on these four bottles:
Let me explain my selection logic so you will see why it is such a daunting process for me.
First, the white wine, as I’m a big proponent of the balanced diet. 2007 François Cazin Le Petit Chambord Cour-Cheverny AOC might be called my unicorn wine, at least when it comes to whites. The first time I tried a different vintage of this exact wine when it was 10 years old and this wine became one of the brightest memories for me – the beauty and interplay of bright fruit, honey, and acidity were simply unforgettable. When young, this wine from the Loire, made out of the rare grape called Romorantin, is a single note acidic. With age, it develops into an absolute beauty. When I opened the bottle of this wine back in 2015, the wine was superb. When I brought it to Jim’s house for the OTBN 2019, 4 years later, it was “interesting” but absolutely not exciting. I was hoping for redemption, so this was an easy choice.
My next selection was 2008 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage AOC. When I see Hermitage written on the label, you can literally hear me sigh. Hermitage to me is synonymous with the Syrah, and I love classic Syrah. And so does my wife – Syrah is her favorite grape. I have very few Hermitage wines in my cellar – and this one was calling my name for a long time (meaning: it was pulled off the shelf and placed back many times). Considering that 2008 had a rainy growing season and the vintage has low ratings (WS86, for example) and “Drink now” recommendation, this was an easy decision – no point in waiting any longer.
How many unicorns can one have? Well, having a unicorn would be nice, but I guess I’m talking about chasing them. So how many unicorns can one chase? Clearly, it seems that I’m chasing many. Good Amarone is the wine I’m always chasing. Giuseppe Quintarelly Amarone is more of an ephemeral dream for me, considering the price and availability – and it is definitely one of those unicorns I’m talking about. With 2004 Zýmē Kairos Veneto IGT, I’m getting as close to that unicorn as I can. This wine is produced by Celestino Gaspari, the winemaker for Giuseppe Quintarelli. As the label says “Produced from 15 varietals of grapes of Verona, it is a reflection and interpretation of our soil and the culture of its terroir”. In case you are curious, the 15 grapes are Garganega, Trebbiano Toscano, SauvignonBlanc, Chardonnay, Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, CabernetSauvignon, CabernetFranc, Merlot, Syraz, Teroldego, Croatina, Oseleta, Sangiovese, and Marzemino. This was my last bottle, and I scanned the pages of this very blog for a good 20 minutes last night as I couldn’t believe that I could’ve never written about this wine before – apparently, I have not. Anyway, I was afraid that it might be the time for this wine, thus it was added to the OTBN group. By the way, another interesting tidbit about this wine is that the name “Kairos” means “timely”, “appropriate”, and “the perfect moment”.
Every good plan A needs plan B, right? The backup. Have you ever went to a friend’s house with a bottle of wine, while another bottle stayed in your car just in case the first one would be corked? Yep, that’s the plan B we are talking about. 2004 Vaucher Pere et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin was my plan B. I don’t have a lot of Burgundies, so opening one is always a special moment. 2004 vintage was so so, with WS88 rating and “drink” recommendation, so this bottle was rightfully on the OTBN list, should the need and opportunity come.
Now you know all about selecting, and I want to say a few more words about sharing. Sharing wine is one of the best pleasures of drinking wine. The approving, understanding nod from the fellow wine lover after he or she is taking the sip from the bottle you brought really fills you up with joy. It might be even more satisfying than your own enjoyment of the same wine. Yet in today’s world, sharing the wine face to face is literally impossible, OTBN or not. To at least share the moment, I reached out to the technology which seemed to save the world from going mad – a virtual get-together over video. Zoom is my tool of choice, so after sending the invites to the group of bloggers, we got together at 7 pm on the OTBN Saturday.
We were not a big group – even in the virtual world, people are busy and have their own plans. But I’m really grateful to everyone who was able to spend that special Saturday time together – some for the whole 2 hours, some for 20-30 minutes, talking about wines, sharing life stories and experiences, and most importantly, having fun. You can scroll through the pictures below, I’m sure you will see some familiar faces.
So how was my OTBN? In other words, let me tell you more about the wines.
The miracle didn’t happen, and the white wine didn’t become suddenly magical. If I need to describe this 2007 François Cazin Le Petit Chambord Cour-Cheverny AOC in one word, the word would be “strange”. At some moments, it was oxidative and plump. In other moments, it was acidic. It never showed that amazing lemon and honey notes I was expecting. I still have one more bottle, but now I really need to forget it for as long as possible and see if the miracle will happen.
The Hermitage was … superb. First of all, opening it was a breeze – cork was perfectly intact, regular waiter’s corkscrew worked just fine. Drinking this 2008 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage AOC was a great pleasure – a touch of pepper, a distant hint of a barnyard, round and delicious fruit. The wine was just right – perfectly balanced, round, and smooth. I don’t have a lot of experience with Hermitage, but this wine was clearly one of the best renditions of Syrah I had in a long time. “Elegant” would be the single word descriptor I would use.
The Kairos was the bottle I was concerned about the most. It could’ve been gone by now, especially considering such an eclectic blend of grapes. When I started opening this 2004 Zýmē Kairos Veneto IGT, first I decided to use the regular corkscrew, which worked perfectly fine for the Hermitage. Looking at the way the screw was going in, the cork seemed to be too soft, so I decided that it was the job for Ah-So – I’m glad this decision was not an afterthought I usually have after the cork is already broken in half – Ah-So worked perfectly well and the cork came out with no issues.
And the wine… The wine was magical. Dark fruit with a hint of dried fruit on the palate, perfectly firm and structured, powerful and elegant, with clean acidity and an impeccable balance. The wine was delicious on Saturday, and I also enjoyed that over the next two days. So now I regret not having any more bottles left – but I’m glad I had this special experience. Magical would be the word.
As two bottles of red had no issues whatsoever, the Burgundy was left aside and now will be waiting for its special moment to be opened and enjoyed.
And that, my friends, concludes my OTBN 2021 report. While the sharing was virtual, the experience and pleasure of the wine and the company were real, and it will stay in my memory as yet another great OTBN night. Hope you had fun too. Cheers!
OTBN 2019 – What a Night!
Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) is my favorite “wine holiday”. Of course, the absolute majority of celebrations in our lives – holidays (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving…), birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, promotions – include wine, but strictly in the supporting role. All the “grape days” are about wine, yes – but typically restricted to a specific grape. OTBN is a special day when the wine is a front and center of our celebration – OTBN is all about showing respect to those special bottles which all need the special, perfectly appropriate moment to be opened. OTBN allows us to say “the perfect moment has arrived” and just open That Bottle.
Almost full line up – few bottles are not shown
While I’m celebrating OTBN for a long time, this year’s event helped me to better appreciate the true purpose of this “holiday”. Okay, I have to say that I never had such a massive amount of wine opened for the OTBN – we went through 14 bottles – and each bottle was special in its own way. But until now, all of my OTBN experiences where strictly positive – the majority of the wines opened for OTBN were either at its peak or well drinkable at the moment but still promising to improve with time. But this year, in addition to absolutely stunning, mature, unparalleled wines we had wines which were either past prime or in the strange sleeping mode (yes, I’m an optimist), adding a good reason to follow the founding principals of the OTBN and pull the cork from That Bottle now.
Here are my notes for the wines we opened this year, together with a bit of explanation as to what made this wine special and my impressions.
2001 Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatori Metodo Classico Trento DOC (100% Chardonnay)
Why: I was looking at this bottle for a long time. Ferrari makes some of the very best sparkling wines in Italy, and this is their flagship wine. At 18 years, it is a good age for the sparkling wine – and OTBN is a perfect reason to open a wine like that.
How was it: Amazing. Light bubbles, but the balance is amazing, light toasted notes, wow. The wine stayed fresh throughout the whole evening and was one of everyone’s favorites.
2013 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Puligny-Montrachet Le Trezin, Cote de Beaune
Why: Jim had multiple bottles of this wine and was worrying about Premox (Premature oxidation). Thus he put it out just to try.
How was it: Superb. delicious, classic burgundy, beautiful, elegant, round. Another one of the top choices for everyone.
2007 François Cazin Le Petit Chambord Cour-Cheverny AOC
Why: This is one of my favorite wines. When it was 10 years old, was literally blown away
How was it: Underwhelming. A touch of petrol, clean, good acidity, bud no bright fruit. Still delicious in its own way – I would gladly drink it any time. But – lucking the “umpf” which was expected… Still have 2 more bottles – will open later on and see.
2014 Damien Laureau Le Bel Ouvrage Savennières AOC
Why: Well, OTBN is an all-inclusive celebration. I rarely drink Savenniers, so it is always fun to experience something new.
How was it: Ok. For the 5 years old Chenin Blanc from the Loire, it was quite decent. Nice white wine – can’t say much more than that.
1996 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva Rioja DOC
Why: why not? Lopez de Heredia is one of the very best Rioja Producers, and their Viña Tondonia Blanco might be one of the best white wines in Spain – at least from point of view of the wines which can age
How was it: A flop. Unless there was a flaw with this particular bottle, this wine was past prime and had no joy in it.
2015 Royal Tokaji The Oddity Hungary (100% Furmint)
Why: Furmit is the grape used in the production of the Hungarian Tokaji wines, some of the very best dessert wines in the world, easily rivaling the best Sauternes. Problem is – it is very difficult to prevent Furmit vineyards from the Noble Rot settling on the grapes – and thus it is rare – and difficult – to produce dry Furmint wine. Here comes The Oddity – dry Furmint wine.
How was it: Very good. Nice, clean, great minerality, balanced well-integrated palate, good acidity. Thank you, Lori, for this delicious find.
No filter – look at the color of this 24 years old Chardonnay
1995 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley
Why: Kistler is one of the best Chardonnay producers in California, so this alone is enough to include such wine into the OTBN line up. But then California Chardonnay rarely built to last for so long, so it was definitely the time to open this bottle.
How was it: Amazing. Almonds, apples, still present vanilla, a touch of smoke, good acidity – amazing for 24 years old white wine
2008 Jacques Puffeney Vin Jaune Arbois Jura
Why: Trying to explain the wine such as Vin Jaune to the uninitiated wine lovers presented an interesting challenge – I failed to explain what “oxidative” means. Anyway, putting this aside – Jura wines are rare. Vin Jaune wines are rare. Jacques Puffeney wines are beyond rare – 2014 was the last vintage which he commercially produced. This wine is absolutely OTBN worthy (thank you, Jim!)
How was it: Amazing. An oxidative nose which was also incredibly attractive, mature fruit, good acidity, elegant, present, delicious wine.
No filter – just look at the color of this wine! Amazing.
1971 Tenuta Carretta Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC
Why: 1971. Need we say more? Yes, the wine of such age is absolutely meant for OTBN.
How was it: Amazing, absolutely amazing. We poured it without decanting. The wine changed dramatically over the course of an hour. My first impressions were: pungent, with clean acidity, mature restrained fruit, still has lots of life left. Wow. About 15 minutes later, the wine totally changed and was the most reminiscent of a nice, concentrated Rosé – cranberries, a touch of strawberries, good acidity, very refreshing. Another 15 minutes made this wine most reminiscent of Jura red, a Poulsard if you will – light, great acidity, a touch of red fruit. Truly an amazing experience. And don’t forget to look at the color of this wine…
1986 Château Bel-Air Lagrave Moulis-en-Médoc AOC
Why: 33 years is a very respectable age for any wine – you really want to ask such wine “how ya doin”
How was it: Wow. Young, beautifully balanced, beautiful Bordeaux, just perfect. In a blind tasting, I would never identify this as a 33 years old wine. Yes, you can call me a failure.
1996 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Pessac-Léognan
Why: My exact question – why? Only because we could?
How was it: not ready. Needs time, mostly locked up. You would never think that 23 years old Bordeaux is not ready to drink, but it was not.
2004 Château Latour à Pomerol Pomerol AOC
Why: Same as previous wine – really, why?
How was it: Not ready. Closed nose, mostly cherries on the palate, need another 10-15 years.
2006 Telavi wine Cellar Satrapezo Saperavi Kakheti Georgia
Why: One of my most favorite Georgian wines. Limited production, a beautiful example of Georgian Saperavi. Most of the wine lovers are still unfamiliar with Georgian wines, so I really wanted to introduce this wine to the people.
How was it: Excellent. Still tight, beautiful fruit, big wine, could use more time. I was a bit concerned that this wine is reaching its peak – I was wrong. I’m sure another 5 years would do wonders here. Oh well…
2005 Weingut Petri Herxheimer Honigsack Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese Pfalz Germany (100% Scheurebe)
Why: For one, it is very appropriate to finish a great wine program with the dessert wine. And then how many of you even heard of Scheurebe? Scheurebe grape is a cross between Sylvaner and Riesling. It is quite rare, so yeah, a perfect choice for OTBN.
How was it: Spectacular. Not only it had great acidity which is essential in enjoyable TBA-level sweet wine, but it also showed a mix of honey and herbs – rosemary, sage, thyme – just an unbelievable concoction and ultimate pleasure in every sip. Thank you, Stef, for this treat.
Obviously, I can’t complain about such an amazing OTBN – however, as you saw, we had our share of disappointment. At the same time, the good greatly overweight the bad – 1971 Nebbiolo, 2001 Giulio Ferrari, 1995 Kistler, 2008 Vin Jaune, 1986 Bordeaux were all personal favorites and I would be glad to experience those wines again at any time.
Now that I told you about our OTBN, how was yours?
Open That Bottle Night – OTBN 2019
Wine lovers – this is your public service announcement, so listen carefully.
Open That Bottle Night is Saturday, February 23, 2019.
I repeat – OTBN is taking place this coming Saturday! Are you ready?
Okay, so all of you who are familiar with the OTBN, please say “thank you for the reminder” and quietly retreat to your cellars in attempt to solve the unsolvable.
For those who don’t recognize the OTBN term, let me explain.
Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) movement was originated by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, writers of the Wall Street Journal’s Tastings column. Back in 2000, they decided to help people to put their best wine bottles to the best possible use (e.g., drinking and enjoying them) by designating last Saturday in February as special “pull that cork” day.
All of us, wine lovers, have that “special bottle”. The birth year vintage, a gift from a special friend, a bottle brought from the special trip, a bottle signed by winemaker, special wedding present, or something special we managed to score many, many years ago – it is really not important what makes that bottle special. However, with all those “special bottle” designations, we keep waiting for that special, right, proper, one and only moment to pull that cork – and subsequently, we are risking one of two things:
- we might not be around to enjoy that special bottle of wine (not trying to use any “scare tactics” – this is just a part of life)
- the wine might not be around for us to enjoy it – ever heard of “past prime”?
Nobody knows what is the “right time” for the wine. We have our expectations, of course, but it is in human nature to doubt oneself, and thus we keep arguing with ourselves about the “right moment”. The “right moment” is also something entirely individual – the right age of the wine, a long-fought-for job promotion, wedding anniversary, significant birthday, or simply the right company. And so we are waiting and waiting and waiting – and risking one of the two outcomes I mentioned before. This is where OTBN comes to the rescue. OTBN makes an opening of that prized bottle a good enough reason in itself – it is really a celebration of life as it happens.
Ever since its creation, OTBN was getting an increased following from all over the world, with people from China, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, Europe and, of course, the USA, gladly reporting about the opening of those long-cherished bottles – and their personal life stories.
It is the right time, wine lovers, to get that bottle ready. If you need any additional instructions, the Wall Street Journal took care of it by publishing the guide to the OTBN, so now you are guaranteed not to make any mistakes. Go, start thinking about that special bottle you are going to enjoy this Saturday – to celebrate life. And don’t forget to share your special moment with all of us. Will be waiting.
Open That Bottle Night 2017 – What A Night!
Let’s say you have a bottle of an excellent wine. Do you know how to make it better than it is? I guarantee you this works every time, so listen carefully. You share it with a friend. Yes, that makes any excellent wine into an amazing one. Works like a charm.
Saturday, February 25th was Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) – the night when there is no bottle in your cellar which is off limits. If you are not familiar with OTBN, you can read more here. What made my OTBN twice as special was the visit by Oliver and his wife Nina.
For me, the decisions around wine are never easy. I typically buy wine in the single bottle quantities (okay, maybe four at the most, when I need to get a free shipping from WTSO) – thus any bottle can qualify as a special one. As an exception to my long and almost painful decision process, for this OTBN I had a very clear idea – 1982 Olga Raffault Chinon, of which I had a single bottle. The bottle out of the wine fridge and ready for the prime time.
This is what I was looking at after cutting the top foil:
As you can tell, this is not very encouraging. However, if you like older wines and get an opportunity to open them, you know that the state of the top of the cork is nothing to fret about. More often than not, behind most terrible looking mildew there is a delicious wine.
As this was 35 years old wine, I didn’t want to take any chances and used the two-prong opener to pull the cork out. This turned out to be an unnecessary precaution – while cork looked red throughout, it was perfectly firm and came out as a single piece without any crumbling – here is our OTBN corks collection, the red one is the one I’m talking about:
And for the wine… what can I tell you… This 1982 Olga Raffault “Les Picasses” Chinon, Loire looked perfectly fresh in the glass – not a sign of losing color. Here are the two glasses, one is with 1982 Cabernet Franc, the second one is with 2014 – care to guess which glass contains 1982?
Yes, the one on the left is with 1982 wine, but I believe you would agree that the color shows perfectly young. The nose and the palate were an incredible study in Cabernet Franc flavor profile 101. The wine opened full of bell pepper – both on the nose and the palate. In about 10 minutes, the bell pepper was gone – and what was left was pure, unadulterated black currant – stunning, full flavorful black currant, also known as cassis if we want to use traditional French terminology. The wine had perfect structure, firm, with fresh acidity, almost crisp – and loads and loads of black currant. This was truly a treat.
We followed with a beautiful rendition of Ruchè – 2012 Poggio Ridente Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG San Marziano (organic grapes). Ruchè is a little known red grape, cultivated in the Monferrato region in Piedmont, capable of making very concentrated wines. This particular bottle, brought by Oliver and Nina directly from Italy, was fresh and open, with nicely restrained palate with mostly herbal flavors, and a twist – dried mango undertones. Nina was the one to identify the dried mango, while I was desperately trying to figure out what that strange flavor was – but that was a spot-on descriptor. An outstanding wine by all means.
Our next wine was 1989 Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Auslese Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. No issues with the cork (makes me happy). Still fresh, clean light golden color (28-years old wine!). The nose and the palate were singing in unison here, and the music was simple – peaches and apricots. Slightly underripe peaches and fresh, plump apricots. The balance of sweetness and acidity was impeccable – the wine was fresh and alive, without any sign of age. Wow.
As an added bonus, the grapes for this wine were harvested in November of 1989 – the year and a month when Berlin Wall was demolished – and this is what the label of this wine commemorates.
Our OTBN night didn’t finish there. You would expect us to go to something nice and sweets after such a beautiful Riesling, right? In the conversation, it came out that Oliver doesn’t like Tempranillo wines. Being a Spanish wine buff, I had to fix that immediately, so I had to pull out the big guns. 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Rioja Reserva Especial was absolutely beautiful from the get-go – cedar box and eucalyptus on the nose, soft and gentle cherries on the palate, fresh, round. I hope I made Oliver a convert – but will see about that the next time we will meet.
There you are, my friends. A stunning OTBN with great wines and great company. Hope you enjoyed your OTBN as much as we did – feel free to share your OTBN stories below. Cheers!
OTBN 2016: Two Spanish Jewels, And What The Others Opened
I don’t like making decisions. Here, I said it. Not around the wines for sure. But I have a justification for this indecisiveness – and I’m sure many oenophiles will attest to the same. You see, I like to drink aged wines. Despite popular notion from many wine professionals that people don’t understand what is good for them and should drink their wines young (here is the latest piece from Steve Heimoff on the subject), I still like my wines with a little age on them. Heck no, I actually like them well aged. But most wines in my cellar are in the single quantities (yes, that means One bottle) – therefore, if I open it, I will not be able to find out if it will improve with age. As you can imagine, this can lead to many, many “indecisive moments”.
So for the people like myself, Open That Bottle Night was invented. I will not go again into the history of the OTBN – I already wrote about it extensively here. But the event itself really makes you to take decisions and “just do it”.
Yes, the decision making is frustrating. But once decision is made, frustration is out and anticipation and excitement are in. It would be so interesting to understand how the mind (subconscious?) arrives at a decision where there are lots of possibilities, all promising similarly happy outcome (in the end of the day, no matter what bottle you will open, as long as it is not spoiled, you will still be happy – with a 99% chance). Someone really have to study how the oenophile’s mind works. So in this mysterious way, all of a sudden the decision came to open two of the Spanish wines I had for a little while. To be absolutely honest – first I decided on those two wines, then I started figuring out what was making them special – and these wines are special.
How special? Both wines were made by pioneers, and they represent true passion and vision which makes winemaking so unique. The first wine was called Martinsancho, made out of the grape called Verdejo in Rueda, Spain. Martinsancho is the name of the vineyard in Rueda, where Verdejo had been planted since 17th century. But you see, in the mid 1970s, the whole size of the vineyard was only 1 acre, and it was pretty much the last of Verdejo left in Spain, due to natural (phylloxera) and man made (political, economic) causes. Angel Rodriguez had a passion, vision and tenacity to preserve that vineyard, replant the original cuttings on the 25 acres, and literally single-handedly restart Verdejo production in Rueda. Angel Rodriguez’s hard work was even honored by the King of Spain Juan Carlos.
How was the wine? One word – delicious. One of the very best Spanish white wines I ever had. Here are the notes:
2009 Ángel Rodrígues Martinsancho Verdejo Rueda DO (13% ABV, $17, 100% Verdejo)
C: light golden, very pretty
N: restrained, touch of grass, minerality, almonds
P: great deal of finesse, it is smooth, silky, good acidity, medium to full body, elegant
V: 8+, great world class wine
Our second started with this view once the top foil was removed:
From my experience, this doesn’t mean the wine is spoiled (at least so far it never happened), but it still makes you uneasy – there are no substitutes in this game. This was the only hiccup though, the wine itself was unaffected.
Similar to the first wine, this one was also a product of a passion, a dream. Clara Concejo Mir inherited the vineyard from her grandfather Mario. Located at the high altitude of 7,750 feet, this is first vineyard in teh Ribera del Duero region; the vineyard is also adjacent to the vineyards of legendary Vega Sicilia. While Tempranillo is a king in Ribera del Duero (often called Tinto Fino), Clara also had a vision to add Cabernet Sauvignon to her wine which she called Mario (yes, in honor of her grandfather). She also had perseverance to lobby the regulatory body of Ribera del Duero to allow officially put Cabernet Sauvignon on the label of the Ribera del Duero wine. The rest of this can be subsided to a moan which you will produce upon taking a sip of this wine.
2008 Vegaclara Mario Ribera Del Duero DO (13.5% ABV, $25, 77% Tempranillo, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13 month in oak – 33% French, 33% American, 33% Hungarian)
C: dark garnet
N: fresh berries, touch of barnyard, eucalyptus, black currant
P: yum! (is that a good descriptor?) silky smooth, polished, great depth and concentration, black currant, dusty mouthfeel, flawless, perfect balance
V: 9, a wine of an outstanding finesse
Now that I told you about wonderful wines and passion we experienced, I want to give you a glimpse into what the others were drinking. First of all, I was very happy to see an increased number of posts about OTBN all over the social media – or as at least it seemed as an increased number of posts to me. And then over the course of the week I inundated lots of people on Twitter, keep asking them what are they going to drink (and making sure they will remember about OTBN) – I hope it didn’t cost me any followers, but oh well, it is a good cause. So below is a small collection of tweets plus some blogs posts about the OTBN wines, in no particular order:
Wine Raconteur wrote about the wines he will not be opening for OTBN:
https://thewineraconteur.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/open-that-bottle-night-2/
Margot Davies: (by the way, I would really love to try that wine)
These are the snippets of conversations I had about #OTBN – I’m sure I missed some too. So what did you end up opening for OTBN and did you like your choice after the cork was pulled out? I would love to know – you know where the comments section is.
Before we part, I want to remind you that actually you have the power to make any night an Open That Bottle Night – no need to wait a year to open That Bottle. Just do it! Cheers!
Open That Bottle Night 2016: What Wine Are You Going To Open?
Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) is an [international] phenomena created by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, the writers of the hugely popular “Tastings” wine column in Wall Street Journal for more than 10 years. Once inundated with the questions “what is the right time to open this [special] bottle”, they designated last Saturday of February as the day when oenophiles should really pull the plug cork on that bottle which was stored until the “special day” would arrive. Only most of the oenophiles have a problem deciding if today is already special, or not special enough.
With the idea to encourage oenophiles to finally reach for That Bottle, Dorothy and John invented OTBN back in 1999. From there on, the OTBN was steadily increasing in popularity not only in the US, but around the world, with people getting together for the special OTBN parties and dinners, and restaurants offering discounts and special menus.
Last November, I had a pleasure of meeting Dorothy and John at the Piper-Heidsieck Vin Clairs tasting in New York, which I attended together with Jeff, better known as The Drunken Cyclist. As part of conversation with Dorothy we also touched on the subject of OTBN. To my surprise, I got an email from her two weeks ago asking for my thoughts on selecting the wine for upcoming OTBN, which will take place this coming Saturday, February 27th. I gave her somewhat of a mumbling answer, which was included into her OTBN 2016 post in the Grape Collective Magazine, together with the similar input from Jeff.
Let me tell you why you and every other oenophile should take part in OTBN and open That Bottle now. Two reasons:
- Wine might not be any good
- You might not be any good
I’m not trying to be overly dramatic or use scare tactics of any sort. This is simply what is called “life”.
Think about that prized wine bottle. May be you brought it from your honeymoon trip or anniversary trip, great cruise or an amazing vacation in the vineyards. Since it made it to your house, was it ideally stored? Was it Barolo, Bordeaux or Chablis, which can age great without much regard to the producer or a vintage? Or was it delicious Rosé from Provence, sumptuous red Cotes du Rhone or a playful Vouvray? Chances are, even in ideal conditions, those wines will not last for too long. The whole idea behind those “special” wines is that they are connected to our emotions and memories, and when we drink them we get to re-live the joyous moment of the past – but you do want the wine to match the taste as you remember – and if it doesn’t, well…
The second issue is also a problem. Take a look at Jeff’s post about meeting Dorothy and OTBN, and take a look at the source of his second possible choice of the OTBN wine, the ’85 Inglenook – he got it from someone who could no longer drink wine due to the medical reasons – and that person was devastated about it, as any of us would under his circumstances. Your health can change, your palate can change – do you really want to risk the joy of having a great glass of wine by not been able to find the “ideal moment”?
Still undecided? Think about it this way. Opening of That Bottle for the OTBN is a win-win, it always is. First, you get to drink the wine you always wanted to drink. Second, with opening of the bottle you are actually not losing anything – on contrary, you are gaining a great experience. If the wine is good, you are transported to the past, you get to re-live “the moment” once again – and create a new memory for the future. If the wine is not good, or not as you recall – you still create a new memory, and you can move on to your next “special bottle” (pleeease, don’t tell me you had one and only one, okay?).
Don’t know if I succeeded in convincing you, or if you even needed to be convinced, but I hope you will decide and open that special bottle, no matter what makes it special. And then I also hope that you will leave me a comment and tell me what you are planning to open or what you had for OTBN, as I’m dying to know.
As for me, still need to make up my mind – there are lots of choices, so I’m sure it will be a last minute decision, but rest assured that the special bottle will be open – and I promise to tell you all about it. Enjoy the OTBN, and don’t overthink it – just do it! Cheers!
Coming Up This Saturday: #OTBN – Open That Bottle Night
Just a quick reminder to all the wine friends, oenophiles, aspiring sommeliers and all the other folks who find wine to be an indispensable part of their lives – OTBN is here, so get your thinking hat on and go visit your cellar (those without a cellar can settle for the visit to the good wine store).
Open That Bottle Night, usually abbreviated as OTBN, is a movement created by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, writers of the Wall Street Journal’s Tastings column. In the year 2000, they declared last Saturday in February to be a special night for the wine lovers – it should be the night when that special, cherished, admired, preserved, treasured bottle gets right on the table – and gets opened. The wine needs to be enjoyed – as the life is unpredictable, we should really create those special moments in the “now”, instead of waiting for them for the eternity.
Since its invention, OTBN became an international phenomenon, celebrated all over the world. This upcoming Saturday, February 28, 2015, is the last Saturday of February – so it is the time to get that special bottle ready and open. I don’t think you need any special instructions, but in case you feel like you need someone to tell you what to do, here is the link to the Wall Street Journal article which will give you the detailed instructions on how to enjoy OTBN.
I know you are hoarding more than one special bottle – it is the time to put at least one of them to the good use. If you care to share what you will be opening, this what the comment section is for. Open That Bottle! Cheers!
Open That Bottle Night–Oops
Last Saturday, February 22nd, was the Open That Bottle Night – the movement started by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, the wirters of the Wall Street Journal Tastings column. I this is a great way to help oenophiles to open that special bottle in their cellars without really waiting for the moment which might never come. To support the OTBN idea, I’m going to reblog all of the OTBN posts which I will see from my fellow bloggers. Below is the one written by Jeff, better known as The Drunken Cyclist. Enjoy!
As I mentioned a couple of days ago, this past Saturday was Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). OTBN was started back in the 1990’s by the then wine writers for The Wall Street Journal, Dottie Gaiter and John Brecher. Their ingenious idea: Most wine lovers have (at least) one bottle of wine that they have been saving for an as yet undetermined “special occasion.” Inevitably, this bottle remains unopened year after year since we can not determine whether a given occasion is “special enough” to warrant the sacrificing of the prized bottle. Gaiter and Brecher proposed that once a year on the last Saturday in February, we create, in essence, a “special” occasion and Open That Bottle.
I started thinking about what to have for OTBN at least a few weeks ago, knowing that I would change my mind at least 37 times before actually pulling a cork. A…
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Wednesday’s Meritage – OTBN, #MWWC7 Time To Vote, The Art Of The Wine Label, State Liquor Law Changes and more
Meritage Time!
I had to skip the wine quiz last Saturday, as we are taking a family vacation this week, so you can enjoy your quiz break too. Therefore, let’s go directly to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web.
First and foremost – the upcoming Saturday, February 22nd, is Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). The concept of opening that special bottle of wine instead of hoarding it was invented by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal – here is the link to one of the articles on the subject. The event is always taking place on the last Saturday in February – this is when you open and enjoy that special bottle of wine you were holding on to, not being able to find the right reason to pull the cork (or twist the top). As I think this is a great holiday for all oenophiles, I would like offer to you the following – if you open that special bottle of wine, will write a blog post about it and send me the link (through e-mail, comment, or Twitter), I will gladly re-blog it in my blog, and I will also add the link to the permanent page dedicated to the OTBN. So, what are you going to open?
Next up – #MWWC7 just concluded. The theme of Devotion was definitely challenging, but I think it led to a number of great entries. Here is the link to the SAHMMelier’s blog post, where you can see the list of all entries, and most importantly now, take a vote! Don’t miss it!
Have you heard of Sine Qua Non, the cult winery in California, making unique wines that are impossible to get? Did you know that every vintage of every wine produced by Sine Qua Non is released under a different label? And also each and every label is essentially a work of art, created by Manfred Krankl, the winemaker and owner at Sine Qua Non. To read more about these labels and Sine Qua Non wines, here is a link to the very interesting article at Wine Spectator – I highly recommend that you will read it.
I would assume that you know (or at least you know now) that States of the United States are in charge of individual laws regarding alcohol sales and distribution in those states. This leads to the situation where people’s access to alcohol in the neighboring states can be dramatically different (for instance, until recently, sales of alcohol were prohibited on Sundays in Connecticut – as the result, the people had to take their dollars to the neighboring New York state). The good thing is that in many states, the state laws are slowly changing to the benefit of the wine consumers (don’t take it for granted – some states are still trying to change it around and backward). Here is a very interesting article from the Wine Business publication, where you can learn about some of those changes in the works.
Before we part, I want to bring to your attention two more articles on the subject of Italian wines, both are quite controversial. Ten years ago, the movie called Mondovino made Michele Rolland and Robert Parker quite upset. Now, the new movie called “Natural Resistance”, made by the same director Jonathan Nossiter is talking about natural wines in Italy, also taking an aim at the Italian DOC system and overall approach to quality – here is the link to the article on the wine-searcher where you can get more details.
It turns out that people at Gambero Rosso, one of the leading Italian wine rating publications, are not the big fans of the natural wines. A blanket statement about “natural wines been bad wines which will give you a headache” doesn’t sound right coming from the organization which should simply embrace and promote best Italian wines. So it is not surprising that Italian natural wine producers have an issue with Gambero Rosso – for more details, here is the link to the wine-searcher article.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way. Cheers!
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