Here are two of our favorite stories of how readers celebrated Open That Bottle Night this year. We’d still love to hear your story.
Joan Brown:
“I love the idea of Open That Bottle Night – bring out that bottle of something special and share it. Saving it for something monumental misses the point that just sharing the wine is reason enough.
“I had a busy, wonderful evening that included unbelievable entertainment and time with friends, but not an opportunity to share my OTBN selection. I put a bottle of LoTengo Torrontes 2007 in the fridge earlier today, not really knowing how the evening was going to unfold, and when I got home around midnight, my thought was that it would be here for another time. Kind of like it wasn’t worth it to open it just for myself. Or maybe, that I wasn’t worth opening it for.
“It is hard to send messages of worth and value and celebration to ourselves – but we are worth it. I’ve been spending lots of time lately reading Henri Nouwen as preparation for a freelance project and his words and thoughts and philosophies are swimming around in my head a lot these days. One of my favorite works is the ‘Life of the Beloved,’ a loving, winsome call for us to embrace our standing as the beloved daughters and sons of the Creator and to see our true worth from that perspective. We are worth a lot. And, certainly, I said to myself, worth opening a bottle of wine and enjoying it. So I did.
“I’m sitting here with a soft glow coming from the fireplace and a large beautiful glass of LoTengo and it’s very nice. I don’t have a very sophisticated wine palate, but it smells wonderful, like fruit and flowers, maybe? And tastes the way I like white wine to taste: crisp and clean, and I can taste the grapes. Torrontes is an Argentinian wine and when Jeff Armstrong at Wine Time suggested this, he made a good recommendation. And I might add it has a very sexy label – tango dancers printed on a metal label and they move (the label has some kind of overlay that provides the illusion). And yes, I probably bought it more for the label than a burning desire to sample the juice of the torrontes grapes. But it was a good move.
“Sometimes it is challenging, when you go home alone, to find the celebratory moments and seize them. Open That Bottle Night is a remarkable idea for gathering friends – and that’s what I think I’ll do next year – but you can Open That Bottle just for yourself and celebrate how absolutely worthy you are to enjoy such a moment. Cheers, friends.”
Mike and Betsy Slagle:
“We’d had this bottle of wine in our cellar since 2002. Not only the wine, but also the memories evoked while drinking it are special. It’s a Pulcino 1997 Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano Riserva. We were introduced to this wine while having lunch at the producer’s restaurant in Montepulciano. We both loved its bold body, fruitiness, and slight earthy taste, and purchased a bottle to bring home for a ‘special occasion.’
“As you’ve frequently pointed out in your column, waiting for those special occasions has ruined many a good bottle of wine. Fearing we’d waited too long beyond its prime to uncork this one, we pulled it from the cellar for Open That Bottle Night, uncorked it, and let it breathe for about 45 minutes.
“The ‘special occasion’ was just the two of us enjoying one of our favorite recipes: Mario Batali’s Fettuccine Bolognese. The wine, thankfully, did not disappoint – still that bold body, slight fruitiness, a hint of tannins … and just a bit of acidity that we hadn’t noticed when we first drank it in 2002. The wine perfectly complemented the pork, veal, and pancetta in the evening’s recipe. It also allowed us to vicariously relive that wonderful trip to Tuscany in 2002.”
Wine is for sharing, and so are stories. Send us yours at the address at right.
Cheers!
