So who is participating in OTBN?

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's (Wall Street Journal )Open-That-Bottle-Nite. We are having a vegetarian friend over tonight but the menu looks fine for a red. I'll probably open a 1982 Shafer Reserve Cab. My back-up bottle will be the Veglio 2001 Arborina Barolo. Anyone else participating?

Liz has an out of town meeting so it's my 15 year old and me tonight - I think we'll go out and save "that" bottle for the next OTBN.

I'm making a lamb stew w/ winter vegetables for myself and three friends. I'll be opening a 2004 Thelema "The Mint" from South Africa, which I obtained on my honeymoon and have been waiting for an appropriate occasion to open. I got divorced relatively soon after said honeymoon, and since the ex and I don't really speak I've been hanging on to it, waiting for some symbolic event. When I heard about OTBN last month I though "Perfect!". One of the other guests said she'll dig around in her cellar for something that she's been waiting to open (will most likely be a Bordeaux) and the other two don't have any wine collection to speak of so they picked up a Vin Santo to have as dessert along w/ some biscotti or something like that.

[David M. Bueker]

Due to various illnesses I will be the only drinker tonight, so my plans have changed, but I am still in: 2004 Mugnier Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Marechale.

i was born in 1942; so, every night is OTBN.

My brother and sister-in-law and their son joined Mom and me for dinner tonight.
1998 Joseph Swan Steiner Vineyard (Sonoma Mountain) Cabernet Sauvignon
1999 Chateau Lynch Bages
The meal was thick ribeyes, grilled and finished in the oven with a mustard sauce, scalloped potatoes and green beans.
The two bottles were both in fine fettle. The Swan was a very pure expression of a mature California cabernet, with the leafy, vegetative underpinning and lots of tart berry fruit. Very assertive. The Lynch Bages was much slower to open up, developing a deep cherry and tart something flavor (I think there's a berry name (Cassis!!) that I've never tasted that people talk about and this might be it). The wines were similar in length, both moderately long with a pleasant departure. Two votes for the Swan, two for the Lynch Bages - I opted for Lynch Bages but it was a very close call for me.
The Swan fit the dinner better; the Bordeaux was smoother and better by itself, but it took at least three hours of open time before it came into its own.

Swan was $27.50 at the winery in August 2004. 12.7% alcohol
Lynch Bages was $45 (less 10% case discount) at Beltramo's in Menlo Park in August 2002.

We opened a 1994 Daniel & Roland Vernay Côte-Rôtie Grandes Places. Fantastic wine. (WTN in Wine Focus)

(But, we don't need an excuse to open great bottles. "Tuesday" is enough of an occasion for us. )

[Jenise]

If we'd been home last night I would have opened one of the mature wines I save for special occasions, but we were eating out BYO with friends in a dinner-before-a-show situation that might have ended up a bit rushed, so I took a wine I've owned for about nine months and had not gotten around to trying yet, a Washington state cabernet called "The Bully" by Gorman.

[David M. Bueker]

To be honest, OTBN came a week too early for me. Laura and I are getting together with Salil next Friday & my parents next Saturday. There will be lots of great wine opened next weekend. The following weekend it's another get together with even more great wine.

I pronounce March as Open that Bottle Month!

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's (Wall Street Journal )Open-That-Bottle-Nite.

I can't participate as I don't see the newspaper. But I am reading their book right now - 'love by the glass: tasting notes from a marriage" and enjoying it.

[Jenise]

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's (Wall Street Journal )Open-That-Bottle-Nite.

I can't participate as I don't see the newspaper. But I am reading their book right now - 'love by the glass: tasting notes from a marriage" and enjoying it.

Glad that made it over the pond! Loved the book, too.

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's (Wall Street Journal )Open-That-Bottle-Nite.

I can't participate as I don't see the newspaper. But I am reading their book right now - 'love by the glass: tasting notes from a marriage" and enjoying it.

Glad that made it over the pond! Loved the book, too.

So I've just got to that chapter in the book and now I know what 'Open that Bottle Night' is. What a great concept.

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's (Wall Street Journal )Open-That-Bottle-Nite.

I can't participate as I don't see the newspaper. But I am reading their book right now - 'love by the glass: tasting notes from a marriage" and enjoying it.

Glad that made it over the pond! Loved the book, too.

I also greatly enjoyed that book. Besides the wine angle, it is refreshing to read a memoir of a well-grounded, loving marriage.