Only a Week Late for #OTBN

03 Sunday Mar 2013

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Barolo, Fontanafredda Serralunga d'Alba Barolo 2006, Nebbiolo, OTBN

Open That Bottle Night, the last Saturday of every February, is a great concept. Here is a post from more than a week ago explaining the details.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to celebrate and felt left out. But I also think that’s the beauty of OTBN – find a not-very-special occasion and open a great bottle of wine. Most people serious about wine have more great bottles than we probably will drink any time soon.

And what is purpose of buying great wine if all you ever consume is the under $20 bottles?

With that spirit, and no special occasion nor story, I opened up Al Gore’s lockbox and scanned the possibilities. I was making a slow cook Tuscan pasta dish and decided it had to be Italian. I have some Brunello, Sagrantino, and a couple of Barolos stashed away. I love them all. I grabbed the first big bottle (they leading these things?) from the cooler and splashed it into the decanter for a couple of hours.

The wine, Fontanafredda Serralunga d’Alba Barolo 2006, wasn’t the best Nebbiolo I’ve ever had but sure wasn’t bad. The critics loved it – Wine Spectator gave it 91 points and James Suckling gave it 90.

For any newbies, Nebbiolo is dry red wine. I loved it but it had just been awhile since I had Barolo and that initial dry smack on the palate is a jolt.

The wine was all mineral, leather, and I’d say flavor like tart berries. It had nice acid and a rather nice finish. This wine would probably rock in another 2-3 years.

Barolo is definitely a wine style new wine drinkers should try out. They aren’t cheap but you can often get good buys and decent wines from the internet flash sites to try something like this out. This wine retails in the mid $40 range but I got it for under $30 via the internet.

So no story, no special occasion but a darn fine bottle of wine with Saturday night pasta.

Celebrate OTBN Saturday Night

21 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Howard in Holidays

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Tags

Open That Bottle Night, OTBN

One of the joys of keeping a substantial amount of wine in your home is occasionally reaching for the good stuff. No! Don’t wait until a birthday, visit from a special friend, or otherwise unusual occasion. Just open the damn good bottle of juice and drink it because you deserve it.

Such is the thinking behind the annual Open That Bottle Night. Saturday, Feb. 23, is the 2013 OTBN so start thinking now.

OTBN has been around since the late 90s, brainchild of Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher. The duo were wine writers for the Wall Street Journal. They left the venerable old American newspaper icon in 2009 after 11 years of wine column writing.

They came up with the annual “Open That Bottle Night” in 2009 to encourage wine enthusiasts to open a special bottle of wine and share the story with others.

Now you don’t need a wine column or a blog to participate. Think how much fun it would be to invite a friend or friends over and pop open something really special.

For me, it’s going to be a great Oregon Pinot Noir or maybe a California Cab. I probably won’t decide until the last minute Saturday.

OTBN is always the last Saturday in February. But don’t wait for another year to roll by before you grab a bottle of the good stuff “just because.” You can celebrate OTBN any night of the year!