The 10th anniversary of Open That Bottle Night arrives on Saturday, so what are you going to uncork? This annual wine event was founded by two writers from the Wall Street Journal - Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher - with the idea of savoring a bottle (or two) that's been sitting in your cellar or cooling unit for too long. For some Internet action related to Open That Bottle Night, check out www.openthatbottlenight.com and live twittering at www.twittertastelive.com.
I'm still mulling over three candidates for Open That Bottle Night. They are:
- d'Arenberg 2003 Dead Arm Shiraz: bought this bottle a few years ago on a whim, even though I'm not the biggest fan of Aussie shiraz. I'm not usually into wines that are so jammy that you could practically spread them on toast. These big-bodied wines really benefit from time in the bottle, and some of its baby fat might be shed by now. Part of me wants to let it sleep longer, and the other part is ready to make space in my cooling unit.
- Mayacamas 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon: I bought this bottle upon release, knowing that Mayacamas wines can be hugely tannic when young and are glacier-like in their aging. I was planning on opening this one about five years from now ... Though 1998 was a largely panned vintage for California cabernet, time has shown that many of these wines are aging much more gracefully than their 1997 counterparts. Time to pop this Mayacamas and check its evolution? Tempting ...
- a bottle of 1986 semillon, though I can't remember the producer at this point. All I know is that I've had some wonderful examples of aged semillon recently (just love that mix of fig and baked apple flavors) and this bottle certainly isn't getting any younger.
Again, what are your candidates for Open That Bottle Night? Leave them in the comments section...
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