Valentine’s Day has come and gone and while we celebrated with wine we still have some special bottles to open. Thankfully, there is still one more holiday in February that will force us to open our special bottles.
I am really looking forward to my favorite holiday this month…Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). The concept behind OTBN is exactly why I like to celebrate this holiday – why wonder what the future holds when this holiday celebrates what the past has given us? So what is OTBN you ask? Over ten years ago the wine editors from The Wall Street Journal wrote an article stating that they receive too many letters about what to do when that special bottle has gone bad when they finally opened the bottle. Unfortunately the answer is usually the same – dump it down the drain. After hearing about too many good wines being dumped, a holiday was started.
While the writers at The Wall Street Journal had been writing about OTBN for a number of years, OTBN was officially deemed a holiday in 2006. OTBN is celebrated on the last Saturday in February, so this year be ready to celebrate on February 26th. How many of you have a bottle of wine that you bought on a vacation hoping to catch a memory? Or how many of you received a special bottle of wine for a birthday, wedding or anniversary gift and thought it was too precious to drink on any regular night? Why wait for that special moment to open it? What if that special moment comes and the wine has taken a turn for the worse?
I highly recommend opening that bottle on February 26, 2011. Gather a group of friends around, grab a couple of glasses and share the stories about why the wine is special. Once the wine is gone, rinse out the bottle and place it back in that special spot on the shelf again. Now you have another great memory of that wine.
Amanda is the Co-Owner of Candlelight Winery located at 11325 Center Street, Garrettsville. For more gift ideas or wine lists from the winery, please visit www.candlelightwinery.com.
