Why waiting for a special occasion is so passé – open that bottle tonight!
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In the 2004 film Sideways, the characters Miles and Maya, played by Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen respectively, are discussing what got them into wine when Miles casually mentions that he has a 1961 Cheval Blanc in his ‘meagre’ wine collection.
Maya is stunned and the interaction plays out something like this…
Maya: “You have a ’61 Cheval Blanc and it’s just sitting there?! I think the ‘61s are peaking now – it might be too late already, what are you waiting for?”
Miles: “Oh I don’t know. A special occasion. With the right person.”
Maya: “You know the day you open a ’61 Cheval Blanc, that’s the special occasion.”
Well Maya, we think you’re bang on the money.
In-keeping with un-tradition
Back in the year 2000, on the last Saturday of February, a group of friends came together for the very first Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). Dissatisfied with the notion that only special events warranted special indulgences, they established this global initiative to break with tradition and encourage people to open their most special wine, the one that they had been saving, just because.
While not all of us can be quite so lucky as Miles as to have a 40+ year highly sought-after Saint-Émilion just lying around in our wine rack, many will have at least one particular bottle that catches their eye every time they pass by. The philosophy behind OTBN gives us the excuse we’ve been looking for, but never truly needed.
The aftermath of self-indulgence
The team at CellarDoor.co stand firmly behind the idea that special bottles need not wait for special occasions, but we’re also only too familiar with what occurs after this philosophy is wholeheartedly embraced. Wine rack gaps.
Not just an issue for those that enjoy things neat and tidy, scientific studies have revealed that wine rack gaps dramatically decrease your chances of having suitable wine at the ready. You can hardly Open That Bottle Night if you don’t have That Bottle – right?
Thankfully the cure is simple.
A stop by the wine shop
In the lead up to OTBN we decided to stop by the CellarDoor.co HQ Wine Shop for a chat with Steve Waring, our resident wine rack gap expert, to discuss his plans for the upcoming Saturday night event.
Gracious host that he is, Steve will be entertaining some friends for OTBN (unfortunately we didn’t get an invite) and has selected four different bottles from his collection to pair with four different dishes that he will be serving.
“It was a fun process,” he was telling us, “I basically sat down in front of my cellar and had a look at a few of the bottles that I’d been saving for some kind of occasion. Then I started to think about the flavour profiles of each, when I would serve them, and what I could serve with them.
“In the end I went with a Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz, Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir, and a Seppelt St Peters Shiraz.”
Not too bad at all Steve.
“Once I pulled the wines out, I then had four holes staring back at me basically begging to be re-filled.
“I decided that this round I would try to replace them with something similar but different. Sometimes selecting wine can be as fun as drinking it. I think it’s the anticipation; once I choose a bottle, I get quite excited thinking about the prospect of drinking it some time in the future.”
Steve divulged to us that in place of Penfolds Bin 28, he has selected St Henri Shiraz 2018; Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon will be replaced by Coonawarra Trio 'St George' Cabernet Sauvignon 2019; Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir will make way for Deer Farm Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020; and the hole where Seppelt St Peters was will soon see No. 1 Barossa Shiraz 2016.
“All of these wines are available as Single Bottles, which suits me perfectly. They’re also all ripe for drinking today but can be held over the medium to long term too, just in case it takes me a while to get around to them – I don’t expect it will though.”
OTBN shouldn’t just be one night a year
While OTBN only falls on the last Saturday of every February, we don’t think we all should be waiting for this one night of the year. Sharing special bottles that we’ve carefully selected with close friends is one of the joys of being a wine enthusiast. It needn’t be only for special occasions, but for any occasion that feels right.
As Sideways’ Maya would say, “To open a bottle of ‘61 Cheval Blanc is enough reason to open a bottle of ‘61 Cheval Blanc.”
We think Steve would even go one further by adding, “which is enough reason to buy a bottle of Penfolds Grange.”
Wouldn’t that be the life!
