Happy Open That Bottle Night!

2020 is going to be a weird year in a lot of regards, but it’s pretty solid as far as U.S. holidays! Consider that:

• Easter is in mid-April, not the end of March, so it should actually feel like spring

• 4th of July is on a Saturday, so we'll get Friday as the holiday!

• Halloween is on a Saturday!

• And my birthday is on a Monday, so I’ll be booking my time off day and giving myself a three day weekend. (Amazon wishlist to be posted in the unspecified future.)

And! Open That Bottle Night is tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 29, on Leap Year Day! Which if that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t open your most highly anticipated, super duper special bottle tomorrow night, when should you?!

Open That Bottle Night was created by former Wall Street Journal columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher. (John used to work for Bloomberg News too; thank you, Constant Reader J, for pointing this out!) It's “the world-wide celebration of friends, family and memories during which all of us finally drink that wine that is otherwise simply too special to open.” So if you've got a bottle that you've been meaning to drink “someday,” tomorrow is that someday.

I broke into my Open That Bottle bottle a little early to share with you all. I have no idea where I got it, but I've had it since at least October 2016, according to my CellarTracker notes. It's 2010 Chateau Montelena Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon.

Calistoga is the northern most AVA (American Viticultural Area) in Napa Valley, CA. I find a lot of Napa cab way too fruit-bomby and too strong, but this area near the Russian River Valley has milder and more temperate wine.

I'm happy to report the wine has held up well! Cab is not my favorite, but this is a more Bordeaux-like style that I really enjoyed. It doesn’t feel like a 14% wine, a testament to its great balance. The tannins aren’t overpowering, so this will be a great food wine. I’ll have to get some steak on Saturday to finish the rest of the bottle with.

What's on tap for you for Open That Bottle Night? Let me know!

PS, reminder that tix are still on sale for the NJ Winemakers Coop Spring Portfolio Tasting on Sunday, May 31! VIP tickets, which give you access to a special tasting and hour-long panel discussion with the winemakers, are going fast! This isn’t sponsored, I already bought my ticket, I just want more people to hang out there with. Hope to see you there!