JEK
Senior Insider
Open That Bottle Night, 2/23
The Wall Street Journal
January 25, 2008
TASTINGS
By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER
An Evening to Uncork Memories
How you can give that special bottle a special opening
January 25, 2008; Page W5
On Saturday night, Feb. 23, Carolyn Pearce of Kerrville, Texas, is finally going to open a bottle of wine she calls "Nancy."
It's a Corbett Canyon Chardonnay that was served at a salute to Nancy Reagan during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans in 1988. After the event, a Secret Service agent gave two bottles of the wine, specially marked for the occasion, to his girlfriend and her roommate, who were both medical residents at the time. The girlfriend soon opened the wine and forgot it, but the roommate, Dr. Pearce, saved it. And saved it. And saved it. Next month, Dr. Pearce and her husband will open the wine to have with Caesar salad, scallop risotto -- and, if needed, a backup bottle.
After all these years, what finally has moved Dr. Pearce? Feb. 23 is Open That Bottle Night 9, when all of us, world-wide, finally uncork our own "Nancy" wines and celebrate the memories that flow from these cherished bottles that have always seemed too precious to drink.
OPEN THAT BOTTLE NIGHT PRIMER
If you plan to participate, here is a mixed case of advice:
Imagine if an evil genie took some of your very best memories and hid them in a wine bottle. That's what so many of us do to ourselves. These dear bottles have a special way of retrieving warm and often-forgotten memories, but you have to pop the cork to release them. That's why we invented Open That Bottle Night. So very many of us have that special bottle -- from a departed loved one, from a visit to a winery, from a vacation -- that we're always going to open for just the right moment, but, of course, that moment never comes. So the wine sits and sits and sits and becomes more and more precious, so it sits and sits some more.
From the casual wine drinker with a single bottle in the house to wine lovers with massive cellars, this pretty much happens to everybody. Bruce and Birgit Anderson own a winery themselves -- Sunset Winery in Burleson, Texas -- but this has happened to them. Their special bottle is from a 2002 visit to a winery in Bordeaux. "By any standard it was a small winery, producing at most 12 barrels -- 300 cases -- in a bountiful year," Mr. Anderson told us. They bought a bottle of the 1995 despite the misgivings of the ch
The Wall Street Journal
January 25, 2008
TASTINGS
By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER
An Evening to Uncork Memories
How you can give that special bottle a special opening
January 25, 2008; Page W5
On Saturday night, Feb. 23, Carolyn Pearce of Kerrville, Texas, is finally going to open a bottle of wine she calls "Nancy."
It's a Corbett Canyon Chardonnay that was served at a salute to Nancy Reagan during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans in 1988. After the event, a Secret Service agent gave two bottles of the wine, specially marked for the occasion, to his girlfriend and her roommate, who were both medical residents at the time. The girlfriend soon opened the wine and forgot it, but the roommate, Dr. Pearce, saved it. And saved it. And saved it. Next month, Dr. Pearce and her husband will open the wine to have with Caesar salad, scallop risotto -- and, if needed, a backup bottle.
After all these years, what finally has moved Dr. Pearce? Feb. 23 is Open That Bottle Night 9, when all of us, world-wide, finally uncork our own "Nancy" wines and celebrate the memories that flow from these cherished bottles that have always seemed too precious to drink.
OPEN THAT BOTTLE NIGHT PRIMER
If you plan to participate, here is a mixed case of advice:
Imagine if an evil genie took some of your very best memories and hid them in a wine bottle. That's what so many of us do to ourselves. These dear bottles have a special way of retrieving warm and often-forgotten memories, but you have to pop the cork to release them. That's why we invented Open That Bottle Night. So very many of us have that special bottle -- from a departed loved one, from a visit to a winery, from a vacation -- that we're always going to open for just the right moment, but, of course, that moment never comes. So the wine sits and sits and sits and becomes more and more precious, so it sits and sits some more.
From the casual wine drinker with a single bottle in the house to wine lovers with massive cellars, this pretty much happens to everybody. Bruce and Birgit Anderson own a winery themselves -- Sunset Winery in Burleson, Texas -- but this has happened to them. Their special bottle is from a 2002 visit to a winery in Bordeaux. "By any standard it was a small winery, producing at most 12 barrels -- 300 cases -- in a bountiful year," Mr. Anderson told us. They bought a bottle of the 1995 despite the misgivings of the ch
