Stop Making Excuses: Open That Bottle!

In the quest to have voices heard and agendas to promote, you may have noticed there is a "day" for just about everything. Just this month alone has things like National Cream Cheese Brownie Day (groan), National Love Your Pet Day (that's right...eff you on the the other 364.25 days of the year, Fido), and National Cook A Sweet Potato Day (because everyone loves to eat these raw). Hell, it was just National Drink Wine Day on the 18th! I didn't even realize this because I don't need a day to remind me to drink wine.

February 25th is a day that I think we can all get behind as it relates to adult beverages. Yes, tomorrow is Open That Bottle Day (Night). Created by the Wall Street Journal's Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, this is a day that encourages wine drinkers to uncork that bottle they have been seeking an excuse or the perfect opportunity to open. It could be sentimental, expensive, whatever...you just open it up on the fourth Saturday in February. I would even extend this to the spirits realm, too. Did you pick up a 25-year old Scotch a few years ago? Open it up...it's not getting any better just sitting there!

I have my own decision to make for tomorrow. I have some high-quality options: past birthday gifts, old purchases that can develop in the bottle, and other assorted kick-ass wines. However, I have something that will ultimately be my choice based on an outstanding experience I had in Sonoma wine country.

This is what I look like when I crawl out from under my rock and act like a grown-up, roughly a half-dozen times per year.

It was just three years ago that I returned from London with a Diploma of Wine & Spirits in hand, along with a work-study opportunity sponsored by the Atlanta-based Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC). I still remember the excitement of being able to visit a couple of wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, because despite all of my hard work learning about booze I somehow had never made it to any vineyards in California. So in April of 2014, after spending two days in Atlanta learning the ins and outs of how alcohol distribution works, I headed out to Cuvaison Winery in Napa.

Hard work. Good thing I am a trained professional.

The vineyards at Cuvaison. From L-R: Jennifer Fernandez, Central U.S. Regional Manager; Steve Richards, National Sales Manager, Steven Rogstad, Winemaker

Steven Rogstad is a one-man wrecking crew of grapegrowing and winemaking at Cuvaison. He not only manages the certified sustainable vineyards on property, but he is also the lead winemaker. It was a blitz of information he shared with me that day, showing me all the nerdy technical information that I crave, but also guided me on a tasting of individual clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. These clones all bring different aspects to a finished wine. One might be high in acid, another higher in potential alcohol. One Chardonnay clone may have citrusy flavors, while another has more tropical fruit. The winemaker chooses the proportion of clones to blend together to make the final wine, based on a desired style of expression. So for me, this was an unbelievable opportunity.

My amazing tour guides. Chris Benziger, National Sales Manager, and Jeff Landolt, Viticulture Operations Coordinator at the deCoelo Vineyard, Sonoma Coast.

After staying overnight in Napa, I drove to Sonoma bright and early the next morning to spend the entire day at Benziger Family Estate to get a serious crash course in viticulture, with emphasis on organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyard. We drove from site to site, studying nuanced variations among each location that make a huge impact on the finished wine, with particular emphasis on that finicky grape known as Pinot Noir. Without boring you with more technical details, let's just say that my brain was on overload thanks to the amazing knowledge of Viticulure Operations Coordinator, Jeff Landolt. Jeff is younger than I am, yet likely forgot more about grapegrowing and vineyard management than I will ever know. Again, the opportunity to taste individual clones, as well as finished wines, presented itself. Of course, I gladly participated.

So this connection I had to such a memorable experience leads me to my own selection for Saturday night. I was sent home from Benziger with the Quintus Pinot Noir ($75), a wine made from fruit that comes from their high-performing deCoelo vineyard, located a mere six miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Sonoma Coast. I can't wait to get reconnected to my time in Sonoma and share it with The Best Wife in the World.

Let me know what you are popping open tomorrow night! I would love to know what you are drinking.