Dorothy J. Gaiter & John Brecher

Dorothy J. Gaiter & John Brecher

Dorothy J. Gaiter & John Brecher

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher conceived and wrote The Wall Street Journal's wine column, "Tastings," from 1998 to 2010. Dorothy and John have been tasting and studying wine since 1973. In 2020, the University of California at Davis added their papers to the Warren Winiarski Wine Writers Collection in its library, which also includes the work of Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. Dottie has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at The Miami Herald, The New York Times, and at The Journal. John was Page One Editor of The Journal, City Editor of The Miami Herald and a senior editor at Bloomberg News. They are well-known from their books and many television appearances, especially on Martha Stewart's show, and as the creators of the annual, international "Open That Bottle Night" celebration of wine and friendship. The first bottle they shared was André Cold Duck. They have two daughters.

  1. Éric Taillet Champagne Rocks Us; It Starts With Worms, Trees and Sexual Confusion

    Éric Taillet Champagne Rocks Us; It Starts With Worms, Trees and Sexual Confusion

    We’ve all had those moments during our wine journeys. Whether we’re new to wine or ...

  2. OTBN 2025 Was Sweet, With a Salute to Dad and Plenty of Yquem

    OTBN 2025 Was Sweet, With a Salute to Dad and Plenty of Yquem

    When we invented Open That Bottle Night in 1999, to persuade people to finally uncork the wine they’ve been saving forever for a special occasion, we had no idea we’d create a worldwide community. Every year, OTBN, on the last Saturday of February, is wonderful. But this year touched people more deeply. For whatever reason, wine lovers truly embraced the concept: There’s no better day than today to celebrate.

  3. Tasting the Wines of Virginia: The Winner Is….

    Tasting the Wines of Virginia: The Winner Is….

    What is it like to taste 149 wines in two days, taking notes on each one, with Waffle House in-between?

    In January, we were judges for the Virginia Governor’s Cup, which is hosted by the Virginia Wineries Association in partnership with the Virginia Wine Board and the Virginia Vineyards Association. We have been enjoying and writing about Virginia’s wines for decades. Horton Vineyards Viognier and Norton were early favorites going back to the ’90s, about the time we visited the now-sold Swedenburg Estate Vineyard in Middleburg. We discovered the fine, Champagne-method sparklers from Thibaut-Janisson Winery more than a decade ago. But this is the first time we participated in the judging.

  4. Free the Good Memories: It’s Time for Open That Bottle Night

    Free the Good Memories: It’s Time for Open That Bottle Night

    When Sarah O’Herron and Ed Boyce founded Black Ankle Vineyards in 2002, people told them they couldn’t make fine Syrah in Maryland. HA! Not only is the Mount Airy winery well-known for its Syrah, but on Feb. 22, in front of the world, O’Herron and Boyce will open their Syrah from 2007 and 2022 and taste them along with a very famous French Syrah. “Throw down with that one,” O’Herron told us. “Go big or go home,” Boyce added.

    Why Feb. 22? Because it’s Open That Bottle Night 2025, when so many of us, from Prague to Walla Walla, uncork memories from a special wine. We created OTBN in 1999, when we wrote The Wall Street Journal’s wine column, because the most common question we received was some version of this: “I have this bottle from our wedding/my grandfather/an auction that I keep saving for a special occasion. When should I open it?”

  5. A Valentine From Relic Wine Cellars: Juggling a Winery and Marriage

    A Valentine From Relic Wine Cellars: Juggling a Winery and Marriage

    Michael Hirby and Schatzi Throckmorton, owners of Relic Wine Cellars in Napa, which makes complex small-batch wines using old-school methods, have a lot to celebrate this year. “It’s our 25th harvest. It’s our 10th year in our winery and it’s our 20th wedding anniversary,” Throckmorton told us when we called the other day to interview them.

     

  6. Resolve to Break Some Rules and Some Glasses This Year

    Resolve to Break Some Rules and Some Glasses This Year

    Every January, we smile at the first sightings, regular as clockwork: people in new running outfits, determined this year—after perhaps other false starts—to finally get into the habit of running. We nod at each other, recognizing the new class of hopeful souls, and silently wish them success.

    New Year’s resolutions can be difficult to honor. Committing to the gear can only get you so far.

    If your new interest is wine, you’ve selected a challenging time to dive in. Some beverage alcohol drinkers are embracing Dry January, a pause from imbibing that’s intended as self-care. We say, good for them if that’s what they want to do. They’re adults. In all things, one should act responsibly. Personally, we are more aligned with the Gentle January view of Hadley Douglas, who with her husband T.J. Douglas owns the Drink Progressively Group and The Urban Grape wine shops in Boston and Washington D.C.  We’ve written about their annual Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color. “Gentle January is all about embracing what makes you feel complete, satisfied and happy. Punishment-based resets are not allowed,” she writes in the newsletter “Hadley’s Guide to Gentle January.” Throughout January, she enjoys sparkling wine, she writes.

    “I worry about Westernization of January -- do more, be better and never rest all in the name of guilt, punishment and regret. I don’t want to pick up a new routine in January, or set rules that can’t be broken.” 

    The wine world right now is awash in controversies, from the excavation of the colonial underpinnings of historic wine regions to the classist remnants that still haunt the enjoyment of our favorite libation today. And concerns abound. If you’re worried about wine and its effect on your health, it probably hasn’t helped that you likely feel some whiplash from the competing research on that question. Just last week, the surgeon general proposed that wine labels carry new health warnings about cancer, and camps for and against that idea have been at it.

    Along with other industries, the wine industry is nervous about President Trump’s campaign promise to impose tariffs on foreign goods. During his first term, he slapped tariffs on some European goods including wine, which caused higher prices. President Biden rescinded those tariffs. Trump’s aim with tariffs, he says, is to create jobs and boost home-grown manufacturing. However, once again there’s concern about rising prices not only on imported wines but also on domestic wines as distributors and others in the chain of the domestic wine industry, including restaurants and wine shops, increase their prices to make up for the losses in the imported wine segment.

    We have enjoyed wine almost daily since 1973. It enriches our lives. It encourages us to slow down, to see and hear each other more clearly, to delight in the food  before us or the way the setting sun plays on nearby trees and buildings. It transports us to where the wine was made, to the rich history of the place and the people responsible for it. Friendships, our understanding and appreciation of others, have been forged with it.

    But back to the issue of gear and what you truly might need for your enjoyment of wine. If anything is so complicated that it staves off enjoyment of it, it’s our experience that folks will just walk away from it. Yep, shoes need to be comfortable and supportive if you are going to run in them, but you don’t need a different glass for every type of wine you drink. Dottie collects vintage glasses and china. Name the shape and we’ve got it, probably multiples of it. Remember when Champagne coupes, said to have been shaped like Marie Antoinette’s breasts, were out and flutes were in and then tulips? Enjoying wine is a multi-sensory experience. Treat your eyes to it, too. In other words, choose what feels special and appropriate to your mood and the mood of the wine. We acknowledge that a lot of time and money have been spent designing wine glasses to enhance the taste of wine, but we also believe that enjoying wine should not be stressful. John did require pliers to open a bottle of Cristal to propose to Dottie in 1978. But usually when it comes to stress and wine, the grape grower and winemaker have done the heavy lifting.

    We have had a few wonderful wine experiences with clunky hotel glasses. And for the holidays, Zoë gave us John and Dottie Bobble Heads made by an artist with Etsy and it features us holding Styrofoam glasses. In fact, what Dottie was really holding was a clear plastic cup of some nondescript white wine that was poured at the world premiere of Colette Robert’s Off-Broadway play “The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel.” Zoë was part of the three-person band that played on stage throughout the riveting production. Needless to say, the wine and the after-show nibbles were enjoyed.

    For the record, we believe that all wine vessels should be clear glass, free of any sort of adornment, and for most types of wine, everyday glasses should hold at least 20 ounces, not that you’re going to fill them to the rim. (We use some of Dottie’s small, delicate vintage glasses for sweet and dessert wines.) Everyday glasses should have long stems so that you can swirl and your hands won’t be so close to the bowl that they warm the wine, unless you want to warm the wine. And they should be dishwasher safe and affordable so that you don’t worry about breaking them. (These are great gifts for the w...

  7. Exciting Wines? We’re Afraid to Have This One in a Headline

    Exciting Wines? We’re Afraid to Have This One in a Headline

    We paid $7.25 for a 1978 Château Meyney in 1981. That same year, we spent $12.99 – the equivalent about $45 in today’s dollars – to buy a 1979 Ste. Chapelle Chardonnay from Idaho. Why in the world did we do that? Because we’d never seen a wine from Idaho before.

  8. New Bubblies for the New Year, From Hibiscus to Brioche

    New Bubblies for the New Year, From Hibiscus to Brioche

    Around this time of year, we cheer “Out with the old and in with the new!” If that’s a sentiment we truly embrace, why do we celebrate with the same old Champagne? Look, we understand: The holidays don’t seem like a good time to take a risk. So too often for our special bubbly -- the one we share and care about -- we end up spending around $70 on a reliable, well-known label. Sometimes sameness can be comforting.

  9. Big Bucks for a Wine? It’s Not Always Just Packaging and Hype

    Big Bucks for a Wine? It’s Not Always Just Packaging and Hype

    Sometimes, expensive wines are worth the money. We have always said that price alone is no indication of quality and that price and value are different things. We have tasted many wines under $20 that were thoughtful, lovely and true. We have also tried many astonishingly expensive wines that tasted like anvils. Those often came in heavy bottles with elegant labels and higher alcohol than we would like. We thought that, in a way, their high price alone probably gave them cachet with some people.

  10. Acorn to Oak: How an Oregon College Started a Wine Bar Run by Students

    Acorn to Oak: How an Oregon College Started a Wine Bar Run by Students

    Last year, when we were the MCs at the International Pinot Noir Celebration on the campus of Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, we heard that the university was starting a wine bar that would be run by students. The administrator who told us this added that Linfield was a dry campus, so we wondered how that would work.

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