Features

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.

As March arrives and winter prepares its reluctant retreat (taking its sweet time like a dinner guest who can't take a hint), there's still time for a last hurrah with rich, warming red wines. These final weeks offer a perfect opportunity to drain those bottles that have kept us sane through months of thermal underwear and astronomical heating bills.

The most satisfying winter reds deserve a proper send-off before they're banished to the cellar until next November. Cabernet Sauvignon from California's Napa Valley has been your loyal friend through the darkest days—like that dependable buddy who helped you shovel the driveway without complaining (much). Australian Shiraz, with its bold blackberry and chocolate notes, deserves one final evening by the fire—a wine so warming it should come with its own caution label: "May cause spontaneous removal of sweaters."

Before bidding winter adieu, raise a glass of Argentine Malbec from Mendoza, whose velvety plum flavors have made Netflix-and-blanket nights bearable. Italian Primitivo, meanwhile, offers such comforting warmth that it's essentially a liquid space heater with tasting notes. Both have earned their place in the winter wine hall of fame—a pantheon of bottles that don't judge you for wearing the same sweatpants four days straight.

For those looking to bridge the seasonal transition, medium-bodied Pinot Noir serves as the perfect diplomat between winter's heavy hitters and spring's lighter fare. Oregon Pinots deliver earthy mushroom notes balanced with bright cherry—sophisticated enough for your first dinner party of spring, but still substantial enough for those surprise March snowstorms that arrive like uninvited relatives. Think of Pinot as winter wine with training wheels for the warmer days ahead.

As we prepare to welcome spring, give these cold-weather companions one last pour. In these final chilly evenings, serve them around 60-65°F—warm enough to fully appreciate their complexity but cool enough to remind them that their season is ending. After all, breaking up with winter wines isn'...

Wine is more than just a beverage for me. Drinking wine, I can often derive introspective thoughts and emotions about myself. And most of the time, wine brings joy. But on a particular occasion not too long ago, some other emotion overtook me. 

One evening, I was opening a bottle of Vintage Port from the legendary 1970 vintage. I was pretty excited, having read and heard so much about the universally acclaimed vintage – many critics consider it perhaps the best vintage for the past 50 years. But, like all things that come with high expectations, I ended up being disappointed, with the wine no longer possessing any fruit characteristic. 

Such an experience usually doesn’t dampen my mood much, because wine is perishable after all. But I was awash in sadness this time with the realization that, no matter how great of a bottle, a wine’s best day eventually passes. And in extension, so do ours.

As someone who still remembers being young, there was a time when I seemingly had unlimited amounts of time, and would go about my weeks and months not focusing on what was most important. Sometimes, important events such as my mother’s birthday or gatherings with the extended family, would be forgotten. But it was ok, because there was always next week, next month, next year. I always had more time.

But now, I realize I may not have as much time to waste as I did before. Schedules get busier and busier, friends move farther and farther away, and most depressingly, there are more and more funerals to attend. 

Wine, in a woeful way, reflects that sort of experience. 

Let's break down the wine scene in Piedmont, where Italy keeps some of its most epic bottles. Fair warning: once you get into these wines, your Two-Buck Chuck days are officially numbered.

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.

Grape Collective talks with winemaker Saïd Ouhmad and agronomist Yassine Dahouri of Domaine de Baccari about winemaking in Morocco.

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?”

Christopher Loewen stopped by Grape Collective to share his thoughts on working with old vineyards, the challenges of low-intervention winemaking, and the lessons learned from generations before him. 

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.

Anselmo is very easy to like. Tall, charismatic, a full head of hair, and always smiling when he talks. He radiates a sense of joy and pride when he presents San Leonardo and its wine. This small winery, located at the southern end of Trentino DOC in Northeast Italy, is surrounded by seemingly inhospitable terrain, endless forestry, and roaming wildlife. But somehow, the 300 hectare estate has managed to maintain a 30 hectare vineyard making some of Italy’s most interesting and unique Bordeaux blends.

San Leonardo’s Bordeaux blend, which consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Carmenere, is distinctly different from the powerful and opulent Super Tuscan wines from Bolgheri. Their style leans towards a more restrained cool-climate profile that focuses on elegance, balance, and freshness, and reflects a deep understanding of their soil and vines.  

It was Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga, Anselmo’s father, who was responsible for the success and quality of San Leonardo’s wines. Carlo redefined winemaking at San Leonardo in the 1970s, and today, Anselmo is the proprietor that continues to focus on what Carlo has instilled in him and everyone else that works at San Leonardo.

Anselmo will be the first to admit that his primary responsibility “…is to maintain [San Leonardo], and [he has] changed so many things just to try to maintain the identity of the work of [his] father's.”

Grape Collective speaks with Marchese Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga about the wines of San Leonardo, and how the vision of one man could transform a small and isolated estate to produce some of the most unique and character-filled Bordeaux blend.