….. provide an impetus for people to enjoy a wine they had been keeping for a special occasion that never arrived. Weddings, births, anniversaries, all manner of special milestones had come but those corks remained intact. We knew this happened because readers told us about bottles like that and we have many ourselves.

 

While we urge people to open them as often as possible, and we try to do that because no one is promised tomorrow, there are still some bottles that we just haven’t brought ourselves to open. Some are rather young, but special to us, still. The point is to open these gems with someone you care about and celebrate the memories that are in that bottle. Make them the occasion. Recognising that sometimes it takes a village to do something difficult, we set a date, the last Saturday in February, for this global celebration of friendship, love and wine.

As we get close this this year’s Open that Bottle Night (26 February 2022), we’ll update this post with bottles that some of our guests are planning on opening in the spirit of the night.

These two wines were given to me on my birthday in October last year. They’re great wines and I remember promising myself that I’d not leave waiting too long (and now it’s February). No more waiting. It’s time to open them.

We first had this wine at a Lanser on Main wine pairing and loved it. It took us quite a while to find it again. We don’t have it often, because it’s difficult to find, so we save it for special or important moments. One of the reasons it’s so special to me is that it was one of the wines that got Dale and I more into red wine.

I’ve been a fan of Hermanus’ Hemel Aarde Valley for years. On a trip to Hermanus a friend recommended that we extend our travels to include Walker Bay (about 30 minutes outside Hermanus). We found Springfontein…and it has become one of my favourite vineyards. There I fell in love with a special and incredibly unique wine – the Daredevils’ Drum Blushes Inverse Pinotage (aka a “white pinotage”). Fruity, yet down to earth, this is something incredibly rare and special…if you can find it, grab with both hands and enjoy a little heavenly delight, with the devil on your shoulder.

I was gifted a bottle by a friend who said it was one of the most special South African red wines he has ever tasted. I was taken by the recycled bottle and the unique handmade label which is full of cauliflower seeds ready to be replanted.

I’ve just been given the latest from the Anthonij Rupert stable. I’ll be sharing this with a dear friend, to celebrate life.

We’d love to add your story to this post