The last time Matt and I went out without the children was our anniversary, which was in October. Since the arrival of Dominic obviously we have been staying in more and more. This night though, we broke free! Thanks to my sister of course. She successfully pulled off a night with three kids all by her lonesome! Slow clap for that one. My daily bottle practice with the baby paid off and was worth my effort's weight in Cabernet Sauvignon!
Open That Bottle Night is an annual affair, and probably our most favorite event of the year. Every time we head home we say the same exact things... How much fun we have, how great the guests are, and how fantastic the wine selection is. Not to mention the food, which is always superb. And that wine though!
Apologies for iPhone only photos, but the mamarazzi was off duty that night, and in fact quite a few of these I "borrowed" from another guest at the party. Thanks Kelly!
The theme this year was Van Gogh. Sunflowers and paintings scattered around the house and then of course, French wines. A theme! Now this is something I can get behind.
After everyone had gotten settled and enjoyed the hearty appetizers we retired to the living room to taste all the wines everyone brought. Each of us has a story about our bottle, describing why we chose it, anything from oh because we liked the diablo on the label (us, we did) to a story of a trip up to the North Shore of Long Island. Anything and everything goes. Some things may get lost in translation as the tastings progress but there sure is a lot of laughing. And of course being individuals always up on current affairs, a break was necessary to discuss what color #thedress is (white and gold, clearly).
This bottle was Matt's favorite, and with that seal embossed on the bottle who wouldn't love it? I especially liked it's placement next to the diablo bottle. That's the Pope's seal... And! Did you know they made markers for glasses? It was genius! Unlike the chalkboard glasses this one you can't rub off with manhandling. Not that you would be manhandling a wine glass of course. Never.
After the wines we all brought along were sampled then we moved on to the game portion of the evening, a game that last year I won, but this year sadly did not. I passed the torch along to my newly engaged (yay!) friend Molly. Seven brown papered bottles of French wine were brought out and we were to taste and to decide which of the below bottles was what number. It was hard. Just when you think you know a Chardonnay am I right?
I only got two right. This just has me second guessing all of my feelings about what I thought I knew about wine. More field research may be needed.
Thanks again to our gracious hosts for including us in on such a wonderful evening! It's our favorite.
Last year's OTBN here.
