Feb 23: Open That Bottle Night at Beechwood Inn: Join us at Beechwood Inn for a special Dinner featuring wonderful recipes from around the world, but featuring your most memorable wine. These are rich recipes and wonderful wines for a chilly winter night. 

Dinner is $89 per person, plus tax and gratuity (if you bring a bottle of wine, $99 if you don’t) and features our guests’ most memorable wines; additional wine is available from our wine list. For reservations contact the Beechwood Inn at (706) 782-5485. Mentioned wines are suggested pairings, actual pairings depend on what is brought. Please let us know of dietary restrictions at least 48 hours in advance

Feb 23: Winter Italian Dinner – Beechwood Inn

Aperitif: Gruyere Cheese Puff Pastry, Glass of Beechwood Inn Wine

Appetizer: House-Made Ravioli Filled with Local Cheese, Wild Mushrooms, Fresh Herbs with Mushroom Bisque, Aged Parmesan; Gayle’s Sour Dough Bread and Spring Ridge Creamery Butter, 2012 Carlin de Paolo, il Giullare, Monferrato Chiaretto Rosato

Salad: Winter Greens with Roasted Red Peppers with aged Balsamic, Gorgonzola and EVOO

Entree: Grilled Local Pork Tenderloins with Tuscan Herbs and Cilantro Lemon-Buttered White Wine Shallot Sauce, Polenta Alla Griglia Con Ragu Di Funghi, Grilled Polenta with Mushroom Ragu

2012 Verso Rosso Salento, Puglia, Italy

Vini da Meditazione: Aged Italian Cheese, 2007 Corte Rugolin Amarone, Monte Danieli, Veneto, Italy (or equivalent)

Dessert: Gayle’s Almond Tart with Vanilla Cream

Fresh Brewed Coffee and Herb Teas

 Feb 23: Open That Bottle Night at Beechwood Inn

About Open That Bottle Night:

Whether it’s the only bottle in the house or one bottle among thousands, just about all wine lovers have that very special wine that they always mean to open, but never do. This is why “Tastings” columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher invented Open That Bottle Night, the world-wide celebration of friends, family and memories during which all of us finally drink that wine that is otherwise simply too special to open. http://guides.wsj.com/wine/entertaining-and-celebrating-with-wine/open-that-bottle-night/

On OTBN, which is celebrated on the last Saturday of February every year, thousands of bottles all over the world are released from their prison and enjoyed. With them come memories of great vacations, long-lost loved ones and bittersweet moments. Wine is more than the liquid in the bottle, it’s about history, geography, relationships and all of the things that are really important in life.

For open that bottle night what you should select is not necessarily the most expensive wine in your inventory, but the bottle that with the most memories, and you should share that special thought with your friends.

While I urge people to open older bottles and not let them die of old age in the back of the cellar, and I try to do that because no one is promised tomorrow. But I still have way too many bottles that I just haven’t brought myself to open. Some are rather young, but special to us. 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. Recognizing 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. This year, it’s Feb. 23.

Anthony Gismondi (gismondionwine.com, twitter @The Spitter), who writes about wine for the Vancouver Sun, had a nudge on Jan. 13, 2018 while vacationing in Hawaii that he could not ignore. The nudge, a message that flashed on his IWatch, read: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Anthony said “I always imagined myself heading for the wine cellar to grab those special bottles but in fact it never crossed my mind in those 38 minutes and, now that I have a second chance, I’m going to change my strategy and start drinking those special bottles soon,”

I’ve been looking at my cellar and all the old wines that need drinking and wondering what am I waiting for. My tastes have changed over the last forty-five years but I still feel a strong attachment to the wines I originally bought. I had no idea they would end up in the back of a cellar forgotten more than neglected. Last year Gayle and I made a vow to start drinking the oldest wines in my cellar, and while some are past their prime, others surprised.

If you plan to participate in Open That Bottle Night, here are some tips to help you make the most of it.

1. Choose the wine. This is the all-important first step. You don’t necessarily want to open your “best” wine or your most impressive wine, but the wine that means the most to you, the one that you would simply never open otherwise. You’re looking for a bottle full of memories.
2. Stand older wine up (away from light and heat, of course) for a few days before you plan to open it — say, on Wednesday. This will allow the sediment, if there is some, to sink to the bottom.
3. Both reds and whites are often better closer to cellar temperature (around 55 degrees) than today’s room temperature.
4. With an older bottle, the cork may break easily. The best opener for a cork like that is one with two prongs, but it requires some skill. You have some time to practice using one. Be prepared for the possibility that a fragile cork may fall apart with a regular corkscrew. If that happens, have a carafe and a coffee filter handy. Just pour enough through the coffee filter to catch the cork.
5. Otherwise, do not decant. It’s safe to assume that these are old and fragile wines. Air could quickly dispel what’s left of them. If the wine does need to breathe, you should have plenty of time for that throughout the evening.
6. Have a backup wine ready for your special meal, in case your old wine really has gone bad.
7. If you are having an OTBN party, ask everyone to say a few words about the significance of the wine they brought. This really is what OTBN is all about, sharing.
8. Serve dinner. Open the wine and immediately take a sip. If it’s truly, irretrievably bad — meaning vinegar — you will know it right away.
9. Enjoy the wine for what it is, not what it might someday be or might once have been.

Featuring Two “Best Chefs America 2018”  on our Culnary Team\ Feb 23: Open That Bottle Night at Beechwood Inn

https://www.bestchefsamerica.com/david-darugh

https://www.bestchefsamerica.com/gayle-darugh

bestchefsamerica.com