Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, former Wall Street Journal wine columnists, started Open that Bottle Night in 2000 as a way to celebrate wine. The last Saturday night in February is the “official” or maybe “unofficial” celebration day. The idea behind Open that Bottle Night is to pop open the bottle you’ve been saving for a special occasion or one that holds special meaning. It can be a red or white wine, high-dollar or inexpensive, a new wine or an old favorite. Wine lovers gather to share stories, wines and memories.

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I know most of you think of Margaritas and tequila when I mention a trip to Mexico. Trust me, I usually do too. However, I drank quite a bit of sparkling wine while visiting these past few days. I’m not going to lie – I didn’t have one glass of red or white offered by the resort, but the vino espumoso (sparkling wine) did surprise me.

The resort offered a Mexican produced vino espumoso called Dubois. While it was not a high dollar sparkler, it did serve it’s purpose. It was a brut with just a touch of sweetness, but relatively dry. My guess would be under $20, in fact closer to $10 if you were to look for it in a store. It looked to be part of the Freixenet family. For me, it was the perfect accompaniment to the sun and sand.

This is a blog post I’ve been wanting to get up for a while, but somehow in the chaos it kept slipping my mind. The Wine Bloggers Conference 2010is in Walla Walla, Washington from June 25-27. Last year, I discovered the wine bloggers conference about the same time it was going on so needless to say I didn’t attend. I’m hoping to head out to Walla Walla this year, but our timing might not work out with some other summer plans.

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Winery: Domaine de l’Oratoire St. Martin
Wine: 2007 Cairanne Rouge Reserve des Seigneurs
Location: Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne, Southern Rhône
Purchased: The Corkscrew
Price: $24.00

Jonathan and I first sampled this wine at the Rhône wine dinner hosted by The Corkscrew back in October. At that time, we noticed earthiness, slight barnyard, crushed cherries and raspberries on the nose. The palate featured cherries, barnyard and a medium finish. We thought this was a nice wine for the price. For this event, all the wines had been decanted at least two hours in advance so we were curious to see how the wine showed when it was first opened.

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And so it begins – the moving process. We packed most of our wine and transported it to Texas yesterday. It’s one item the movers will not pack and ship so we packed up our supply and headed south to Austin.

Our wine cooler looks a little shocking right now. We left a few bottles for the days we’ll be back before bidding adieu to Illinois. So for the next month, things may be a little crazy with relocating, traveling back and forth a few times and a trip out of the country. I’ll try my best, but forgive the sporadic postings.