Happy Easter and Open that Bottle

Easter is the time of year when most faiths celebrate some belief in rebirth.  Spring, of course, is a time of year when we plant our seeds looking forward to the new growth of plants and crops as well.  It is a time to celebrate life with family and friends usually over a great meal and great wines.  I have always believed you should drink your better wines from time to time.  Wine sitting in a box or cellar never to be drunk to me is a travesty.  In the late 1990s, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher of the Wall Street Journal invented the annual "Open That Bottle Night" (OTBN), encouraging their readers to open a symbolically significant bottle, and then share their stories. Since its inauguration in 2000, the event is always scheduled for the last Saturday in February, so the date may range from February 22 to 29.  In that spirit, I decided no time like the present to open that special wine for Easter.  As I have gotten older I have learned to better live every day like it was my last and today that is more true than others so what the heck I opened one of my Bouchard Pere et Fils Montrachet 2011.  French White Burgundy Montrachet is arguably the greatest white wine in the world and also one of the most expensive.  Approximately 26 Vintners make this wine from a vineyard that is only a couple of acres and recently 3 vines sold for over 3 million Euros which when you think about it is outrageous.  

The wine goes back hundreds of years.  The Montrachet vineyard is the cradle of family secrets that cross centuries thanks to the name given to the local great vintages.  Allegedly during the Crusade period, the infidelity of the chatelain Montrachet gave birth to a boy, half brother to the legitimate heir the knight Montrachet who had left to free the holy city.  When he died the chatelain introduced his second son as the legal successor who was greeted with "Welcome to the bastard Montrachet" and thus the offshoot vineyard Batard Montrachet ..Of course when we go to France the French tell us this story is absurd.  Montrachet wines are known for their complexity and deep and hedonistic mineral flavors.  Most have only a hint of oak but some of the greatest ones have a very complex of overlying buttery flavors that no one else seems to be able to mimic.  Montrachet is a high end and complex white wine that goes with many foods including meats.  This Easter dinner was catered by Matthew Medure of Matthews in San Marco, Jacksonville, Florida.  Matthew is a top-shelf, world-class chef who has produced the best food in Northeast Florida now for years.  We started with Scottish Salmon gravlax with the usual accompaniments served with Extra Brut Fallet French Champagne best described as "bone dry".  The main course was a rack of lamb, stuffed chicken breasts with a side salad with a herb and garlic dressing and baked macaroni and cheese.  Served with the Montrachet the food flavors exploded on the palate only to be elevated by the complexity of the Montrachet.  This Easter for many of us will be memorable and never to be forgotten.  My family wishes you and your family continued health and love and safety. I deeply believe our world will be reborn like a phoenix from the ashes of the crisis we currently must face. And my cellar has one less bottle of Montrachet.