Rosh Chodesh Clubs: Kosher ‘Open that Bottle Night’

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, who wrote The Wall Street Journal’s wine column “Tastings” from 1998 to 2010, launched “Open That Bottle Night” in 1999. Its purpose was to encourage people to open the bottles they had saved for special occasions but never arrived. Since then, “OTBN,” as it’s called in the industry, has been celebrated on the last Saturday of February. It’s promoted worldwide by retailers and wineries.

In 2013, OTBN inspired kosher wine expert Yossie Horwitz to host a dedicated evening to enjoy fine wines with like-minded friends. For many kosher wine drinkers, Shabbat and holiday meals are key times to drink wine. However, local friends and neighbors often don’t share the same interest or sophistication in appreciating wines as their wine-loving host. Horwitz decided to hold a monthly dinner in his Manhattan apartment on or around the date, marking the recurring Jewish new moon festival known as Rosh Chodesh. His goal was to encourage wine aficionados to share well-aged wines. Although food was never intended as a central focus of the events, when a friend and amateur chef joined in and began cooking elite-level meals for the gatherings, the dinner served became an integral part.

Today, around 35 so-called “Rosh Chodesh Clubs” (RCCs) meet regularly around the globe. Horwitz describes the great camaraderie among participants as almost like being part of a “secret society.” The gatherings have led to friendships, great networking, and business opportunities. Horwitz explains that bringing good people together is his goal, and encouraging people to appreciate cellaring wine is a priority.

The industry often describes wine as having three tiers of characteristics. Primary are the floral or fruity elements inherent to the grape itself, while techniques in the winery create secondary notes such as oak, butter, chocolate, and spice. Tertiary flavors develop in the bottle as the wine ages, including notes such as leather, truffle, cigar box, tobacco, cedar, and mushroom. The only way to obtain a bottle with tertiary notes is to bottle age in a cellar or wine fridge or to pay a premium to purchase what sellers call a “library wine.” The attraction of an event like the Rosh Chodesh Club, where participants may share a dozen aged bottles amongst friends, is a rare opportunity to taste a range of wines that may be hard to find at any price.

Horwitz tastes over 5000 kosher wines a year, paying for them out-of-pocket to ensure his independence. He then shares his views with thousands of newsletter subscribers. He tries to visit every kosher winery worldwide, at least every other year. Horwitz provides a set of rules for running an RCC, including a requirement that the wines provided have aged at least 7 years past the current vintage date and ideally limiting attendance to the number of people who can share an individual bottle.

Ben Weber, owner of The Cellar wine store in Lakewood, New Jersey, which he runs with Ari Lockspeiser, is the regular host of a longstanding monthly Rosh Chodesh Club. Up to nine additional guests join five or six regulars over an elegant meal prepared by Weber.

“Food is an important complement to wine,” explains Weber.

Given the yeshivish community in Lakewood, this group is primarily a men’s gathering, but many other RCC gatherings include couples. The Lakewood regulars bring bottles starting with the vintage 2015 or earlier, but guests are welcome to bring any unique, hard-to-find, or otherwise interesting wine.

Ask around to find out if there is an RCC in your city, or start one yourself!

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