Name Dorothy and | ||
Savoring the "Art" of Wine
Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher are American journalists, authors and wine critics, wife and husband who jointly wrote a wine column in The Wall Street Journal titled "Tastings" between 1998-2009. They rated wines on a scale that ranged from "Yech", "OK", "Good", "Very Good", "Delicious" to "Delicious!". Their careers began simultaneously and have remained connected since their first meeting in the newsroom of The Miami Herald in 1973.
Contents
- Savoring the Art of Wine
- Early life
- Final Tastings column
- Open That Bottle Night
- Most recent accomplishments
- Books
- References
Early life
Brecher grew up in one of the few Jewish families in Jacksonville, Florida. Gaiter grew up in an all-black community near Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida.
Final "Tastings" column
Gaiter and Brecher announced at the end of their December 26, 2009 "Tastings" column in The Wall Street Journal that it would be their last. No reason was given, and no hint was provided as to what the couple would do in the future. The writers who later succeeded them as The Wall Street Journal wine columnists were Jay McInerney, Lettie Teague and Will Lyons.
In 2011, in an interview with the Jacksonville Wine Guide, Gaiter and Brecher said that they "took the year off" in 2010—their first significant break from work in 36 years—and were undecided as to their next project.
Open That Bottle Night
In the late 1990s, Gaiter and Brecher 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.
Most recent accomplishments
In 2010, Gaiter was named Food and Wine Editor for France Magazine. In 2013, she was also named Senior Editor for grapecollective.com.
Brecher joined Bloomberg News in 2011 and, in 2012, was named Executive Editor for Enterprise. In May 2014, he was awarded the Lawrence Minard Award, one of two Gerald Loeb career achievement awards.
Books
Among their published books are Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage (2003), Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion (2004) and several editions of The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine.