How to Choose Wines to Commemorate Special Occasions, From Picking Wines to Age to Finding Older Vintages

Vintage bottles—wines produced from grapes harvested in a single year—capture the essence of a particular time and place.

A bottle of 1994 Balthasar Ress Riesling Oestrich Doosberg Auslese "Recorked" from Rheingau Germany at the home of master sommelier Jesse Becker on Feb. 7, 2025 in Chicago. Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune

By Anna Lee Iijima From Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — In the years since my husband and I married, just a handful of mementos from our wedding day remain in our overcrowded city apartment. My wedding dress sits, sadly, crumpled in a garment bag at the back of my closet. A lone slice of cake lingers in the depths of the freezer and somewhere, there’s a video album no one has ever asked to watch.