You might have forgotten it in the hubbub over Valentine’s Day, or never even known about it (shame on you!), but Wednesday, February 16th, is Syrah Day or #SyrahDay. That said, I’m sure the organizers at Hospice du Rhône won’t mind if folks call it Shiraz Day in certain parts of the world. The idea behind these sorts of events is to get a large number of people cyberbuzzing about a topic and hopefully increase knowledge and engagement levels on a larger scale than if there were no particular focus.

I think these “events” can help, but because of the fragmented nature of the Internet and the incomplete social media networks we all find ourselves in, the results are often unpredictable. Some days and hashtags take off, others wither on the vine. Did you know that Wednesday, February 16th, is also #wbw70? That’s Wine Blogging Wednesday Number 70, hosted by Catavino and with a focus on Spanish wines. Like every Wednesday, it’s also #WW (Wine Wednesday), not to be confused with #FF (Follow Friday). It’s enough to make one forget that the # sign can also mean pound or number.

Other events include RAP‘s International Rosé Celebration Day (May 10, 2011), ZAP‘s Global Zinfandel Day (November 19, 2010–sorry I missed that one) and perhaps the granddaddy of all of these, The Wall Street Journal‘s Open That Bottle Night (the last Saturday of February, so February 26, 2011). Then-WSJ columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher started OTBN back in 2000, as a way of encouraging readers to open bottles from their cellars that they had been saving.

Since Gaiter and Brecher no longer have their outlet in WSJ, Liz O’Connell and Trish Barry have picked up the OTBN torch and have done what they can to promote it via Facebook and Twitter (#OTBN). OTBN is something I can identify with, as I tend to accumulate a lot of single bottles in my cellar that I have a hard time convincing myself to open. This year, I’m going to open one of those hoarded bottles, I swear.

I picked out a wine for Syrah Day last night, but as I am going to blind-taste my colleagues here at the office on it, I can’t say what it is yet. I’ll add it to the bottom of this post once the cat is out of the bag, but here’s a clue–the photo up top is of the region’s vineyards.

What do you think about cyberevents and special days? Do you participate? Should Wine Enthusiast be more active or vocal in promoting and participating in these occasions? Feel free to add your own wine-related cyberevents to the comments section–I’m sure there are many more out there.

#SyrahDay wine: Michel & Stéphane Ogier 2001 Côte Rôtie. Beatifully aromatic, with notes of smoke, pepper, cured meats, and olive. Maybe just a touch lean on the palate, but elegant and silky, with wonderful complexity. Anyone want to suggest a food pairing?

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