Sonoma County Wine Country / About Wine, Food, and and Wine Country Living

Posted March 2006

Barrel Tasting Along the Wine Road

A Barrel of Fun, or Tasting from Thief

SONOMA— Early birds are getting a jump on buying some of the best wines in wine country, sampling the yet-unfinished-wines right from the barrel and snapping them up on the spot, before they've even gone into the bottle.  How? From February through May, barrel tastings are all the rage in popular wine regions like Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara, giving tasters a sneak preview of upcoming vintages from their favorite wineries.

Once the domain of hard-core enthusiasts, barrel tasting events—where tasters visit wineries and sample young, unbottled wines straight from the barrel—are becoming increasingly popular with collectors and the general public. Though it can sometimes be a bit tricky to really assess the final outcome of a wine which may be six months to a year or so from release, those in the know are often willing to gamble on the young wines to snap up hard-to-find bottles from small production wineries or excellent vintages. In return, wine makers get much-needed up-front capital and buyers often get a significant discount—sometimes as much as 20 percent or more—on the unfinished wines (which they receive after bottling). It's a win-win.

During this year's Barrel Tasting weekend, 113 participating wineries along the Russian River Wine Road had an estimated 19,000 people tasting and several wineries completely sold out vintages just based on futures. That's a lot of wine. Other local wineries, according to Russian River Wine Road Executive Director Beth Costa, took advantage of the huge crowds to introduce new wines and bulk up mailing lists. Nearly all, she says, reported record-breaking sales for the weekend.

The Russian River event it is one of the largest organized barrel tastings in the region, and after this year's record numbers, planners say the response has gotten almost overwhelming.

The story is similar in Napa, where Premiere Napa Valley, an exclusive futures auction held each year in February for the trade only, raised nearly $1.87 million dollars from enthusiasts determined to secure their own allotments of some of the valley's best wines.

Other wineries throughout Napa, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles and other Wine Country regions offer barrel tastings on specific weekends throughout the spring, or by request at the winery.