Simple Hedonisms

It’s almost here! The 32nd Annual Wine Road Barrel Tasting.  Two weekends of barrel samples, new wine releases, wine discounts, food pairings, and entertainment, for a pittance of $20 a weekend (in advance, $30 at door.)

This event is a little more complicated and unique than your typical ‘bracelet’ event, so more than ever, I encourage a little time for thought and planning.

Here’s Why You Need A Plan:

• The event spans two weekends, but some wineries are only participating the first weekend.
• Some wineries pour early, starting Friday afternoon, others don’t.
• Most, but not all, Wine Road wineries participate.

The Wine Road has a comprehensive short list (scroll down first page)  and a long list of the details on above.

I always recommend printing out the detailed program, grabbing  glass of wine, and perusing the whole thing. Make a theme: New wineries one day, familiar favorites the second? Focusing on one appellation like Dry Creek, Russian River, or exploring Alexander Valley and Geyserville? Chasing down new zins or pinots? Use concepts like this to drive a plan, make it more fun, and feel like you accomplished more in your exploration of wine, and North Sonoma wineries.

This is a very busy event, at certain times of the day. If you are like me, standing in a crush of people, waiting for a pour, isn’t always an enjoyable experience, and with some planning, can be minimized.

Some basic tips:

• Saturday is generally busier than Sunday.
• The event gets gets busier as the day progresses.
• Dense areas like Healdsburg get snarled with traffic, pedestrians, as an area with high concentration of tasting rooms, in a small area.

Factor that in when you are laying out your route, and don’t want to wait in line for an hour at A. Rafanelli to sample.

Other suggestions To Enhance Tasting:

Work into your agenda some of the non- participating Wine Road wineries, especially mid afternoon during the peak. There are many great wineries just open for normal business; why not stop at a few.  I am taking my out of town guests for the Wine & Food pairing at Seghesio, Saturday afternoon, as one example.

Glass and Bracelet Pickup Details:

I thought I’d help clarify a few of the check-in and pick up details, as well as a few tips on this.

• If you pre-purchased tickets, you have to  pick a ‘check in’ winery. After 150 check-ins, a winery is taken off the list as eligible for check-in. This is to help you the consumer, and disperse crowds. What if your friends are checking in at ABC Winery and its full? Check into the one next door, both of you get your glasses, try the wines, and then connect.

• “I picked a winery for check-in that isn’t pouring Friday, and we want to taste then.” That’s perfectly ok – all wineries will have their glasses (make sure they are open to public) and wristbands. Just go there and check-in, and then head out. Or better yet, since you are there, experience whatever their normal wine tasting experience is, sans barrel samples.

Save $10, Last chance to Win

Tonight at 9 p.m. is the last chance to get tickets in advance and save $10.

Tonight is also the final drawing for free tickets, or a Wine Road Cookbook. To enter to win, simply register for secure, no spam, email updates of new blog posts, in the top right corner. One will be chosen at random at 11 pm Pacific, tonight.

Look for more helpful articles this week, including a special edition of Winery promotions on current inventory.

cheers!

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