Simple Hedonisms

Posts Tagged ‘Barrel Tasting’

Never a dull moment here in Wine Country, coming off the heels of 2 weekends of The Wine Road’s Barrel Tasting, we change to another part of Sonoma County, and a ‘cozier’ event, hosted by the Heart of Sonoma Valley Association. The 20th Annual  Savor Sonoma Food and Wine Experience features 22 wineries in the historic Glen Ellen and Kenwood regions.

This event is fun and ‘savory’ – all participating wineries are offering food and wine pairings. In addition many are offering barrel samples, selling futures, and featuring live music and local artists. The full program is available here; as always I encourage attendees to print it out, and make a mini-plan, especially if you only plan one day.

Glen Ellen and Kenwood are easily accessible from downtown Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Carneros and Napa – why not enjoy the scenery, leisurely drive, and spend one day (or both) this weekend enjoying  food, wine, art and music, with wineries large and small, new and historic.

Participating Wineries Include:
Audelssa Estate Winery, Benziger Family Winery, Chateau St. Jean, Deerfield Ranch Winery, Enkidu Wines, Eric Ross Winery, Family Wineries of Kenwood, Imagery Estate Winery, Kenwood Vineyards, Kunde Family Estate, Landmark Vineyards, Ledson Winery & Vineyards, Little Vineyards, Loxton Cellars, Mayo Family Winery, Muscardini Cellars, Paradise Ridge Winery, St. Francis Winery, Ty Caton Vineyards, VJB Vineyards & Cellars, Valley of the Moon Winery and Wellington Vineyards.

Featured Musicians include:

• Laurent Fourgo’s Trio (Jazz) at Landmark Vineyards
• Josh Little & his Trio (Jazz) at Little Vineyards
• Seth Walker (Blues) at Loxton Cellars
• The Sharks (Saturday) & The Corkpullers (Sunday) at Imagery Estate Winery
• Sparky Thorne at Benziger Family Winery
• The Don Giovannis (6-piece Italian Band) at VJB Vineyards & Cellars
• John Shearer (Acoustic Guitar) at Valley of the Moon Winery.

Featured Artists include:

• Stella and Dot Jewelry at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards
• Leslee Maggiora Jewelry at Eric Ross Winery
• Bella Barrels (Barrel Stave Merchandise) at Valley of the Moon Winery
• Zaza Gallery (Stretched Canvas Photography) at Valley of the Moon Winer
• Belgique Truffle Gateaux (Baked Truffles) at Valley of the Moon Winery
• Twisted Sister (Local Handmade Jewelry) at Valley of the Moon Winery
• San Tasti (a new drink to relieve palate fatigue) at Valley of the Moon Winery.

Enter “Question of the Week” to Win 2 Tickets, or Merchandise

Wednesday night we will be drawing for a pair of free tickets. To enter, go to the Heart of Sonoma Valley Facebook Fan page, scroll down to the Question of the Week posting, and submit your question.  Wednesday night will draw a winner, and answer the question.

I can’t wait to attend this event! Look for a 1-2 more posts this week, including a special article end of week featuring special winery sales incentives. Until then this recent article on barrel tasting may help as well!

Barrel Tasting Insights – What am I Tasting & Do I Get Splinters? What should I buy?

Wine, food, music, art, Sonoma Valley, for only $55 for 2 days – and you don’t have tickets why? Available online through Wednesday, grab some, they have sold out before!

cheers!

p.s. See some of you at the Friday night Sonoma Wine Meetup in Downtown Sonoma – 75+ wine industry, consumers. Putting the social in Social Networking!

Simple Hedonisms enjoyed a great first weekend of Friday and Saturday Barrel Tasting! This was made especially fun by running around with  Wine Writers Allie and Peter of  My Wine Words. I am looking forward to this 2nd final weekend, and plan to go out all three days if I can. If you haven’t bought tickets, they are available at the door of participating wineries, 103 of the 160, participating this 2nd weekend.

For those of you going this weekend, who didn’t catch my 4 articles, check out these for hints and tips.

Planning for Wine Road Barrel Tasting – Tips Inside

Barrel Tasting Insights – What am I Tasting & Do I Get Splinters? What should I buy?

also for Wineries:

Wine Road Barrel Tasting & Social Media – Optimizing Your Event

Since not all wineries participate both weekends, and I learned of some new additions, here is an updated list of the Wineries offering special incentives on existing inventory. (Different than futures discounts.)

New Promotions:

Special Joint Promotion at Trione and Stryker Sonoma:

David Coffaro Winery

• In addition to their renowned “Crazy Coffaro Futures Program,” David Coffaro will be offering the following for $20 each:
  • 2006 My Zin, 2006 Cabernet (Sonoma County), 2006 Petite Sirah, 2006 Escuro

Mueller Winery

• Mueller Winery is offering Mueller Winery is offering a 15% discount on all current release bottled wines, Friday through Sunday. They are also releasing our 2007 Mueller Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir tomorrow. (92 cases produced)

Manzanita Creek Winery

• Manzanita Creek is offering their 2006 MC2   (squared)  Zin for  just  $64 per case (SRP $14), and we have their 2005 Stealth Zin, Sweepstakes winner  at the International Pro Wine Buyers Competition at the other extreme for just $396 per case (SRP $55.)

J Keverson (revised)

• J Keverson has a special offer: 2007 Starkey’s Court Dry Creek Zin On Friday 10 cases $99.00 Reg. $300.00. After the 1st 10 are gone $150 (50% off retail.)

Previous Weekends Offers Still Going (To best of my knowledge)

Lynmar Estates

• Lynmar is offering Purchases including these four wines: 2004 Quail Hill Estate Chard, 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir, 2006 Russian River Chardonnay (almost gone) & 2006 Sonoma Coast Syrah are priced at the following discount: 3btls: 20% off, 6btls: 25% off, 12btls: 35% off.

Longboard Vineyards

• Longboard Is offering a a mix-and-match discount special for your-choice combination of our Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Point Break Red.  3 bottles for $60, 6 bottles for $120 and a case for $240.”In addition Longboard has just put out a Magnums only library release with prices starting @ $100. (Club discounts apply.) Their 2005 Syrah is also on sale by the case.

Mounts Family Winery

• Mounts is offering special discounts on its existing inventory, which includes Rose, Cabernet, Petite Syrah, Syrah and Zin.10% on half case (normally 5%), 20% on full case (normally 10%) You can mix and match for full case discount – no minimum per varietal required.

Trione

• Trione  Is offering  a special case discount on the  2007 Sauvignon Blanc of $138 to people who mention the hashtag #barreltasting,  check in on Foursquare, or  Twitter/Facebook/Blog promotion.
• Also, each day they will be drawing  a prize to every 100th customer who comes. The prizes will include but are not limited to hats, T-shirts and VIP tour and tasting for 6 people with a wine educator.

Kokomo

• Kokomo is putting  2006 Dry Creek Zin on special. It normally retails for $27, but for the weekends only during the event, it will be $22.50.

Sausal

• Sausal Winery is offering a 15% discount on any purchase of our 2006 Private Reserve Zinfandel (100% Estate Zin from 90 year-old vines) and a 15% discount off any purchase on our Sogni ‘d Oro (Italian style blend of Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah.)

• They will also be doing a 15% off discount off any 6 bottles purchase (mix and match) or 20% off a case (mix and match).

Acorn

• Acorn Is offering 15% off 6-11 bottles, and 30% off a case, of their 2006 Sangiovese, Axiom Syrah, and Heritage Vines Zinfandel. Mixed Cases ok.

Dutcher Crossing

• Dutcher Crossing is offering a 4 pack special in the tasting room for 15% off.

Other Interesting Offers

D’Argenzio Winery (both weekends)

• D’Argenzio is holding a raffle to win 2 complementary tickets to winemaker dinner at Inn at the Tides, May 21 Friday night $79.00 each, Each purchase of a case of wine earns an entry into drawing and winners at the end of each weekend.

Have a Great Barrel Tasting weekend! Be safe, stock up on wine, and let us know on our Facebook Fan site, where ya want!

Cheers!

Article 4 of 4: Barrel Tasting Sales Promotions  – Existing Inventory Sales (of wine, not barrels)

In the 3^rd article we discussed the basic concept of barrel tasting and how some wineries offer discounts on unreleased wines. Some wineries also take advantage of the event to offer sales incentives on existing inventory, special offers for new club members, and other limited offers.

Following are some of these offers:

Lynmar Estates (both weekends)

• Lynmar is offering Purchases including these four wines: 2004 Quail Hill Estate Chard, 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir, 2006 Russian River Chardonnay (almost gone) & 2006 Sonoma Coast Syrah are priced at the following discount: 3btls: 20% off, 6btls: 25% off, 12btls: 35% off.

Longboard Vineyards (both weekends)

• Longboard Is offering a a mix-and-match discount special for your-choice combination of our Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Point Break Red.  3 bottles for $60, 6 bottles for $120 and a case for $240.”In addition Longboard has just put out a Magnums only library release with prices starting @ $100. (Club discounts apply.) Their 2005 Syrah is also on sale by the case.

Mounts Family Winery (both weekends)

• Mounts is offering special discounts on its existing inventory, which includes Rose, Cabernet, Petite Syrah, Syrah and Zin.10% on half case (normally 5%), 20% on full case (normally 10%) You can mix and match for full case discount – no minimum per varietal required.

Trione (both weekends)

• Trione  Is offering  a special case discount on the  2007 Sauvignon Blanc of $138 to people who mention the hashtag #barreltasting,  check in on Foursquare, or  Twitter/Facebook/Blog promotion.
• Also, each day they will be drawing  a prize to every 100th customer who comes. The prizes will include but are not limited to hats, T-shirts and VIP tour and tasting for 6 people with a wine educator.

Kokomo (both weekends)

• Kokomo is putting our 2006 Dry Creek Zin on special. It normally retails for $27, but for the weekends only during the event, it will be $22.50.

Sausal (both weekends)

• Sausal Winery is offering a 15% discount on any purchase of our 2006 Private Reserve Zinfandel (100% Estate Zin from 90 year-old vines) and a 15% discount off any purchase on our Sogni ‘d Oro (Italian style blend of Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah.)

• They will also be doing a 15% off discount off any 6 bottles purchase (mix and match) or 20% off a case (mix and match).

Acorn (both weekends)

• Acorn Is offering 15% off 6-11 bottles, and 30% off a case, of their 2006 Sangiovese, Axiom Syrah, and Heritage Vines Zinfandel. Mixed Cases ok.

J Keverson (both weekends)

• J Keverson will be offering their 20066 Old Vine Zin Hales Vineyard on sale 50% off by the case. ($180.)

Dutcher Crossing (both weekends)

• Dutcher Crossing is offering a 4 pack special in the tasting room for 15% off.

Hart’s Desire (first weekend only)

• Hart’s Desire is offering their Double Gold 2004 Syrah on sale for $94 case.

Pellegrini (First weekend only)

• Buy one bottle of the 2006 Malbec or the 2007 Merlot, and receive a bottle of the Cuvee 107 for free.

• Also offering $1 shipping per case, mix and match ok.

Other Interesting Offers

White Oak Vineyards and Winery (first weekend only)

• White Oak has a 20 year old tradition during Barrel Tasting – BYOZ (Bottle Your Own Zin.) of their Estate Old Vines (85 year) Zin that is available only in the tasting room, around 300 cases a year. BYOZ offers the opportunity to bottle and label your own bottle in the ‘Zin Zone’. The cost for BYOZ is $25. Entrance to the Zin Zone also offers a full tasting of all wines as well as have appetizers, meet our owner and also our cellar crew and of course experience hand bottling. It’s a fun tradition they share with fans old and new only once a year.

D’Argenzio Winery (both weekends)

• D’Argenzio is holding a raffle to win 2 complementary tickets to winemaker dinner at Inn at the Tides, May 21 Friday night $79.00 each, Each purchase of a case of wine earns an entry into drawing and winners at the end of each weekend.

WoodenHead Vinters: (first weekend only)

• Will be offering a 15% discount for anyone that joins the Wine Club!  Space is limited.

I will repost this next week with any updates, changes I get for the second weekend.

Have a Great Barrel Tasting weekend! Be safe, stock up on wine, and let us know on our Facebook Fan site, where ya want!

Cheers!

2010 Wine Road Barrel Tasting: Article 3 of 4

It’s almost here! The first weekend of Wine Road Barrel Tasting. Yes its TWO weekends: if you live in the Bay area and love wine, plan for both weekends, at only $30 a weekend, it’s the best bargain in town! (Personally I think the price is too low, but that’s me.)

What exactly is barrel tasting?

Won’t licking barrels give me splinters?

In all seriousness, consumers can benefit in understanding the underlying premise that shapes this 32 year old Wine Road event.

What Barrel Tasting Is:

The premise of barrel tasting was to let consumers have a sneak preview to an early wine still in production, and in some cases (not all) also buy ‘Futures’ or advance sales of the future release, at a discount, or in cases of allocation, ahead of release. This is a win-win; the consumer can save substantial money on varietals or brands they buy regularly. The winery gets cash earlier in the process. Cash flow has always been key to winery operations, and certainly is as important as ever in today’s financial climate.

What Barrel Tasting Isn’t:

What it isn’t meant to be: a drunk-fest. This event obtained a bit of a reputation for being a party festival (in part to the low ticket cost); which is a shame, given its deep tradition and intent. I implore consumers to have fun, behave respectably. All in all the number of incidents are few, but it only takes one to sour everyone’s experience. This isn’t charity folks – many of the Wine Road wineries are small business, family owned, working long hours as artisans to make  a living. They are here to pour for you and to ultimately sell some wine.  Stick to Happy Hour for drinking specials and parties.  Wineries shouldn’t hesitate to promptly deal with inappropriate behavior. FYI it’s a criminal offense, that can cause them to be shut down, to serve someone who is visibly impaired. There are a few extra California Highway Patrol on duty that day for the added safety of all, for those rare outbreaks of rash behavior.

Ok, What exactly am I Tasting?

Barrel samples are unfinished wine tastes, that’s why its coming from the barrel. I have heard complaints of  ‘Its not good wine’ or ‘I don’t care for the taste.’ Look at what I just wrote – it’s unfinished. It may be nearly ready for bottling and taste familiar, it could be another year+ in barrel still.  I do encourage everyone who is learning about wine (you never stop learning by the way) to try a few,  experience it, and gain an appreciation for wine as it evolves and changes. Some wineries even do interesting things, like Kendall Jackson is, to sample the same pre-release of wine, in different barrel toasts, for comparison.  Ask the winemaker questions; don’t worry about if it may seem basic – most wine makers love to share knowledge on wine making.

I think a few samples suffices for many; don’t hesitate to skip varietals (wine types) you don’t like, dump, or spit. You aren’t offending the wine maker, if anything he knows you are more serious taster then.  So then why would I be going to wineries if I don’t try the barrel samples?

It’s ok to skip a barrel sample at some stops; all wineries are still pouring something else, and many offer food pairings and other fun activities.

‘Other’ Tips

Of course there is my usual diatribe on using a Spit Cup; both encouraging wineries to hand out, and people to use. After two winery stops, your palette is now influenced by alcohol and you are drinking, not tasting. At least dump wines you don’t like; wineries aren’t offended.

You can also consider driver services like WeDriveU, where bonded drivers drive you in your car. Similar local services can be seen posted on Craigslist (check references). For that matter, press your unemployed 18-24 year old into driving you around for a reasonable hourly rate, and buy them a $10 Wine Road DD bracelet.

Buying Futures

Not all wineries participating in Barrel Tasting sell futures. There is additional work, tracking involved that some opt not to due. The reputed Wine Road King of Futures is David Coffaro Winery. If you are interested in futures, you should plan a stop here and check out the “Crazy Coffaro Futures Program.”

If you are new or hesitant on buying futures, start with wine producers whose wines you have drunk regularly, and know it appeals to your palette.  (In which case you should consider the wine club anyway.) You may also be offered to compare the current release with the barrel sample – this is a another great way to buy samples, if a winery or winemaker is new to you.

Feel free to ask the wine maker questions: has the wine changed much in where the fruit came from? Russian River zin is very different than Dry Creek. Did the vineyard source change, even in the same appellation? Have you made any substantial changes to the wine production methods; barrel program, yeast, cold soak etc etc.

Ok, decided you like the wine, want to save some money, and stock up. (Usually a minimum purchase is required.) Now what? The winery will collect the money for the purchase, and record your name, contact information, and give you a receipt. Wineries keep good records, but as a precaution, SAVE it. If you use a online or smart phone calendar for reminders, put a reminder appointment now to prompt you for the expected pick up month, so you have peace of mind you won’t forget. The winery is of course going to contact you, but this way you are double covered.

When its ready for release, pick it up, crack open a bottle to celebrate the money you saved, and the support you gave to your favorite winery – win win!

Come back tomorrow for a special article on selected Wineries offering special incentives on sales of existing inventory (aka bottled wine.) Take advantage of special pricing and stock up now too!

Cheers!

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!

Its that time again: today through Wednesday go to the Wine Road’s Facebook Fan site, to submit your wine related “Question of the Week.” We will choose a question, answer it Thursday in a blog article, and the selected person will win two tickets to Barrel Tasting, or a Wine Road cookbook.

To post your question, please go to the Wine Road Facebook Fan page, and under today’s post, write your question.  Wednesday afternoon we will pick. (And last week, Beth gave out 3 more pairs of tickets for runners up!)

Also don’t forget two more chances to win: at the end of today, and end of this month, we will have a drawing for email subscribers of Simple Hedonisms, for more Barrel Tasting tickets.

For those of you that followed our contest two weeks ago, we asked for your thoughts and prayers for winner Melissa Martin Mayorgas, whose son was about to have  a muscle biopsy at Children’s San Diego Hospital to determine what type of muscular dystrophy he has.  Melissa was concerned as little boys with MD are susceptible to malignant hyperthermia during general anesthesia. I am happy to share that her son Parker came through great!

In the next few weeks, I will be writing more articles for Barrel Tasting to help for consumer planning and enjoyment. Ultimately this blog is for you, the wine consumer. If there are any topics or areas of assistance you’d like to see, let me know in comments.

cheers!