Dan Kessler of Kessler-Haak pulls out a barrel sample for me to taste in April 2017. This weekend 8 wineries in Ventura County will offer barrel samples.

As a wine blogger, one of the best privileges is the opportunity to taste wine from the barrel — and often with the winemaker! Even though I’ve done this many times, as recently as at Kessler-Haak in April where we tasted a half dozen or so different barrels of Pinot Noir and at wineries as varied as Painted Rock in British Columbia following the Wine Bloggers Conference in 2013 to Basel Cellars in Walla Walla during the Wine Bloggers Conference in 2010 and, more locally, at Bridlewood with David Hopkins in Santa Barbara County, with Ventura County’s Bruce Freeman of Clos de Amis last fall, with Micheal Meagher of Vino V, and with Mike Brown of Cantara Cellars.

Sometimes at tastings, they will pull a barrel sample to taste alongside other vintages and that can be fun too: you can taste a wine BEFORE it’s bottled and get a sense of a vintage. Wines are super fresh and often intense, but they give you a looking glass into the future of a wine.

No wonder Barrel Tasting Passport Weekends are so popular!

This coming weekend, June 24 and 25, seven Ventura County vintners will open up their barrels Continue reading →