Wine Country And Horses

Just had lunch today with a group of friends (aka The Russian River Valley Girls) at the new Bistro 29 in downtown Santa Rosa–they graciously opened for us for a private lunch and the food and service were fantastic!  It was a tough day to schedule for a lot of folks who are furiously preparing to host lots of locals and tourists for this weekend’s Russian River Wine Road Barrel Tasting.  Anne Giere of Sapphire Hill Winery, who heroically organized our lunch at the same time she is getting ready for the weekend, reminded me that this is the 30th Anniversary of the Barrel Tasting tour!   It has become such a big success that this year, as in 2007, the festivities stretch to cover two weekends.   Hard on the wineries to staff but lots of fun for the rest of us.  Many of my friends from the Bay Area come up and rent limos or designate a driver and then cover the area vineyards to sample wines not yet committed to bottles.   People have been known to buy copious amounts of cases to bring home and wine futures to pick up at a later date.

“Barrel Tasting is not a food or themed event.  It’s all about the WINE…many wineries offer “futures” on their barrel samples. This is a chance to purchase wine now, often at a discount, then come back to the winery when the wine is bottled, typically 12-18 months from now. Many wines are so limited, buying futures is your only chance to purchase them.”

Help us, help the Redwood Empire Food Bank - $1 from each tasting glass sold is donated back to the Food Bank. This resulted in a $30,000 donation for 2007.Barrel Tasting is not at one location. You drive to the wineries you would like to visit.
We will produce a program that shows the specific wines each winery will offer for the two weekends - you can expect to see that online beginning Feb. 1, 2008.”