Barrel Tasting Weekend

Russian River Wine Road 30th Annual Barrel Tasting  

This promises to be our biggest Barrel Tasting Weekend ever! With over 100 wineries opening their cellars for your tasting pleasure.

To taste, you will need to purchase our tasting glass and event wristband for $20.00 at the first winery you visit, each weekend. We gladly replace broken glasses, but lost or misplaced glasses are $5.00 to replace.  Tickets will be required to sample on the Friday of each weekend at those wineries listed below with an (*) asterisk.

For the first time, we will give you the option to buy a ticket in advance, saving yourself some time at check-in. Tickets will go on sale online beginning January 20, 2008. Advance tickets will only be sold online. Wineries will not have advance tickets, nor will we sell them by phone, only online. You can also wait and purchase at the winery door, the weekend of the event.

Members of the Russian River Wine Road would like to welcome you to our wineries and lodgings for an exciting weekend of wine tasting. This is your chance to sample wines from the barrel, talk to winemakers and explore the beautiful Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys.

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.

When making plans for Barrel Tasting, please be aware that large full-size buses (36 passenger or more) will not be allowed at this event. Our wineries cannot handle a group of 40-60 people arriving at the same time. To be responsible hosts, to provide an experience worth remembering, and to adequately describe the variety of wines being poured, smaller groups of people are ideal. The goal of Barrel Tasting is to introduce people to wines still in the barrel, help them learn about wine, understand what they're tasting and offer futures for sale. If you're able to join us for Barrel Tasting, please taste in moderation.

Locations