The Magic of Tasting Wine from the Barrel
Our First Amista Event…
…With A Barbecue Lunch in our Backyard
As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, I'm excited to share a series of short weekly posts that take you behind the scenes, revealing memorable moments that have shaped our journey at Amista Vineyards.
Once upon a time, in 2004, Amista Vineyards was officially born. Mike and I couldn’t wait to share our inaugural vintage with our friends. However, in 2004, we hadn't bottled any wine yet. We had harvested Syrah, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon in the fall of 2003, and the wine was still aging in barrels.
The Solution: Barrel Tasting!
To give our supporters a sneak peek, we decided to host a barrel tasting. We invited them to join us at the winery where our wines were fermenting and aging. Lacking a tasting room, we utilized our picturesque backyard, surrounded by vineyards, to host a delightful lunch.
What is Barrel Tasting?
Barrel tasting involves sampling wine directly from the barrel where it is aging. This young wine tastes different from its final, bottled version, with more pronounced tannins and acidity. The wines we tasted had been aging for about eight months and would remain in the barrel for another 15 months before bottling.
The Romance of Barrel Tasting
Tasting wine directly from the barrel has a unique charm. It's an opportunity to go behind the scenes in the cellar, experiencing where the wines are aged and tasting them in their unfinished state. Rows of barrels, stacked high, create a captivating backdrop. For the tasting, a barrel of each wine is moved to the cellar floor with a forklift, and a wine thief is used to extract the wine into glasses.
Mike was in his element, sharing his first commercial wine with our friends and answering questions about the harvest and winemaking process. He was pouring the Syrah, made from grapes from our own estate vineyard, Morningsong. Friends offered to help pour the Cabernet and Zinfandel. We acquired grapes for those wines from a friend's vineyard overlooking Dry Creek Valley.
An Early Surprise About Buying Grapes
Our journey into the wine business was filled with learning experiences. One early lesson was the complexity of buying grapes from other growers. We aimed to make Syrah from our vineyard for our initial harvest and also wanted to produce a Zinfandel since Dry Creek Valley is renowned for it. Finding grapes within the Dry Creek appellation was a priority, and we hoped to buy from another small family-owned local grape grower.
We were lucky to find beautiful Zinfandel grapes but buying them involved a bit of negotiation. Our fellow grower agreed to sell us Zinfandel only if we also purchased some of his Cabernet Sauvignon. This unexpected twist led to our first Cabernet production, an unplanned venture that mirrored many of our spontaneous decisions over the years.
Lunch in Our Backyard
Without a tasting room, we welcomed our guests to our home for a backyard barbecue after the barrel tasting. Mike took on the role of grill master, while I prepared the salads. We had sample bottles filled with our young wines to enjoy with lunch. This gathering marked the first of many glorious afternoons spent among the grapevines, with great food, great wine, and great friends.
Still Thirsty?
If you want to learn more, here is a curated list of resources.