A Day About Barrels

On April 6^th, I traveled to Napa Valley again.  This time the trip was motivated by the need to pick up wine.  I had a wine club shipment at Corison, and purchases I had made earlier to be picked up at Hendry Estate, Anomaly Vineyards and Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards.  Off the top of my head I would say that these wineries have very little in common, except for the exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons that they each produce.  After having visited each winery, it hit me.  Each winery’s tasting environment is surrounded by wine barrels at work. 

The barrels at Hendry

At Hendry, I was escorted into their operations area where their barrels are stored.  At Conn Valley, we tasted in one of the caves used to store the barrels at a cool temperature year round (without A/C).  At Anomaly, the tasting room is located beneath the winery building, underground, and is again lined with wine barrels at work.  Finally, at Corison, the tasting counter is inside the winery warehouse where the barrels of wine are stored.  Most of the wine will spend 18 to 24 months in barrel before being bottled, so there is almost always a barrel at work at any winery making Cabernet Sauvignon.  I just like getting up-close and personal with the barrels.  And that smell …

The underground barrel room at Anomaly