Russian River Barrel tasting weekends

Did anybody attend one of the weekends? Have gone 4 out of the last 6 years but didn’t make it this year. Just curious how it was this year.

Only went to Holdredge. It got real busy at one point. Local news reports were of a younger more intoxicated crowd this year. Glad I only made one stop.

Going to Holdrege is always fun but I like to go on Friday before it gets too busy so you can actually talk to John. One of the busier spots always seems to be in Dry Creek where Papapietro Perry, Kokomo, etc is, plenty of bus/ limo parking so it draws the party crowds.

Didn’t attend, but worked the event. Bit larger crowd than last year, spent a bit more money. I talked with a couple of the bigger wineries last Monday. Both said, “We’re not participating next year.” I laughed and said, “By next winter you’ll forget the problems and do it again.” The issue with the larger wineries was busloads of intoxicated folks they had to tell to leave. IMO it’s the drinking on the buses that’s the issue. Also talked with folks at a couple smaller wineries and they were mostly happy with the crowds and the exposure their wines got.

So Papapietro/Kokomo now gets the Armida overflow? lol

Been doing this event for years and really enjoy it but you do need to have a plan to maximize the weekend. Start on Friday and hit your favorites that are open that day. Hit Dry Creek Valley on Friday as it is the craziest of the RRV and Alexander Valley. Go early Saturday or better yet Sunday if there are any wineries that you must hit in DCV that aren’t open on Friday. We also go to Passport Dry Creek Valley at the end of April so DCV is not a priority except for tasting some potential future purchases. Ask fellow travelers or event staff for recommendations. There are almost always some wineries that are not officially participating but are open and taking advantage of the crowds for the weekend. If you see a bus (with a few rare exceptions) move on.

How about Adam, John, Rod, or any other winemakers, any thoughts from your perspective on how the weekends went?

My tasting room is downtown in Healdsburg on the Square (Roadhouse), so I suspect we get a larger number of party bus riding youngsters than some places, given that most of the wineries will no longer accommodate buses, and so the bus lines all seem to disembark right downtown… I had a bus of 80 get off right in front of our little place! We also pour very lightly, and because our tasting room is only 700 sq feet, we tend not to have drinkers hanging around.

That being said, we personally had no problems at all (possibly because we are next door to the police station?) . The crowds were way less than prior years (possibly due to the 25% increase in the ticket prices this year) and we ended up pouring less, and selling more, so we were pleased. Some merchants on the square dislike the event for the rowdyness, but it was all in good and reasonable fun, we thought.

The thing that I really noticed this year was the very busy Friday (and of course Sat), but it was pretty dead on each Sunday, which is fine because we are all exhausted by then! Also, we were sampling at our winery too which is just a couple blocks away (right up the street from the Wineroad offices), and we noticed that that as usual we sell very little futures at the tasting room, with the bulk of the futures sales happening at the winery. We think that the serious futures case buyers avoid the downtown, and like or need the winery atmosphere.

There are number of suggestions that the Wineroad folks are looking at to implement, to try to channel this event from a drinking opportunity to a buying opportunity, and we eagerly await those changes.

Overall a great event.

I was waiting outside of one of the more popular wineries with the bus crowd. I overheard one rather tipsy young man tell his buddy to “Hurry Up and get on the bus so we can slam a few beers before the next winery”. This is what the event has transformed into over the past 20 years that I have been attending.

with all of the promotional material for this event clearly stating “no buses,” it seems like that was exactly the problem many wineries faced during the Barrel Tasting Weekend (according to the Press Democrat and others i’ve spoken with.)

at what point do the bus/limo companies decide to adhere to the parameters of the event, or at least enforce a “no open container” policy on their conveyance? seems like it would benefit everyone: more people paying attention to the wine they are tasting, less “frat boy”/“whoo! girl” shenanigans, and bring back the “serious” wine buyer to take advantage of the hospitality and deep discounts offered by participating wineries.

This was the first year in many years that I did not attend the barrel tasting event. The crowds got larger every year and unfortunately, the very reasonable cost encouraged the “cheap drunk” approach that seemed to be adopted by many. It used to be that the wineries would pour all their wines at this event, which was very convenient for me since I traveled from out-of-state and could get everything I needed (futures and “reserves”) in one trip to the area. The last few years it was barrel samples only at many/most of the wineries that I visited. Since I have been slowly gravitating to the reserves anyway, maybe it is not such a big loss - I did enjoy the barrel samples though. Now we make one (more relaxed) trip to the area in the fall.

latest from the press demo

The negative publicity on this has been a bit overwhelming . . . based on what you read in these news posts, it appears that it truly is a drunk fest - but I’m sure that’s only one small part of the whole event . . .

Seems like the local vintners need to get a PR campaign going to show that the event does have merit - and hopefully brings in good $$$ for the local economy . . .

It does kill me, though, that the bus co’s and limo co’s disregard what is asked of them - doesn’t make them look good, does it . . .

Cheers

I am really sorry to hear how this event has taken a turn for the worse…although I am not totally surprised. We have been attending this event on and off for quite a while and chose not to go this year. We did attend last year and certainly saw the handwriting on the wall. You can still enjoy the event with a bit of planning as the buses tend to stay in the more “well known” areas but it is impossible to avoid them altogether. This year, we came up with a great alternative and attended the Amador County “Behind the cellar door” festival…much less crowded and far less stressful.

Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

There were a total of two merchants complaining, and naturally there is a 20% or so stalwart group of “wingnuts” (although in this case a more accurate reference might be “WineNots”) who live in the wine country and don’t like wine, wine people or the wine business, and they tend to complain about, well just about everything.

This event (& organization) serves tens of thousands of wine fans quite peacefully and successfully each year, and this year was no different.

I don’t think you can effectively regulate boorish behavior in any case, and I might point out any tasting room is well aware they are barred from pouring from obviously intoxicated persons, which I didn’t see any of either weekend in my tasting room, which is at “ground zero”. (I’m in the same building as the two merchant complainers.)

I happened by Skewis fairly late on Saturday and the number of drunks attempting to get served was shocking. Some of them could barely walk. Skewis refused to serve them of course. I also encountered numerous over served folks around the square in Healdsburg. But it did look like they were having fun!

Eric; I certainly agree that a majority of the attendees are serious wine folks who know how to behave. Unfortunately, the event has changed over the course of the years and you do have more people simply looking to drink as much as possible. This will not discourage me from still attending the event but it is a fact of life that things have changed.

Cheers!
Marshall

This year I was out tasting on the first Saturday and then helped pour on the second Saturday. To be honest, I witnessed much more debauchery last year - but I am very picky of what wineries I visit and when.

It’s tough to know what is going to fix the issue - I can’t stand the idea of people pounding beers on party buses, but I worry that a complete ban of buses would lead to more drunk driving…

have the drivers of vans/buses/limos adopt and enforce a “no open container” policy on their conveyance.

problem 50% solved.

but hey, when you don’t need a license to serve alcohol on a bus, there’s not much motivation to make any changes. it might affect your gratuity.

actual footage of problem here: