Livermore Barrel Tasting Weekend #LVBTW

This year I visited Mitchell Katz, Caddis Family, Wood Family, Garre Winery, Occasio Winery, Nottingham Cellars, Wente, and Boaventura.
There was amazing cooperation throughout the town. You buy a wristband at any of the participating wineries and you are granted entry to the tasting for two days!
Each winery had a different take on the barrel tasting. Some compared different styles of wood, different ages of the wine, let you blend grapes that would eventually be blended, or older/​newer barrels. I can’t wait to come back next year to see what the other 10+ wineries I didn’t get to try have to offer!

What can I say… One review to cover the gamut that I visited?
Shame on the wineries who said the were participants but had the ** shoddiest ** showing — - some not even bothering to take aliquots from barrels, but simply decanted it and served from a table top!!! Another place (bent creek) literally had large plastic beakers and retro dudes literally using medicine droppers to mix new with old vine Cab— it was so laughable to me.
The greats and highly organized, thoughtful, & great wines served!!!
Concsnnon hit a super home run. Enjoyed the chard the best. Barrel room was fantastic. Wente also went to great lengths. Nth degree $ 95/​bottle Pinot was good. Barrel room cool,& live music both locations .
Garré impressed me with their 6 barrels and great knowledge. Sangiovese was nutty and very unique for me. Enjoyed the down-​home.
Mitchell Katz was a live party! Also 6 barrels to taste from, the wine was very memorable and nice bouquets and nose.
Unique was the show at Big White House and John Evan— bohemian artsy fartsy cook shack cabin with loads of tastes!!! By far the most fun!100% scored on my wine quiz :)
Lame players were Murietta’s well (thank goodness they had a redemptive view), Crooked Vine (one eew barrel to sample from), Bent Creek (joke).
Great to walk among some locations— great perfect low 70’s weather too

Livermore Barrel Tasting Weekend is a good value (free) for 2015 gold elite Unilocalers, regularly, it’s $ 40. with the going rate of $ 5 per tasting location, it’s till a good deal.
had the impression wine pumpers were also primed to make sales out of this event,
calling it futures. uncertainties about the final products makes me hesitant until i try the final mix.
at least one winery planned to mixed barrels stored in natural barrels with wines stored in new barrels. the taste would be great., he said. i was hooked on the neutral barrel taste taste already.
i didn’t plan to buy any wines. Robert R. changed my mind. i joined their mailing list and became a member (it’s free). other prospects in the pipeline.

I was lucky enough to be one of the Unilocal members that won a pair of tickets this year (Holla!) so thank you to Shirene for picking me!
I haven’t done a great deal of Wine tasting since moving up this way last year so I was super excited and invited a girlfriend along with me. My Husband came too and played chauffeur for us for the day which turned out to be a good idea as there were A LOT of Wineries participating in this event.
Ticket pick up was easy and we started our tasting and Wente Vineyards before heading off around 5 or 6 others. Yes, both myself and my girlfriend completely lost count due to matching ”sponge brain syndrome”.
Most of the tasting were Reds with some White’s and for the most part were really organised but also found a couple of the Wineries seemed a little confused and spacey about which Wines were included in the tasting for the day which made for a slightly uncomfortable visit.
I would definitely give this tasting again and would love to see a shuttle in place for future years. Or if our tasting group is big enough just Cycle the route and hope we don’t get stopped for being drunk in charge of a Bicycle. That could be embarrassing.

Wine in Livermore?! I never knew that Livermore was wine country as well. I was lucky to win a pair of tickets for Livermore Barrel Tasting Weekend so I was ecstatic to venture out there with my hubs in tow on Sunday (it rained out on Saturday so we didn’t go)!
You get to go to as many of the participating wineries between 12 – 4:30PM, which is great. Every participating winery puts out a list if the tastings they offer. Some are already bottled up & some straight from the barrel! We ended up going to Wente, Big White House, Concannon, Eckert Estate, Darcie Kent. My favorite was Big White House while the hubs liked Concannon.
TIP: Definitely plan your trip ahead of time so that you don’t waste time travelling back & forth.
Overall, all fabulous wineries & lots of fun being around fellow wine lovers & wine makers! Thanks Unilocal for this awesome experience into Livermore wine country :)

We go every year. This is a great event close to home.

We had so much fun at this event. It helped to go from winery to winery in a horse drawn carriage– but it was a blast even without the carriage– as we found out on Sunday. It was a real treat to try the wines before they are bottled. We did not expect to buy any, but were so taken by the Zin at Crooked Vine we bought some futures.
Everyone at all the wineries was so pleasant and welcoming. Livermore is a fantastic place to taste wines, without the expense and snobbery that’s all too common in Napa and Sonoma now.

My absolute favorite wine event in the entire Bay Area, and I’ve been to a lot! It’s not too crowded, wine makers at almost every winers are pouring, visiting, or answering questions. I love the personal attention everyone gives and gets. You will NOT find snobby pourers or unfriendly staff! I love love love it! I look forward to coming every year.

Great wine tasting event, fair price, and good people!
Landscapes are beautiful and there is a huge variety of where to go.

I will usually choose Livermore over Napa. Why? It is cheaper, less crowded and the wines are just as consistently good as other wine tasting regions. Sure, most of the Livermore wineries aren’t that fancy but neither am I. I will take a friendly, family-​run winery over a corporate one any day.
I was excited to attend my first barrel tasting here and it was a great opportunity to visit some of our favorite spots and also check out some new (to us) wineries.
The wineries were all very welcoming and generous. It was more crowded than normal but it felt like most places prepared for and handled the masses well.
Whether you visit the area for the Barrel Tasting Weekend or otherwise, be sure to bring some snacks and a designated driver — two must haves for an afternoon of vino enjoyment.

What an awesome way to experience all that Livermore Wine Country has to offer. Only in its 3^rd year, this barrel tasting event is a solid indication of the popularity that’s about to ensue in this far East Bay vineyard retreat. Sure, it’s working past the stigma of being Napa/Sonoma’s red-​headed stepchild, but give this region some time to mature and it’ll be up there with the best of’em.
Even though the ticket purchase promised one barrel tasting per vineyard, I found the wineries overly generous in their often heavy and multiple pours. From the giant tasting rooms at Concannon and Wente to the mom ‘n pop backyard operations like El Sol and Wood Family, the experience was definitely one I’ll be attending yearly.
The $ 25 ticket got you a wristband, wine glass and map of participating vineyards. One of the best parts is navigating around the dirt roads pulling into the dusty driveways at husband-​wife owned wineries and stepping into a garage-​like tasting rooms with barrels abound. Best bet is to check out some of the smaller tasting rooms where you get handshake access to the winemakers.

A few weeks ago some friends and I attended the 2^nd Annual Livermore Wine Country Barrel Tasting Event and it was just FABULOUS.
With presale tickets ($ 25), participants were able to visit over 25 wineries that included tastings and a souvenir wine glass. I particularly appreciated the fact that the ticket was valid for both days if folks didn’t want to try and squeeze all the wineries into one day (though we did).
Absolute highlights include:
1) The beautiful grounds and atmosphere at each winery;
2) Learning about new vintages that I had previously never sampled;
3) Getting to use the «thief» to siphon wine out of the barrels and into my friends’ glasses;
4) Bottling my own wine at El Sol Vineyard;
5) Picnicking at Wente; and
6) Cramming 9 wineries into 6 hours.
Yes…that’s right 9 wineries. And Yes, I had more than my share of wine. :) Which leads me to my suggestion for the event planners. Next year, please consider having a few shuttles run througout the participating vineyards. This would not only make navigating the area A LOT easier but it would definitely be A LOT safer!!!
GREAT alternative to hauling my cookies to Napa… will definitely do this again next year. — though we may rent a limo :)

Awesome event! Good job to Unilocal for slipping in a friendly reminder on the wrist bands for everyone to review the event! I seem to be 1 of the 4 so far. :)
Anyway, it was a good day to spend with the girls and visit about a dozen wineries and get a free wine glass for $ 25. It’s only 4 hours long though so make sure you get there on time to optimize your experience.
The tri-​tip sandwiches that Charles R Vineyards sold were super yummy! If you forget to bring a picnic, I’d try these sandwiches if they serve it again.
I have to say that my favorite winery was Wente! They gave me a new appreciation for red wine. Being served was mostly red wines; I was hoping for a few more white wines. The free chocolate was awesome too.

I celebrated my 25^th Bday with a group of friends to this event.
It was amazing all the participating wineries where so amazing and gave generous servings. My favs were Fenestra, Murrieta Well, Wente… many many more. I can’t wait to come back next year.
Livermore wineries is in out back yard and blows Napa away.

I’ve found my haven. Great wineries, great scenery, delicious wines! It was my first time in livermore and my first time barrel tasting. I’d be hard pressed to find better of either. For $ 20 we were welcome to the barrels and the tastings everywhere! I fell in LOVE with mouvedres (in the barrel and out) at Fenestra, pined for the pinot rose and big asses at LVC and discovered the delight of chocolate and dessert wines at chouinard while making a mental note to come back for the green apple wine and movie nights. We were given unparalleled attention with yummy wines (especially those with French origins)! I’ll be visiting Livermore Valley again very shortly.