This weekend and next weekend is the Russian River Wine Road's annual Barrel Tasting. Due to the great weather and the fact that this event is absolutely ridonkulously awesome, we made the trip up today with Dan'l, J-Fire, Ngoc, and Dan'l's friend Julie.

So we promptly roll up to Passalacqua at 11:15, the quintessential first-stop every year (due to their massive amounts of scrumptuous (and free!) paella, and are shocked to find out that they are no longer participants in this year's barrel tasting! Instead, they're charging $20/head at the door for the same old barrel sample, tasting room, and paella table goodness. After a little more investigation, we discovered that this unfortunate turn of events was due to last year's massive turnout and uber-crowd, which all of us who attended last year could attest to. Luckily for us, they were exempting the entry fee for wine club members and customers who had recently bought a bottle of Passalacqua wine. It just so happened that last time we were in Dry Creek, I picked up a bottle of the '04 JR Passalacqua Cab, which saved us a cool $100, collectively. The day was saved, and massive amounts of paella were had by all (3 helpings for Dan'l!)







After chilaxing on the deck at P for a healthy hour or so, we jammed over to Ridge Lytton Springs winery. This spot turned out to be more of a snoozer than anything else, even though I waltzed in with high expectations. If nothing else, the precariously stacked barrels drew a couple oohs and aahs from our group.







We left Ridge after only 45 minutes or so, bound back for Dry Creek Valley proper. However, on the way back, we passed an unknown winery and spotted a huge cloud of BBQ smoke hovering over the front lawn! I slammed on the parking break and fish-tailed into the crowded parking lot, dodging infants and cripples, hungry for a slice of that BBQ. Mazzocco turned our to be quite a find! In between half-guilty return trips to the grill, we sampled some of the most delicious Zinfandel I've had in a while. And I don't mean the generic "delicious", I mean the I-could-drink-two-bottles-of-this-on-a-cool-Sunday-afternoon-and-still-want-more type of delicious. This was thick and luscious with just enough spice and not very dry at all. I ended up grabbing a bottle of the '05 West Dry Creek Zinfandel, a bottle that will hopefully be enjoyed after sitting in our wine rack for at least a year.







Finally, it was time for the mandatory Bella visit up at the top of Dry Creek. Crowds were much more under control compared to last year, and we didn't have to wait in any crazy line to get our paws on Zin's fabulous pulled pork and grits (although the semi-nazi'ish food ticket system they're now working was kind of lame. No seconds!). All the oldies-but-goodies were on the tasting menu, including both Lily Hill and Big River Ranch Zinfandels ('06 and '05, respectively). We rounded the day our with a particularly sweet pour of the wonderful Late Harvest Zin.







Thanks again to all for a wonderful time!

All driving courtesy of this guy: