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The Californian winery Fetzer Wineyards is celebrating a surprisingly great success with a Zinfandel aged in bourbon barrels: The winery, which belongs to the Chilean wine company Concha y Toro, sold around 120,000 cases of the 2016 Zinfandel "1000 Stories" last year. Fetzer sold only 5000 cases of the wine's first vintage in 2014. Immediately after fermentation, the wine is matured for two months in ex-bourbon barrels. In the meantime, the success has become so great that Fetzer is even now planning for a sales volume of 250,000 cases.

Fetzer head winemaker Bob Blue told "Drinks Business" that the use of ex-bourbon barrels was already completely common in California in the 1980s. Only the top companies like Mondavi or Monetelena would have used new barriques at that time. When his team suggested bourbon maturation as a new idea, he replied that he already had quite a lot of experience with it. The wine, which costs 18 dollars in the USA and is often exported to Europe, is by far not as strongly characterised by wood notes as many experts had initially assumed. This makes Fetzer the first winery in California to use the old method in a new way.

This success has already found its first companions: The Californian winery Cooper & Thief Cellarmaster in Napa has presented a Sauvignon Blanc that was matured for three months in a former tequila barrique. The barrels come from the Casa Noble distillery, where Tequila Anejo was stored for two years. The winery had bought them new. The winery also has a red wine cuvee in its range that was matured for three months in bourbon barrels.

(uka / Photo: Wineries)

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