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🍷 Celebrating Women in Wine + A Special Workshop Coming Soon! [The Barrel Dork Digest]
Published 21 days ago • 3 min read
Wine Digest: 03/14/2025
Hi Wine Friends —
Wednesday's class, Women in Wine: The Art of Micro-Winemaking, co-hosted with my friend Diana of Augustina Cellars at Ora et Labora Wine Shop in Portland was a huge success! We had 13 guests who joined us for a deep dive into the world of small-batch winemaking: From hauling grapes to bottling and everything in between, we shared the real stories behind building an indie wine brand. It was a night full of great wine, great conversation, and lots of laughs.
If you missed it, don’t worry—you can check out all the fun over on Instagram here.
The energy from this in-person event got me thinking: why not bring that same experience to my Barrel Dork community? So, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be hosting an online workshop on Micro Winemaking at the end of this month! This will be your chance to get a behind-the-scenes look into the winemaking process (based on my experiences building Flipturn Cellars), all from the comfort of your own home.
Stay tuned—details coming soon!
Cheers,
Sip Smarter: Your Weekly Wine Lesson
The Importance of Bottling Aging
At last night’s Micro Winemaking event, we had a great conversation about bottling aging, and several students asked about why winemakers choose to bottle age their wine. It's a crucial step in the winemaking process, and it’s something that can really impact the final product!
Here’s the breakdown: After bottling, wines experiences bottle shock. This happens because the wine is physically disturbed during the bottling process—think about all the jostling on the bottling line, the filtration of the wine, the addition of sulfur to protect it (and help it age), and exposure to oxygen during bottling. It can be hella stressful for the wine! As a result, the wine may taste a bit disjointed or "off" for a short period. That’s where bottling aging comes in.
Aging the wine in the bottle after it’s been sealed helps the wine “bounce back” from that shock. It also gives the wine time to develop and integrate. While the wine is resting in the bottle, subtle chemical changes are taking place—these help to enhance flavors, soften tannins, and round out the overall profile, so when it hits your glass, it’s tasting exactly how it should.
For me, this is especially top of mind this week, as I just bottled my 2024 White Blend for Flipturn Cellars on Tuesday. Now, I’m starting to think about how long I want to age it before I begin selling it. There’s a balance—too little time, and the wine might not have had enough time to settle; too much time, and the freshness could fade.
I typically try and age my white wines for 3+ months and my red wines for 6+ months. But it all depends—and it's always a bit of a dance, but that’s what makes winemaking so fascinating!
That’s why you won’t see many winemakers putting a wine directly on the market right after it comes off the bottling line. A little bottle rest goes a long way in ensuring that the wine is tasting its best when it’s ready for sale. 🍷
Vine To Glass
This Week’s Wine Gem: 2021 Rarecat Chardonnay
How beautiful is the Rarecat tasting room?!
In the spirit of Women’s History Month, I’m celebrating woman-made wines over on my Instagram Stories every day this month! This week, I highlighted Rarecat 2021Chardonnay, crafted by Sharon Kazan Harris.
This Chardonnay is the Goldilocks of Chardonnays for my husband and me—he loves the rich, buttery style, while I lean toward crisp, mineral-driven Chardonnays. Rarecat strikes that perfect balance, making it a bottle we both love. When we visited Napa and Sonoma in 2022, we had the chance to experience Rarecat’s intimate tasting room and sit down with Sharon for 3 hours— it was truly a standout memory in my wine career (picture above).
Sharon’s journey into wine started at just 20 years old when she fell in love with Bordeaux—not just the wine, but the entire culture of food, wine, and joie de vivre. Before making her way to Napa, she built a career in publishing, advertising, and tech, but her passion for wine never faded. Eventually, she made the leap, earning a prestigious oenology diploma from the Université de Bordeaux and becoming the sole owner and Director of Winemaking for Rarecat Wines.
Her portfolio spans Napa, Bordeaux, Russian River, and Champagne, making her the only American vintner producing estate wines in both Champagne and Bordeaux. She's committed to empowering women, using wine as a way to bring together executives and leaders to foster meaningful connections.
While it looks like this particular Chardonnay isn’t currently available on the Rarecat website, you can still snag some of Sharon’s other wines: Rarecat Wines.
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned enthusiast, my newsletter makes wine fun, approachable, and exciting. Join now to boost your wine confidence, discover incredible bottles, master food and wine pairings, and create the home wine collection of your dreams. Each week, you’ll get wine lessons, bottle recommendations, and everything you need to elevate your wine journey. Plus, you’ll receive my free Food & Wine Pairing Cheatsheet — your go-to guide for effortless pairings. Ready to dive into the world of wine? Join now!
