racking the 09s

Tomorrow Cary Gott and I will taste through all the 2009 barrels. Afterwards the wines will be racked. For those unfamiliar with the term, “racking” means the wine will be transferred out of the barrels in to steel tanks. The barrels will be cleaned thoroughly and then the wine returned to barrel. We do this 2-3 times through the course of the barrel aging process.