The Evolution of a new winery, be part of the fun!

It’s been a very busy winter at Barrel Oak Winery! As we move quickly toward opening, we need your help spreading the good word that we are here. The biggest thing that you can do to help us is to tell your friends about what we are doing!

Anyone can go to the contacts link at our website: WWW.BARRELOAK.COM and become friends of Barrel Oak Winery.

SO HERE’S THE REALLY BIG NEWS: WE OPEN OUR DOORS ON FRIDAY,
MAY 23^rd AT NOON.

Sharon crushed 40 tons of beautiful fruit last fall and we’re opening with several very good wines. On the red side we’ll have beautifully aged 2005 vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Norton, a Fab Cab Franc, a Touriga Franc, and a Petit Verdot. All are very yummy! For 2007 vintage whites we have a lovely Chardonnay for late June release as well as a truly scrumptious Seyval Blanc and a luscious Viognier. We’ll also have lots of our BOWHaus White and BOWHaus Red for patio sippin’.

Between now and opening we’ll be kind of busy bringing in our business partners, buying all of the supplies, bottling and labeling 3000 cases of premium wines, finishing the winery interior and exterior, landscaping, planting the second vineyard with 7000 vines, building some stone walls and the massive stone fireplace, ordering and setting up the barrels and racks, tanks and equipment, insulating and sheet rocking the building, hanging the gi-normous cedar tank room doors (each is 5 feet wide and 18 feet high), pruning the first vineyard, hiring the staff, lining up our tasting room volunteers, putting the training program in place, completing wiring and plumbing, running the networking and setting up the computers and sales software, picking out all of the retail items including shirts and food items for sale, buying and installing fridges, the ice maker, sinks, prep and sales areas, building the beautiful custom tasting bar and laying the Brazilian cherry wood flooring, installing the windows and siding, building the three powder-rooms and finishing the stonework and timber entryway, grading and planting the wedding area, working out our advertising strategies, lining up tasting and educational seminars for friends and colleagues as well as professional and social networking groups, finalizing all of our licensing, working with the county government on event permits, arranging press coverage, finishing the environmentally friendly geothermal HVAC system, putting in the well, roads and drain field, as well as paying the bills, buying and house-breaking a golden-retriever puppy, giving pre-opening tours to our friends and assorted visitors, and finding time for a few hours’ sleep each night.

Well, that’s it for now from Barrel Oak Winery. Our new motto is that “We’re What’s New and Exciting in Northern Virginia.” Like that? We also like to tell folks that we’re “One hour from downtown and a world away.” It’s really true! Another way of putting it is that “The shortest route to Napa is through Fauquier County.” Try it sometime…you’ll see! My favorite is the pithiest: Come on in and “Take a BOW!”

Whatever you do, please consider helping us and becoming a part of the fun. Please pass this along and feel free to check in regularly or call us any time. If you have ideas and suggestions on how we can tackle that big list above we’d love to hear from you. We’ll find time to be in touch soon and we look forward to seeing you in the near future!