Once a year, hundreds of people gather to taste very young California wines during the annual California Barrel Tasting. The event was conceived by the late Addy Bassin, original owner of D.C. wine shop MacArthur Beverages, and was designed to mimic Bordeaux’s Union de Grand Cru, the annual weeklong affair where members of the wine trade get a sneak peak of newly vinified French wines. Bassin wanted to give Washington-area consumers the same type of exposure to young California wines that the French had developed so that they could have an opportunity to purchase the not-yet-released domestic wines at a discount. Unfortunately, Addy died shortly after the first event. His partner and widow, Ruth, has continued the event in Addy’s memory and it has since become a popular fundraiser for the Addy and Bruce Bassin Memorial Cancer Research Fund at George Washington University Medical Center.

This year, the 26th Annual California Barrel Tasting featured more than 60 wines from 37 different wineries, mostly from the acclaimed 2009 vintage. Since the wines are still aging in barrels, they are not commercially available for a year or two later, so the wines are offered now at a price below the future retail price. This practice is referred to as buying “futures” and is a savvy way to purchase collectable wines at a discount.