The first weekend of July is officially in the books, and if the noise level at the cellar door was any indication, our Rent-A-Row Oak Tasting workshops are off to a spectacular start.
As the third of the four major workshops in our Rent-A-Row program, Oak Tasting is always a highly anticipated milestone. It’s the pivotal moment where our participants stop wondering if they are tasting wine "correctly" and start confidently deciding what they actually like.
Over the weekend, we welcomed a fantastic turnout—with over 60 people joining us. Watching the our Rent-a-Row groups transform over the course of each session is easily one of our favourite parts of the whole Rent-A-Row journey.
Every session starts pretty much the same way: a little bit cautious. People politely sniff their glasses, swirl the wine, and quietly look around the table to see who is going to speak first. We always begin with the un-oaked control base wine to establish a starting point , and then we introduce the oak samples.
Within about 20 minutes, the polite silence completely vanishes.
Suddenly, the whole room has opinions—and strong ones! This weekend was filled with classic Oak Tasting breakthroughs:
The real fun began when someone who thought they strictly hated American oak realized they actually loved it in a blend—or when a table split into passionate, friendly debates over Sample 2 versus Sample 3.
Once the individual oak options were tasted, the real winemaking began. Participants started playing with combinations—adding a splash of American for sweetness, a bit of French for structure, or Hungarian for spice.
It quickly became loud, lively, and wonderfully chaotic. By testing different combinations, everyone got a firsthand look at why winemakers run trials; a tiny percentage shift can completely alter how round, bright, or structured the wine feels.
For our Demijohn and Barrique customers, the blends decided upon this weekend are now officially a custom part of their wine's unique story. For our Shareholders, we’ll tally up all the weekend's preferences to help guide the collective oak treatment for this year's Shareholder Shiraz.
The Oak Tasting workshops will be keeping us busy every Saturday and Sunday throughout July.
Energy is already building for next weekend. We have a massive crowd shaping up for Saturday, July 11th (with around 38 expected), and another great group locked in for Sunday, July 12th (currently tracking at around 30 people).
Remember, you don't need a fancy wine vocabulary, and you don't need to know what "tannin integration" or "vanillin" means to participate. You just need to bring your palate and answer one simple question: Would I happily drink a glass of this?
While last weekend's winemakers have gone home to practice patience as the oak slowly settles and knits into the wine over the coming months, we’re at the cellar door doing the less glamorous work—mostly cleaning up an incredible amount of glassware!
We can't wait to do it all over again this weekend. See you at the tasting tables!
Want to learn more about how you can join the journey from vine to bottle? Check out the full breakdown of our program details at The Shiraz Republic Rent-A-Row Page.