From Bob Sweeney’s perspective, the challenge for many people to jump from buying those $8 mass-produced grocery store wines to hand-crafted but more expensive bottles is a lot like the lost art of going to the video store. “We’d stare at the rack of videos, figuring out what we want to watch, and you wind up renting a movie because the label is nice,” said Sweeney. “But when you’re spending $30-$50 blindly on wine and have a bad experience, you’re not gonna do it anymore.”
To help people make that leap, Sweeney, a Santa Ynez Valley resident whose background is in marketing and wine tours, developed the Boutique Wine Sampler. The six-pack of high-end half bottles from Santa Barbara County is now on sale for $50 at nearly 40 Costcos across Southern California, and the Paso Robles version is being sold statewide as well. “People need to explore things like wine and taste it to get a sense about it before they commit,” said Sweeney. “The nature of the beast is that boutique winemakers don’t make very much wine, so they don’t have access to the marketplace as much. This is a bridge for folks who are curious about upgrading their wine palate but have no idea how to jump on it.”
The participating wineries are no joke, either. From Santa Barbara, there’s Stolpman syrah, Badge pinot noir, Blair Fox petite sirah, Carr cabernet franc, Andrew Murray chenin blanc, and Larner grenache rosé. The Paso package includes Cass malbec, Brian Benson zinfandelgrenache, Alta Colina grenache blanc, Bodega de Edgar tempranillo, and San Marcos Creek grenache rosé. Full bottles of the same wines will be available to buy through Sweeney’s website when they are released by each winery.