Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/807387
{ SOMMjournal.com } 81 few years ago, Sonoma County Vintners (SCV) settled on the idea of a barrel auction as a new and compelling way to showcase both the quality and amazing diversity of the county's wines. Throughout its 17 appellations, over 60 grape variet - ies thrive in the complex soils that evolved over Sonoma's tumultuous geological history. Diverse soils combined with the region's proximity to the cold Pacific provides vintners with an almost inexhaustible palette of terroirs. In 2015, SCV debuted their brainchild, "Never Before, Never Again Wines," offered exclusively to the trade through the Sonoma County Barrel Auction. The 2017 Sonoma County Barrel Auction marks the third year Sonoma vintners have been invited to craft and submit unique, one-time only, small-lot wines for the sale. Though still in its infancy, SoCo (its nickname among those in the know) has gathered the momentum of a snowball on a steep slope. The 75 lots sold in 2016 raised $698,800, a 50 percent increase over the sum raised by the 71 lots offered in 2015, the inaugural year. The number of submis - sions has ballooned too. A total of 90 lots are up for the battle of the paddles this year. Part of the SoCo Auction's rapid success can be traced to SVC's decision to have the lots vetted by an impartial panel of Master Sommeliers. Bidders can count on top quality, and it encourages a bit of competitive spirit in the vintners. "It was very important to Sonoma County Vintners to solicit an elite group of panelists—all impartial Master Sommeliers—to evaluate the lots," explained Jean Arnold Sessions, SCV Executive Director. "Each year they challenge and inspire the producers to create a wine of the highest quality, so that what we offer at each year's auction is truly exceptional." Masterful portrait. Standing: Clay and Carrie Mauritson, proprietors of Mauritson Wines, Healdsburg, CA; Sonoma County Master Sommelier panelists Randall Bertao of Los Altos Golf & Country Club, Los Altos, CA; Peter Granoff of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, San Francisco, CA, and Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant, Napa, CA; Keith Goldston, Rosewood Hotel, Washington, D.C. Seated: Jack Mason of Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Houston, TX; Laura Williamson of Mandarin Oriental, New York, NY; Roger Dagorn, One Five Hospitality, New York, NY; Evan Goldstein, Full Circle Wine Solutions, Inc., San Francisco, CA. One of the two very different Rockpile Zinfandels—this one grown on 20-million- year-old seabed sandstone.