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Welcome back both to all of you lovely readers/listeners and also to us, back after a month and a half podcast break!
We return with a pretty big, very cool guest, Barefoot Wine’s winemaker of 30 years, Jen Wall.
Jen started as Barefoot’s winemaker in 1995 - yes, fellow Xillennials and Gen X'ers, 1995 was thirty years ago now. 😱 Jen has a degree in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. After earning that degree, she took a winemaking harvest internship in Sonoma County, where she discovered that winemaking was truly her inspiration and what she wanted to do. So she took enology classes at night - and for you luddites out there enology is the study of wine microbiology, chemistry, tasting, and marketing!
Then Jen got real-world, practical knowledge by working in wine cellars and enology labs. She joined Barefoot in 1995, where, in her own words, "she found the perfect place to make varietally correct, fruit-forward wines that everyone can enjoy."
It should also be noted that Barefoot is THE most awarded winer in the WORLD (by which I mean: they've won A LOT of awards!) Now quick caveat to that, to win as many awards as Barefoot has, you have to be able to submit to a ridiculous number of competitions, most small wineries would never be able to keep up with what a brand like Barefoot could do, but that said, Barefoot is still in a class all its own amongst its big brand peers.
In fact, Barefoot won "Value winery of the year" in a competition that I follow closely -
's 43rd Annual International Wine Competition, staged just two months ago on Dec. 13th, 2024, in Santa Rosa, California. Dan has been in the wine writing and judging business for even longer than Jen's been a winemaker, and he is by no means an apologist for big brand wines. And Barefoot won 31 total medals in just this latest competition, all but one of the wines that won these medals, selling for less than $10 US a bottle, which is OBSCENE.My WSET 3 Anecdote About Barefoot
Back in November / December, when I was studying hard for my WSET Level 3 Wine studies, my fellow students and I would gather in study group sessions where we’d each BYOB to blind taste and put our ability to give correct tasting and aromatic notes to the test.
One study group session, a white wine was poured: instantly I noticed the telltale aromas of Sauvignon Blanc. There were many hallmarks of a young and fresh version of the grape - the bright acidity, citrus, grass, wet stone…but then there were these intriguing “other” elements, a certain richness and depth that surprised.
If this had been the day of the exam, I wouldn’t have taken the risk - I would have gone with my gut, called this a youthful Savvy B, given that the scores and marks that such a young wine is expected to get, and called it a day. But since this was practice, I took a gamble and decided this thing had tertiary notes, which can only come from bottle aging.
Well, turned out, NOPE. It was Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc from California, the latest vintage, zippo bottle aging. (I would have missed a LOT of points on that one.)
Immediately after, one of the group said we had to pour another white wine. On my first whiff, I knew this was again Sauvignon Blanc, but more oaked, a “richer”, more “high end” style, more age worthy by wine nerd standards.
Sure enough, the second wine turned out to be a "Pouilly-Fume” - one of the great regions in France to produce high-end Savvy B in a style my class would demand be given a higher quality level and better aging potential.
But I gotta say…I liked the Barefoot better.
I think the “fruit-forwardness” - which is a hallmark of the Barefoot brand - blended with the bright, acidic profile of the Sauvignon Blanc variety, and created this interesting hybrid of youthful and richer styles, a great interplay that impressed me…well…greatly.
So when we had the chance to have Jen on the podcast, and discuss Barefoot: that was an obvious “Hell, yeah!” from me.
Topics Covered in the Episode
Intro, who is Jen Wall?
30 Years at Barefoot - what’s changed and what is Barefoot’s place in the current market/era?
Best Barefoot + Superbowl Food pairings.
If you could only bring one Barefoot to the Superbowl party, which one would that be?
If you did a full Barefoot flight - one wien per quaarter + a 5th for potential overtime, what is that flight? (What I like to call an “Escalation Flight”.)
What are our favorite American Football Movies and which Barefoot wines would we pair with them and why.
Enjoy the episode, and we’ll be back next week with a double feature of Valentine day romance movie + wine pairings!
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