With wine on tap, there’s less risk — and less waste

Savvy wine drinkers know if you want to order the freshest glass of wine at a restaurant, wine on tap might be the best option.

With these wines, there’s no playing the odds. There’s no risk of cork taint, cork defects, or oxidized wines from an opened bottle has sat too long on the shelf and has had its flavors diminished.

Winemaker Alison Crowe, fiercely protective of her bottlings, is a big proponent of wines on tap.

“For two years, you’re taking care of these wines from grape to bottle, and it’s tragic to have them poorly presented,” said Crowe, director of winemaking for Plata Wine Partners in Napa that produces Garnet and Picket Fence, among other brands. “It’s your artwork and you want it displayed appropriately.”

A purveyor of these taps, Free Flow Wines, is expanding its win-on-tap program and moving its headquarters to Sonoma in January, said Heather Clauss, vice president of marketing. She said the category is experiencing “consistent growth” and expects business to increase by 20 percent this year, as well as next.

Clauss said wine on tap appeals to millennials who are open to alternative formats and are impressed by its eco-friendly stance in bypassing the bottle.

“Every 19.5-liter keg eliminates 26 bottles,” she said.

Clauss said wine on tap also is winning acceptance with more experienced drinkers who are finding more premium brands on tap now that the category is taking off.

While it’s most popular on the West Coast, Clauss said wine on tap is drawing plenty of interest across the country with more hotel and restaurant chains exploring pilot programs,

“We now work with more than 150 wineries and we have accounts in every state,” she said.

Crowe, who sells national brands, hopes to jump in again before long if the rest of the country accepts wine on tap like the West Coast. She sold her Garnet, 2014 Monterey County Pinot Noir, on tap from 2014 to 2016.

“I think we were a little ahead of the curve,” Crowe said.

Santa Rosa’s Martin Ray Winery is fully embracing wine on tap, with a page on its website devoted to it.

“We saved 100,000 bottles in 2017,” said Claire Ceklovsky, marketing communications director. “We have been certified sustainable for some time, and the kegs are very much an additional part of this dedication to the cause - less traditional initially, but now becoming much more commonplace.”

What follows is a sampling of places in Sonoma County that serve wine on tap:

Sonoma: Oso, 9 E. Napa St.; Sigh, 120 W. Napa St.; El Dorado Kitchen, 405 1st St. W.

Healdsburg: Shed, ?25 N St; Healdsburg Bar & Grill, 245 Healdsburg Ave.; Spoon Bar, 219 Healdsburg Ave.

Santa Rosa: The Spinster Sisters, 401 S. A St., Santa Rosa; Perch & Plow, 90 Old Courthouse Square; and the Union Hotel, ?280 Mission Blvd.

You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com.