Why it matters
The producer
Bob Blue came to Hopland in 2013 carrying a cellar question: what happens to Zinfandel when spent bourbon barrels replace the standard oak finish? The wine he made from that trial became the first commercially released bourbon barrel-aged wine in California. The category that followed, spirits barrel-aged wines sold at scale across multiple markets, traces back to that 2014 release from 1000 Stories.
Blue retired in June 2022 after founding the label and shepherding it through its first decade. Sebastian Donoso and Margaret Leonardi took over winemaking that year. 1000 Stories is owned by Bonterra Organic Estates, based in Hopland in Mendocino County, a parent company that holds B Corp certification and TRUE Zero Waste certification, diverting over 98% of waste from landfill or incineration.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The wines are sourced across three California growing areas: Lodi, Mendocino County, and San Luis Obispo. Lodi's old-vine Zinfandel blocks supply the largest share of the blend. Mendocino County fruit comes from the same county where 1000 Stories is based. San Luis Obispo, further south on the Central Coast, rounds out the sourcing.
Because the blend pulls from all three areas, the wines carry a California appellation designation rather than a single district. The blend is assembled from complementary material across a wide geography, which gives the winemaking team flexibility in constructing each batch.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Lodi contributes the largest portion of the Zinfandel blend, drawn from historic old-vine sites. Mendocino County and San Luis Obispo supply supporting fruit. The grapes are not estate-grown; 1000 Stories sources from these three established California regions rather than farming its own vineyards.
The barrel programme runs in three stages. The wine first ages in French and American oak barrels, then finishes in aged bourbon barrels. The bourbon barrels are spent casks from distillery use, which means they carry residual spirit character, caramel compounds, and toasted grain notes without reintroducing alcohol or sweetness at distillery levels. Each release carries a batch number, and the composition shifts by batch, reflecting that vintage's specific sourcing and the particular bourbon barrel stock available for finishing.
Wines to know
The range in view
The flagship is the Bourbon Barrel-Aged Zinfandel, the bottle that established the label and continues to anchor the range. It draws on the three-region California blend and moves through the full barrel sequence. Beyond Zinfandel, the range includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, though only the Zinfandel is confirmed in all markets where 1000 Stories distributes.
Each Zinfandel release carries a sequential batch number. The composition varies from batch to batch as vineyard sourcing and bourbon barrel origins shift, so no two batches are identical in balance or character.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Bourbon Barrel-Aged Zinfandel is the bottle. It is the founding wine and the one that shows what the three-stage barrel programme actually does to the grape. Start with the current batch. Zinfandel from Lodi old-vine blocks provides the dark fruit core; the first oak stage builds tannin and baseline spice; the bourbon barrel finish brings vanilla, toasted grain, and walnut. At 15.6% alcohol, the wine is warm but not sharp, and the finish carries caramel length that a straight oak-aged Zinfandel would not show. The batch number on the label is worth noting before the next purchase, because the sourcing shifts with each release.