Locöl owners Shane Whitall and Kyle Duce share a glass of Proletariat Cabernet Sauvignon with Darin Williams and Page Campau of Small Lot Co-Op, also members of the Proletariat Tap Program.
The new Proletariat Wine Company from Walla Walla has chosen Locöl Barley and Vin at 7902 35th Ave. s.w. to be the only location in the Seattle area to be part of a brand new program in which otherwise very expensive wine will be available by the glass through their exclusive Tap Program.
The company's wines are made from 100% Walla Walla American Viticultural Area (AVA) fruit. There are eleven of these areas in Washington State. Darin Williams founder of Small Lot Co-Op (and a participant/owner of the Proletariat brand) said, " What that means is that a cabernet grown and used and produced in Walla Walla has different characteristics than a cabernet grown, say in Horse Heaven Hills. The Walla Walla AVA is known for very high quality fruit. All of the fruit in the Proletariat first releases are from Walla Walla."
The company has plans to expand and include the other Washington State AVA's over time.
The program is essentially this: Wine is served directly from a keg or cask through a tap. The keg is charged with nitrogen for preservation. The savings represented by selling in larger quantities, not bottling, not storing, are passed along to the customer who is able to enjoy a much higher quality glass of wine at a lower price. "We eliminated a lot of the expense of packaging and logistics expenses," said Williams, "We want the restaurants to really see value in this product. There's no waste and because oxygen never touches it, it won't oxidize at the same rate normal glass pours will."
As part of bringing this program to market Williams and others brought 10 restaurateurs together as a focus group. "They loved it," said Williams, " and by the end of the day every one of them was thinking about how to retrofit their bars to get their kegs placed."
Duce said, "Proletariat Wine Company, teaming up with Small Lot and Locöl is going to be the next best thing as far as offering the value and the best product in the state. We're excited. It's more environmentally friendly too. (...) We're going to offer it at $9 per glass pour and it's all juice coming from Walla Walla and it's all from bottled wine in the $75 to $85 range."
