A brand new French oak wine barrel can cost up to $2,500. An Eastern European oak might go for $1,000, and an American oak for $500, barrel aficionado Ryan Render explained.
“It’s expensive,” he said.
Pouring hard
The Garagiste Wine Festival will take over the Paso Robles Event Center on Nov. 7 and 8 showcasing dozens of micro-wineries. The weekend lineup includes food, music, artisan vendors, and plenty of wine. Buy tickets online for tasters and designated drivers who are 21 and older at garagistefestival.com.
He started his career in the industry at a winery in 1997, developing a passion for wine and eventually barrels.
“Funny enough, my very first job on my very first day was pounding hoops on barrels to help them get hydrated and put back together,” Render said.
Now as a partner at Le Grand USA, Render helps manufacture and sell barrels. The company also sells oak alternatives, like wood chips and cubes, that are placed with the wine inside tanks. Alternatives are widely used because they’re less expensive than brand new barrels and give a similar flavor.
Render took interest in barrels at Cal Poly when he visited a cooperage, where barrels are shaped and assembled.
“When I went and saw the cooperage back in college, I was kind of like, ‘This is pretty cool,’” Render remembered.
He’ll be sharing some of his knowledge at the Garagiste Wine Festival in Paso Robles on Nov. 8, celebrating small-production winemakers. The panel discussion will compare oak varieties and how they affect the flavor profiles in wine. Attendees will get to taste for themselves.
“You’ll get a good understanding about the tools that the winemaker has in their winery,” Render said.
One of those tools is the barrel, which Render described as the winemaker’s “spice rack.”
After trees are cut down, the wood is split into sections called staves. They’re left outside in the elements for two to three years. Rain naturally softens the wood and rinses off harsh acids, Render said.
Then, coopers start putting the staves together and applying fire. Sugars caramelize on the inside of the barrel, creating what’s known as a toast level. After that, the barrels are assembled.
“French oak tends to be the most elegant; … you can have a lot of cigar box, cedar, very subtle spices,” Render explained. “American oak tends to have a lot more vanilla aromatics to it, more like a Snickers bar.”
Each grape variety interacts differently with barrels, he added. Some exude the oak’s properties on the palate. For example, a buttery chardonnay could be a sign of American oak. For other varieties, the oak may present itself on the nose.
“One hundred percent new oak on a wine, you definitely smell the oak,” Render said.
Guests can try tasting the oak at the Garagiste Wine Festival, which kicks off on Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Frontier Pavillion at the Paso Robles Event Center. It’ll be an evening filled with reserve and library tastings paired with an Italian buffet from Stein’s BBQ and Catering.
Join winemakers and fellow festivalgoers on Nov. 8 at the fairgrounds for the main event. Render’s VIP panel starts at 11:30 a.m. and gives guests early access to the headliner tasting event that runs from 2 to 5 p.m.
In addition to wine, artisan vendors will sell a variety of goods, from candles to chocolate truffles. Keep mingling at the Rockin’ After-Party from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. with live music and complimentary beer from Paso Robles Brewing Company.
While the festival travels throughout the state during the year to cities like Solvang and Sonoma, this is the 15th anniversary of the Paso festival. The two-day celebration spotlights winemakers producing less than 1,500 cases per year.
“When you tend to make smaller batches of wine, you tend to really focus on the quality because you don’t have a lot of it,” Render said.
Small wineries are hands-on, taking their time on each step of the process. Earlier in his career, Render came up through the same system as a winemaker.
A member of the festival since its early days, Render is “stoked” that it’s still going strong and giving small wineries the opportunity to showcase their craft.
“There’s a passion behind it,” he said, “and that’s why I got into it.” ∆
Sun Staff Writer Madison White, from New Times’ sister paper, is working on tasting the oak. Reach her at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-16, 2025.