barrel sampled?

Guest   Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:25 am GMT
"We re-tasted the 2001 Cabernet from bottle and barrel sampled the 2002 and the 2003 Estate and Reserve juice..."

Can anybody tell me what "barrel sampled" means?

(Read from http://www.redcarpetwine.com/News-Napa-Winter2004.html)
Uriel   Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:53 am GMT
Wine is stored and aged in yes, wooden barrels before it is bottled. So the author is saying that they sampled it from the bottle and also directly form the barrel.