Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure Expands – Over Fifty SBC/SYV "Garagiste" Winemakers to Pour March 29th and 30th in Solvang
Tickets now on sale for two days of events and seminars featuring hard-to-find, high-quality, small-production winemakers from Santa Barbara County and Santa Ynez Valley; 50% are new festival discoveries; one in four pouring first vintage, 80% have no tasting room.
Paso Robles, CA – February 10, 2014 -
Garagiste Events today announced that tickets are now on sale at http://californiagaragistes.com/buy-tickets/
for its expanded Santa Ynez Valley-based “Garagiste Festival: Southern
Exposure,” which will feature fifty-six of Santa Ynez Valley’s and Santa
Barbara County’s high-quality, limited-production commercial “garagiste**” winemakers.
The second annual festival will take place on March 29th and 30th,
and returns to the beautiful, Mission-style Veterans Memorial Hall in the heart
of Solvang, California. Proceeds benefit Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program.
Last year’s
one-day event sold out and, in response to both consumer and winemaker demand,
the non-profit event has expanded to two days. Like all Garagiste Events festivals, each day
will incorporate the festival’s signature tasting seminars, low-crowd experience,
high-quality wines, first-time and ‘soon-to-break-out’ discoveries, personal winemaker
interaction, diverse varietals (over 20) and renegade spirit. And, with almost fifty
percent of the winemakers pouring at the event for the first time - thirteen
pouring their first vintage, and over 75% lacking a tasting room - Southern
Exposure offers a truly one-time-only opportunity for consumers to discover
some of the hottest, yet-to-be-discovered wines, in one of the country’s most
up and coming wine regions -- all in person and under one roof.
The non-profit
Garagiste Festivals showcase high-quality, cutting-edge, small-production commercial
wineries that produce fewer than 1,500 cases a year, and have emerged as among
the most unique and influential wine events in the US. Named one of the ‘Top
Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations’ in the world by ABC News and a ‘not to
miss’ event by the LA Times, the festivals have introduced over 150 outstanding
artisan winemakers to thousands of passionate wine consumers, members of the
trade and media, raising the profiles of many of the winemakers nationally for
the first time, and raising thousands of dollars for the education of future
winemakers.
“With Southern Exposure, Garagiste Events is proud to continue to serve
as both starting gate and incubator for some of the Central Coast’s (and the
world’s) most important small-lot winemakers and to offer consumers the unique
joy of connecting with artisans whose passion and maverick spirit pulse through
the ‘terroir’ of their wines,” continued Garagiste Festival co-founder Stewart
McLennan.
“And all at an event that is heavy on fun and light on pretension --
which is perhaps the thing we are most proud of. As our attendees will attest,
Garagiste events are a blast!”
Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure - Grand Tastings
This year’s festival features two
Grand Tastings, one on Saturday from 2pm to 5pm, and one on Sunday from 1pm to
4pm, each with a unique slate of winemakers.
Winemakers pouring on Saturday
include: Archium Cellars*, Ascension Cellars*, Carucci Wines*, Casa
Dumetz, Cholame Vineyard, Cordon Wines, Crawford Family Wines*, Dubost
Ranch*, DV8 Cellars*, Graef Wines*, Ground Effect Wines,
Harrison Clarke Wines, Kaena Wine Company, Kessler-Haak Winery, Kita Wines*,
Larner Winery, Luminesce, Moretti Wine Co.*, Pence Ranch, Press Gang Cellars,
Roark Wine Co., Ryan Cochrane Wines, Seagrape Wine Company, Shai Cellars,
Tercero Wines, Transcendence Wines, Turiya*, and Vinemark Cellars*.
Winemakers pouring on Sunday
include a-non-ah-mus, Baehner-Fournier, Bradley Family Winery*, Brophy
Clark Cellars*, C. Nagy Wines, Calilove
Winery*, Cloak & Dagger, Clos Des
Amis*, Dascomb Cellars*, Desperada*, Dilecta,
Fontes & Phillips*, Frequency Wines, Gioia Wines*, Guyomar Wine Cellars*,
J. Wilkes Wines, La Fenetre Wines, LaZarre Wines, Montemar Winery*, Nicora
Wines, ONX Wines, Plan B Cellars*, Refugio Ranch, Scott Cellars*, Solminer
Wine*, STANGER Vineyards, Weatherborne Wine Co.*, and Zinke Wine Company*.
Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure - Signature Tasting Seminars
In addition to the Grand Tastings, each
day of Southern Exposure will feature
one of the festival’s popular (and limited seating) morning tasting seminars.
Saturday’s 11 – noon seminar, “Rhones Rule: The Wines of Ballard Canyon”
is focused on Santa Ynez Valley’s brand new AVA, Ballard Canyon, and proves
that Santa Barbara is not all about Pinot and Chardonnay. Featuring Michael
Larner of Larner Vineyards, Larry Schaffer of Tercero Wines and Mikael Sigouin
of Kaena Wine Company (all of
whom source from this AVA), the seminar
offers compelling evidence, in the glass, that Ballard Canyon wineries are at
the forefront of the California Rhone movement.
Sunday’s 11 to noon seminar focuses
on one of SYV’s favorite, and most difficult to grow, varietals – and one that
breaks more than a few winemaker’s hearts. In A Pinot Noir Primer from the
Roots Up,” Joshua Klapper from La Fenetre Wines, Adam LaZarre from LaZarre
Wines and Clarissa Nagy from C. Nagy Wines will help consumers understand the
impact different clones and SYV regions have on what ends up in the
bottle.
Tickets
For more
information on The Garagiste Festival:
Southern Exposure, go to http://garagistefestival.com. To be alerted
to breaking news about Southern Exposure
and additional Garagiste events, sign-up for The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up/, or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook.
Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure Sponsors include:
California Winery Advisor, The
Chumash Resort, Farm Credit West, Glen Burdette, mWEBB Communications, Stolzle,
The Good Life Wine Cellar, One West Insurance, The Santa Ynez Valley Wine Club,
Vinzy, VisitTheSantaYnezValley.com, Wandering Dog Wine Bar, and Wine Country
Pack & Ship.
For sponsorship info, email
info@garagistefestival.com.
*New to Garagiste / Italics pouring 1st Vintage
**Garagistes (gar-uh-zhē-stuh) is a
term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade
small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their "garages" (anything
considered not a chateau), who refused to follow the “rules,” and is now a
full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the
world.
About The Garagiste Festivals
The Garagiste Festivals (http://www.garagistefestival.com)
are the first and only wine festivals dedicated to the undiscovered and
under-recognized artisan ‘garagiste’ producers who are making some of the best,
most exciting, handcrafted small-lot production wines in the world. Founded by
fellow garagistes Stewart McLennan and Douglas Minnick, the Garagiste Festivals
are committed to discovering the best and most innovative limited-production
winemakers and promoting and showcasing them to a broad audience of discerning
wine consumers. In addition to its flagship annual festival in Paso Robles, CA,
the Garagiste Festival line-up includes Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure,
featuring Santa Ynez Valley garagistes; garagiste mini-tastings presented from
So Cal to Tahoe; winemaker dinners, a newsletter, garagiste profiles and more.
Named one of the “Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations” by ABC News,
Garagiste Festivals are produced by Garagiste Events, a non-profit dedicated to
furthering the education of future winemakers and those training for employment
within the wine industry. Proceeds from the festivals are donated to the Cal
Poly Wine and Viticulture Program.
Media Contacts:
mWEBB Communications for The Garagiste Festivals
Melanie Webber, melanie@mwebbcom.com, 424-603-4340
Elizabeth Johnson, elizabeth@mwebbcom.com, 213-713-4865
mWEBB Communications for The Garagiste Festivals
Melanie Webber, melanie@mwebbcom.com, 424-603-4340
Elizabeth Johnson, elizabeth@mwebbcom.com, 213-713-4865
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