Wining at Urban Exposure...Coming on 7/11...

‘Rare and Reserve’ Tasting Raises the Curtain on Garagiste Wine Festival: ‘Urban Exposure’ at LA’s The Wiltern July 11^th

Garagiste winemakers share special, tiny case-lot, library, and reserve wines, rarely available to the public, as well as pre-release and barrel tastings at exclusive festival pre-event; Grand Tasting features over 50 winemakers from across CA, including 12 from Napa/Sonoma

Paso Robles, CA –June 17, 2015 – Garagiste Events, producers of The Garagiste Festivals, today announced the addition of a new tasting, ‘The Rare and Reserve Hour’ to kick off this year’s Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure, which returns to Los Angeles on July 11^th. Rare and Reserve raises the curtain on special library and reserve wines that are rarely available to the public, as well as on some pre-release and barrel tastings, from over 45 of the participating wineries. The tasting is available to VIP ticketholders only and takes place at 1pm at the stunning art deco masterpiece, The Wiltern, which has never hosted a wine festival like this before. Tickets available at www.garagistefestival.com.


Urban Exposure’s main event, the Grand Tasting, which immediately follows ‘Rare and Reserve’, features over 200 wines crafted by 56 winemakers from across California, including 12 from Napa, Sonoma, Monterey and Anderson Valley.  Over half of the wineries are pouring at Urban Exposure for the first time and 8 are pouring wines from their very first vintage. Festival-goers will also have the chance to sample breads from La Brea Bakery, cold brew coffee from Califia Farms, wine pairing chocolates from Truffle Gateau, as well as samples from Artisanal LA producers. Proceeds from the non-profit festival will benefit the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program.

“Our super exclusive Rare and Reserve event offers a tasting of some incredible wines that are rarely available to the public,” said Doug Minnick Co-founder of The Garagiste Festivals. “We also have a tremendous range of California winemakers that are pouring at our main event Grand Tasting.  There is nowhere else in the US where wine enthusiasts have such a great opportunity to taste these hand-crafted, top-notch, micro-production wines. If you want to turbo-charge your wine knowledge and experience in one fun day, this is the place.”

The Garagiste Wine Festivals, which first exposed the American garagiste** movement, are among the most unique and influential wine events in the world and are the only wine events that exclusively showcase ultra-premium, cutting-edge, micro-production commercial wineries that produce fewer than 1,500 (and many under 800) cases a year.

The Rare and Reserve tasting features:
2009 ALMA SOL Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley - $60 - 50 cases
2011 ALTA COLINA Block 2 Bio Syrah - $55 - 110 Cases
2013 BLAIR ESTATE "The Reserve" Pinot Noir - $75 - 110 Cases
2010 BON NICHE "Voutes" Bordeaux Blend - $50 - 97 Cases
2006 CALIZA WINERY Estate Syrah - $70 - 230 Cases
2012 CHOLAME VINEYARD Grenache - $45 - 90 Cases
2010 CLOAK & DAGGER "The Assassin" Cabernet Sauvignon - $65 - 50 Cases
2012 CUTRUZZOLA VINEYARD Riesling - Sold Out - 90 Cases
2012 HARRISON CLARKE Syrah Whole Cluster - $68 - 25 Cases
2011 LAST LIGHT WINE Co. Pinot Noir - $34 - 47 Cases - 1st Vintage
2009 STANGER Pinot Noir, Library Reserve - $114 - Club Only
2009 LES DEUX COMTES Rhone Blend - $45 - 88 Cases
2012 TLO WINES Reserve Petite Sirah - $35 - 90 Cases
2005 TRAVIESO WINERY "El Rey" Cabernet Sauvignon - $50 - 140 Cases
2008 TURIYA WINES Perpetual Bliss Cab/Syrah - $85 - 48 Cases
2011 TWO SHEPHERDS Syrah/Mourvedre - $38 - 50 Cases
2009 VINEMARK CELLARS Primitivo - $32 - 1st Vintage
2012 VINES ON THE MARYCREST Sangiovese - $36 - 60 Cases

The pre-event also features pre-releases from Alma Fria, Apical Cellars, Artisan Uprising, Incendium, Kessler-Haak, and Weatherborne; along with barrel samples from Bellissimo Cellars, El Lugar, Prizm Winery, The Central Coast Group Project and Valley Floor Vineyard.

The Rare and Reserve Tasting takes place from 1-2pm on Saturday, July 11^th at The Wiltern, followed at 2pm by the Urban Exposure main event, the Grand Tasting, featuring the following winemakers from across California:
Alma Fria Winery, Alma Sol Winery, Alta Colina Vineyards, Apical Cellars, Archium Cellars, Artisan Uprising, Ascension Cellars, Bellissimo Cellars, Blair Estate, Bon Niche Cellars, Caliza Winery, Carucci Wines, Casa Dumetz, Cholame Vineyard, Cloak & Dagger Wines, Coda Wines, Cordon Wines, Cutruzzola Vineyards, DENO Wines, Dilecta Wines, El Lugar, Falcone Family Vineyards, Graef Wines, Halcon Vineyards, Harrison Clarke Vineyards, Imagine Wines, Incendium Wines, Kaleidos Winery, Kessler-Haak Vineyards, Larner Vineyards, Last Light Wine Co., Levo Wines, Maidenstoen Wines, Mattina Fiore, MCV Wines, Moonwalker Cellars, C. Nagy Wines, Overland Wines, Pace Family Wines, Powell Mountain Winery, Prizm Winery, Pulchella Winery, Rendarrio Wines, Ryan Cochrane Wines, STANGER Vineyards, Tercero Wines, The Central Coast Group Project, The Farm Winery, Theopolis Vineyards, Tlo Wines, Travieso Winery, Turiya Wines, Two Shepherds Wines, Valley Floor Vineyard, Vinemark Cellars, Vines on the Marycrest and Weatherborne.

The Wiltern Theater is at 3790 Wilshire Boulevard (Wilshire and Western), Los Angeles, CA. The Wiltern has a Metro subway station right across the street. So tasting has never been easier. Please consult the LA Metro website for more details.

To preserve an intimate experience for consumers with one-on-one interaction with winemakers, tickets are very limited for the Garagiste Festivals and always sell out. Tickets are available at http://garagistefestival.com.  For special discounts and updates on Urban Exposure, Taste of Garagiste mini-tastings and other Garagiste Festival events and news, sign up for The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up/, or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook (http://on.fb.me/1rgBC80).

Sponsors include: California Winery Advisor, Crush Tag Labels, Distinctive Glassware, ETS Labs, Farm Credit West, Glenn Burdette, Laffort USA, mWEBB Communications, PRWCA, Spin the Bottle Wine Studio, Stolzle Glassware, Travel Paso,Vineyard & Winery Management, VisitSYV.com and Wines & Vines.
For sponsorship info, email info@garagistefestival.com.

 **Garagistes (garage-east) 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.  The Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemaker in 2011. Since then, the festival has helped thousands of consumers discover the remarkable wines of hundreds of true garagistes, who handcraft under 1,500 cases a year and pay close, hands-on attention to every wine they make.

About The Garagiste Wine Festivals
The Garagiste Wine Festivals (http://www.garagistefestival.com) are the first and only wine festivals dedicated to the undiscovered and under-recognized American 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; the Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure, in Los Angeles; garagiste mini-tastings presented from So Cal to Tahoe; winemaker dinners, a newsletter, garagiste profiles and more. The festivals were named one of the ‘Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations’ in the world by ABC News,* “one of the premier wine events of the year,” by the LA Times and “Best Festival” by Sunset Magazine’s ‘Best of the West.’ The 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(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, 424-603-4340
Crystal Hartwell, crystal(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, 714-987-1016