The Garagiste Wine Festival opens its 2024 lineup of events with a celebration of the 10th anniversary of its Southern Exposure festival, Feb. 9-10 in Solvang.
The festival’s wine discovery events include rare access to over 30 small-production winemakers from the Santa Barbara County area, as well as a Rare & Reserve tasting.
Those pouring at the festival for the first time this year are Alamati Wines, Bocce Ball Wine, Buckaloose Wines, Chris Caruso Wines, CrossHatch Winery, Entity of Delight, and Riding Monkey Wines.
Southern Exposure is held at the landmark Mission-style Veterans’ Memorial Hall on Solvang’s Mission Street. Tickets are now on sale at https://www.my805tix.com/e/garagiste-solvang-2024/tickets.
After a record year of sold-out Garagiste Festivals in 2023, showcasing some 200 small-production wineries, the not-for-profit event, which supports the next generation of winemakers through the Garagiste Festival Scholarship fund at CalPoly’s Wine and Viticulture Department, also announced its 2024 line-up:
The Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure in Sonoma on April 27; The Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure in Los Angeles, June 22; and the original Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles, Nov. 8-9.
“Solvang was the natural first expansion of the Garagiste Wine Festival after Paso Robles, given the richness of the winemaking and the diversity of terroir in the Santa Ynez/Sana Barbara areas, as well as the idyllic setting Solvang provides, so we could not be happier to be back in this charming town for the tenth time,” said Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival co-founder.
“And that romantic ambience, coupled with the opportunity to discover some of the most exciting micro-production wines California has to offer, makes it the perfect place to celebrate Valentine’s Day,” he said.
Festival attendees have a chance to be among the first to discover some of the best of the area’s hand-crafted wines from wineries that produce under 1500 cases per year (with 10 of those pouring this year producing less than 300 cases.
And, while some of the wineries have opened tasting rooms since the first Garagiste event in 2012, four out of five of the Southern Exposure wineries do not have tasting rooms, meaning the festival is the only opportunity for the public to taste all of these wines, under one roof, and all in one day.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, a number of the Original Garagistes who participated at the very first festival in Solvang, and who have grown beyond Garagiste Festival case limits, are back to celebrate on Friday night including, Casa Dumetz, Kaena Wine Co, and Kessler-Haak Vineyards.
The Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure opens Friday with its signature Rare & Reserve tasting, showcasing limited Club Only, Library and Pre-Release bottles, and a traditional Santa Maria-style barbecue dinner buffet.
On Saturday, The Grand Tasting, in addition to showcasing 30 wineries, includes cheese and charcuterie and a silent auction filled with first-rate wine packages that benefit The Garagiste Festival Scholarship Fund at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Weekend Pass holders have entry into both events, along with early access, lunch and a special sweet surprise.
Sunday, Feb. 11 is the Garagiste Passport Day, when several participating wineries – including some Garagiste Graduate wineries who have poured with Garagiste in past, but have grown larger in over the years – will offer special treats and discounts for festival attendees.
The Garagiste Festival premiered in Paso Robles in 2011. It is unique in that the wines are poured by the winemakers/owners themselves, offering a chance to interact with the creative forces behind the wines.
The festival expanded to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2013 to highlight the wines of Santa Barbara County and surrounding AVAs, as well as small production wineries from across California.
The 30+ winemakers scheduled to pour at the Garagiste Festival Southern Exposure include:
Absolution Cellars, Alamar Wines, Alamati Wine, Bocce Ball Wine, Boutz Cellars, Bucakloose Wines, Cairjn Wine Cellars, Chris Caruso Wines, Civilization Wine Co, Cordon Wine, CrossHatch Winery, Diablo Paso, Dusty Nabor Wines, Entity of Delight, Fuil Wines, Gagnon Cellars, Hayseed & Housdon, Kaleidos Winery, MCV Wines, Montagne Russe, Montemar Wines, Murder Ridge, Pine Mountain Vineyards, RF Fine Wines, Riding Monkey Wines, Stiekema Wine Co., Tercero Wines, Tomi Cellars, Wildflower Winery and ZANOLI Wines.
Friday only: Casa Dumetz, Hoi Polloi, Kaena Wine Co., and Kessler-Haak Vineyards.
*New Wineries: Alamati Wines, Bocce Ball Wines, Buckaloose Wines, Chris Caruso Wines, Crosshatch Winery, Entity of Delight, and Riding Monkey Wines.
For more information and full Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure schedule details, go to: http://www.garagistefestival.com/
Sponsors include: Visit Santa Ynez Valley, Vinland Hotel & Lounge, AgWest Farm Credit, Digital Dogma, ETS Laboratories, Flying Flags, Fortis Solutions Group, G3 Enterprises, Glenn Burdette, hotel hygge, Laffort, mWEBB Communications, Santa Ynez Valley, Sideways Inn, and The Winston.
For more, visit http://www.garagistefestival.com.