America’s best wine festival, The Garagiste Wine Festival, will return to Solvang on Feb. 7-8 with more than 30 of the Santa Barbara and Central Coast region’s most exciting micro-production winemakers.
Marking its 11th year in Solvang — one of America’s most charming small towns and most vibrant wine regions — the festival’s “Southern Exposure” lineup will include Saturday’s Grand Tasting of more than 150 ultra-premium wines, Friday’s “Rare and Reserve” wine tasting and a question-and-answer session with the authors of “Sideways Uncorked.’’
For participating wineries and the full schedule, visit garagistefestival.com/. For tickets: my805tix.com/e/garagiste-solvang-2025.
The festival will again take place at the Veterans Memorial Hall on Solvang’s Mission Drive (Highway 246). Similar Garagiste events take place in Sonoma (April), Los Angeles (June) and Paso Robles (November).
“Santa Barbara County was the first wine region the Garagiste Festival expanded to in 2012 and is one of the most vibrant winemaking areas in the world. Over the years, we have showcased hundreds of its micro-production wineries who are at the heart and soul of the California wine world. Most of these wineries do not have tasting rooms, and for many, the festival is their first time pouring for the public,” said Douglas Minnick, Garagiste Festival co-founder.
Garagiste will kick off Feb. 7 with its signature “Rare & Reserve” tasting, showcasing extremely limited “club only,” “library wines” and pre-release bottles along with a Cajun buffet by Solvang’s own Clean Slate Wine Bar, plus sweet treats from The Solvang Bakery.
Winemaker Dusty Nabor, owner of Dusty Nabor Wines, has participated in every Garagiste except Sonoma since 2017.
I asked Nabor whether participating in Garagiste has helped to boost his brand, which is based in Camarillo.
“I believe it is much better to attend them year over year and build your brand with the public. I know far too many wineries who attend and do not see a direct ROI or sales correlation and give up on them,” he told me via email.
“You have to remember that the attendees see 50 or 60 wineries in one day. The odds — no matter how good the wines are — that (attendees) are going to run out of the festival hall and go online and buy your wine are slim to none.
“It’s much better to use the events to build recognition and relationships over time.”
Case in point: I first tasted Nabor’s wines several years ago at a different wine festival, but rediscovered him at a Garagiste in Solvang.
Nabor produces about 2,500 cases across a few different brands; of that total, about 1,000 cases are his namesake brand.
“I’m capping my production at around 2,500 cases as that’s the amount I’ve found I can make myself with no help. I want my wines to be a pure expression of, first, where they come from, and second, who makes them. I feel the less people involved in the second part of that, the better.”
When it comes to vineyards from which he sources, “I’m pretty much all over the Santa Ynez Valley,” he said, “from pinot noir and chardonnay from the southwest corner of Sta. Rita Hills from vineyards like Bentrock and Radian, all the way out to Happy Canyon from vineyards like Vogelzang and Crown Point and everything in between.”
Among the varieties he produces are pinot noir, chardonnay, syrah, grenache, gruner veltliner, viognier, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.
Saturday’s Grand Tasting will include 30 winemakers pouring their latest releases, cheese and charcuterie from Cailloux Cheese Shop, a silent wine auction and a classic Garagiste Festival glass.
Before the Saturday afternoon tasting, Mira and Kurt Honeycutt, the authors of “Sideways Uncorked,” will take attendees behind the scenes of the classic movie and offer a pinot noir tasting.
All four of the nonprofit Garagiste Festivals support the next generation of winemakers through the Garagiste Festival Scholarship Fund at Cal Poly’s Wine & Viticulture Department in San Luis Obispo.
Santa Ynez Valley Restaurant Weeks Celebrate 15th Anniversary
The Santa Ynez Valley’s reputation as a culinary-driven destination — complete with imaginative chefs, deep agricultural roots, collaborative culinary culture, and food that ranges from contemporary, innovative farm-to-table fare to traditional Scandinavian feasts — is as well-earned as its reputation for making world-class wines.
And for two weeks, the valley’s restaurants offer the best of the region’s cuisine at excellent prices.
Celebrating 15 years, Restaurant Weeks launched Sunday and will continue through Feb. 1, with a variety of three-course prix fixe menus. Dozens of restaurants throughout Ballard, Buellton, Los Alamos, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Solvang will participate. The meals will be priced at $30, $40 and $50, plus tax and gratuity.
More than two dozen of the region’s wineries and tasting rooms also will participate with two-for-one tastings, special flights and discounts on bottle purchases.
For a list of participating restaurants, wineries and menus, visit DineSYV.com.