After a three-year absence, the Garagiste Wine Festival returns to Solvang for two days, this Friday and Saturday, once again offering access to the best small-productions from Santa Barbara County and the Central Coast.
Tickets remain available via https://www.garagistefestival.com/solvang-feb-2022.
“Southern Exposure,” which follows on the heels of a sold-out Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles last November, will take place at Solvang’s historic Mission-style Veterans’ Memorial Hall.
“While the pandemic may have prevented us from gathering, it did not prevent these extraordinary winemakers from crafting their fantastic wines, and we cannot wait to showcase them to our very appreciative and enthusiastic attendees,” said Garagiste Festival co-founder Douglas Minnick.
The grand tasting will feature more than 30 winemakers, complimentary cheese and charcuterie, as well as food samples from local artisan vendors. For bigger appetites, the Ibarra Catering Truck will have food available for purchase.
View the list of participating winemakers here.
After debuting in Paso Robles in 2011, the nonprofit Garagiste Festival — named to honor the micro-production commercial ‘garagiste’ (garage) winemakers — was named “Best of the Fests” by Fest Forums and the ‘Best Wine Festival in the United States’ by USA Today.
It expanded to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2013 to highlight the wines of Santa Barbara County, and has been a sell-out event ever since.
As in prior (pre-COVID) years, this year’s event includes the Friday night signature “No Repeats, Rare & Reserve” event, and Saturday’s Grand Tasting. The latter includes a silent auction full of wine packages that will fund the Garagiste Festival Scholarships at the Wine and Viticulture Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
The festival has arranged to have a more open flow and greater social distancing within the venue, Minnick said.
Fifth Annual Women Winemakers Celebration is March 6
Women winemakers, chefs and bakers will reunite Sunday, March 6, for the fifth annual Women Winemakers Celebration, once again as an early nod to International Women’s Day.
In March 2020, the fourth annual Women Winemakers Celebration was one of the last in-person wine events of its kind to occur — just days before the initial COVID-induced shutdowns. March of 2021 brought a virtual fundraising event hosted by the women behind the event.
In person again, this year’s event will showcase the winemaking talents of about 20 Santa Barbara County women winemakers, and will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at Roblar Farm in Los Olivos.
This year’s event will also benefit a women’s issue platform — proceeds from the event will be donated to Community Health Centers of the Central Coast (CHC) by the Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation, with funds earmarked specifically for women’s health needs in medically underserved families of Northern Santa Barbara County.
Tickets to the event are on sale at http://bit.ly/WomenInWine22
Shuttle and parking information will be distributed to all ticketed event guests prior to the event date.
As of this week, the confirmed winemakers participating include Karen Steinwachs, Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard and Seagrape Wine Company; Lane Tanner, Lumen Wines; Brooke Carhartt, Carhartt Family Wines; Kathy Joseph, Fiddlehead Cellars; Sonja Magdevski, Casa Dumetz Wines, Clementine Carter and The Feminist Party; Alison Thomson, Lepiane Wines; Brit Zotovich, Dreamcôte Wine Co.; Tara Gomez and Mireia Taribó, Camins 2 Dreams; Gretchen Voelcker, Piazza Family Wines and Luna Hart Wines; Laura Roach, Loubud Wines; Jessica Gasca, Story of Soil; Wynne Solomon, Peake Ranch Winery; Samra Morris, Alma Rosa Winery; Alice Anderson, âmevive; Anna Clifford, Cambria Wines, Nielson Wines, and Final Girl Wines; Angela Soleno, Turiya Wines; and Magan Eng, Kunin Wines.
“Our being able to safely gather in-person, once again, is so symbolic of the triumph over what we’ve endured during the past two years,” said Karen Steinwachs, part of the all-female Women Winemakers Celebration event production team, and co-founder of the annual celebration.
“We’re looking forward to an engaging and welcoming afternoon with our event guests, and we’re so excited to have them taste the fruits of our collective labors … with us.”
The event will offer an intimate, alfresco wine tasting reception complete with elevated hors d’oeuvres. The three-hour wine tasting — and snacking — reception will feature winemakers who will be on hand to pour tastes of their wines and talk with event guests, as passed and stationary appetizers are offered by a dozen female counterparts in the Santa Barbara County food world.
Adding to the event’s outdoor ambience, live music by Arwen Lewis, an interactive food and wine trivia challenge, and the popular “estrogen collection” wine case opportunity drawing.
International Women’s Day has been celebrated worldwide since 1909, with a focus on working women’s achievements and issues.
In a working environment that sees about 10% of the global wine industry as female lead winemakers, Santa Barbara County continues to see a much higher percentage of women winemakers than most regions in the world — with nearly double the average, and growing each year.
Brooke Stockwell, executive chef at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café, will be joined “on the farm” by other female culinary talent such as sourdough bread baker Leyla Williams, co-owner of Solvang’s Good Seed Coffee Boutique; Janelle Norman, owner and cheesemonger at Solvang’s Cailloux Cheese Shop; Chef Golzar Barrera of Santa Ynez Valley’s All Purpose Flower; Sarah Price, owner/operator of Lompoc-based Sassafras Mobile Food Truck and Restaurant; Chef Louise Smith, Louise’s Kitchen Table; Joy Reinhardt, chef/owner of Ellie’s Tap & Vine restaurant in Santa Ynez; Joy Culley, co-owner at Solvang Spice Merchant; Olive Silver from Lompoc’s Tutti Frutti Farms; Shanté Norwood, owner/baker at Té’Stees Cupcakes; and treats- and truffle-maker Jessica Foster of Jessica Foster Confections.
The celebration will also, for the first time, feature handmade ice cream from Reina’s Sweets, the teen dessert star and daughter of Solvang’s peasants FEAST restaurant owners, who will represent the next generation of lady kitchen talent.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, event attendance is limited and advance ticket purchase is required. Proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID test result, will also be required for event entry. COVID test kits will also be available for onsite, day-of tests.
CASS Issues Preliminary Grape Crush Report of 3.6 Million Tons
In its preliminary 2021 grape crush report issued early this month, the California Agricultural Statistics Service (CASS) stated that 3.6 million tons of wine grapes were crushed — up nearly 6% over the figure for 2020, which was 3.4 million tons.
The total tonnage for 2021 matches industry expectations and the forecast issued by CASS last September, according to www.winebusiness.com.
Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 2,016,959 tons, up 10.7% from 2020.
White wine varieties crushed totaled 1,596,051 tons, up 0.3% from 2020.
The 2021 average price of all varieties was $848.42, up 24.8% from 2020.
Red wine grapes prices averaged $1.055.18, up 32.4% from 2020; white wine grape prices averaged $668.89, up 19.7% from 2020.
— Laurie Jervis tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.