Tag Archives: SB Seasons Magazine

Editor’s Pick: I Madonnari Festival

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Tom Meaney, courtesy I Madonnari.

Tom Meaney, courtesy I Madonnari.

Memorial Day weekend brings a beloved Santa Barbara tradition to town—the colorful I Madonnari Festival of Italian street painting in front of the Old Mission (May 28–30). The otherwise drab grey pavement blossoms with vibrant pastels for these three days, as artists create dazzling works that delight visitors year after year. Not only is the festival beautiful, but all proceeds benefit Children’s Creative Project, a nonprofit arts education program that serves 50,000 children in more than 100 schools with visual and performing arts workshops and performances throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties
For more information visit imadonnarifestival.com.

—Leslie Dinaberg

This story originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine.

Cocktail Corner: 2016 Live Downtown Art & Wine Tour

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Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

Downtown Art and Wine Tour

Art and wine are always an excellent pair, and this year’s 2016 Downtown LIVE Art & Wine Tour is adding a fun new twist to the mix: Live Art!

Each of the participating venues north of Carrillo Street—including 10 West Gallery, Bella Rosa Galleries, Churchill Jewelers, Distinctive Art Gallery, Engel & Vӧlkers, Imagine X Functional Neurology, Indigo Interiors, The Painted Cabernet, Santa Barbara Arts, Santa Barbara Public Market and Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery—hosts a LIVE cultural event paired with a Santa Barbara restaurant and regional winery.

“Our ingenious venues are exhibiting everything from painting, spinning, live photo development—even aerialists, all performed LIVE,” says Maggie Campbell, Downtown Santa Barbara Executive Director.

Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

You can sip from your choice of ten wineries and one brewery along your cultural journey. Participants include: The Brander Vineyard, Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard, Cebada Wine, Fess Parker Winery, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co, Grassini Family Vineyards, Margerum Wine Company, Presidio Vineyard & Winery, Sanford Winery & Vineyards, Standing Sun Wines, Summerland Winery, Wine + Beer and Windrun Wines.

Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

Downtown Art & Wine Tour, courtesy Downtown Santa Barbara.

Food offerings included in the ticket price are from: Blush, bouchon Santa Barbara, Brasil Arts Café, C’est Cheese, Ca’Dario, Chase Restaurant & Lounge, Enterprise Fish Co, Finch & Fork, Los Arroyos Mexican Restaurant, Nectar Eatery & Lounge, Nothing Bundt Cakes, opal restaurant and bar, Paradise Café, Pascucci, Patxi’s Pizza, Persona Wood Fired Pizzeria and Viva Santa Barbara.

Tickets, which are $65 for the tour and include the Final Party, may be purchased at www.DSBLiveArtWine.Nightout.com, or at the Downtown Santa Barbara office (27-B E. de la Guerra St., M-F, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., check or credit card only). A limited number of tickets are available, so advance purchase is a must if you don’t want to miss out on the fun.

For more information, please call 805/962-2098, ext. 804 or visit www.DowntownSB.org. The festivities take place in Downtown Santa Barbara on Thursday, May 26, from 5:30-10 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Cheers to art and wine together! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

 Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on May 13, 2016.

SBMA Atelier: The Scent of Secret Gardens

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Courtesy SBMA

Courtesy SBMA

Santa Barbara Museum of Art‘s Atelier events are always chock full of creative fun, and this Saturday’s event—Atelier: The Scent of Secret Gardens— should be right on par with the best ones. This time around, Atelier takes India as inspiration in an evening embracing everything from Moghul to Modern, from Bombay to Bollywood. Music and dance, as well as fabulous flowers, food, and drink, celebrate the richly layered culture of the Indian subcontinent.

Have another round with the Raj at the Gin and Tonic Bar or sip the sweetly seductive Rose Petal Punch. Artist-designed activities include a Jain-inspired game of South East Asian Snakes and Ladders, match the deity to the vehicle, or spin the karmically competitive Wheel of Fortune.

The event is Saturday, May 14, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. Tickets can be purchased at 

 the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.

—Leslie Dinaberg  

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on May 12, 2016.

Partnership for Excellence Conference Inspires Nonprofit Sector

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A panoramic view of the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

A panoramic view of the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

I’ve always been curious to see what goes on at the Partnership for Excellence Conference—an always sold-out annual gathering of Santa Barbara County’s nonprofit leaders organized by the Foundation Roundtable—so when the opportunity to attend the 23rd annual edition of the conference came up last month, I leaped on the invitation and was not disappointed.

First of all, the mere sight of more than 500 attendees from Santa Barbara County’s philanthropic sector in one room is rather impressive. You always hear the lore about Santa Barbara having more nonprofits per capita than any other community of its size, and the passion, energy and brain power of the folks in the main ballroom of The Fess Parker Doubletree Resort that morning was enough to fuel a third-world nation.

Nonprofit leaders gather at the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

Nonprofit leaders gather at the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

The opportunities for networking and cross pollinating of ideas is enough to ensure attendance, but the conference also provided a lot of food for thought on how to improve your performance, as well as that of your organization.  The overall conference theme was “Mindful Leadership: Strengthening Focus and Purpose,” and the keynote speaker focused on just that.  Leah Weiss Ph.D., of Stanford University, gave a lively, interaction talk as she presented her research on the benefits of mindfulness practices.

Mindfulness comes down to a handful of factors, says Weiss, intention and purpose, attention, and attitude. Neuroplasticity, the idea that our brains can be rewired, is one of the ideas that mindfulness hinges on—we can train ourselves to become more mindful. She demonstrated this through experiments with the audience, asking people to write down their distractions and throw them away, draw a sketch of how they perceive their mind, take a moment of silence, and meditate on a calming scene she described. It was fascinating to see how much easier it was to focus (in a very crowded, distracting environment) with just a few of her strategies.

Keynote speaker Leah Weiss, PhD at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

Keynote speaker Leah Weiss, PhD at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

I also attended an inspiring workshop on “Power of Perspective: Overcoming Overload to Optimize Performance,” with Relly Nadler, Ph.D., a psychologist who specializes in emotional intelligence. It was fascinating. Truth be told, I was planning to dip in and out of the morning presentations, but ended up being so engrossed in what Nadler had to say that I stayed for the whole thing. Check out his free iPhone App highlighting his tools with video, called Leadership Keys. http://bit.ly/TNLiPhoneApp, it’s pretty interesting. You can also get more tools, tips, assessments, podcasts and blogs to raise your emotional intelligence at www.truenorthleadership.com/ei-central.

The rest of the full day conference, which I was unfortunately not able to attend, included workshops and presentations on:

-Human Capital: Opening a Conversation

-Getting Beyond the Overhead Myth: How to Talk About What Nonprofits Need to Thrive
-Out of Your Mind: Mindfulness in Action
-Transitions: How To Design and Practice Mindful Leadership Change
-What’s Not Being Said: Learning to Read and Manage Nonverbal Communications
-Working Together: Navigating Challenging Funder – Grantee Partnerships
and Mindful Leadership Applications: facilitated by Weiss.
Nonprofit leaders at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

Nonprofit leaders at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.

It was quite a conference. I’ll definitely be back for more next year. For more information go to http://nprnsb.org/pfe/.
—Leslie Dinaberg
Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on May 11, 2016.

Local Lowdown: Let There Be Light!

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LightWorks: Isla Vista Illuminates a Vibrant Community

By Leslie Dinaberg

20150523-191

Photo by Robert Bernstein, courtesy Kim Yasuda

The parks and streets of Isla Vista will pulse with artistic spirit on May 19-21, when LightWorks: Isla Vista comes to life. This exciting series of temporary installations and performances that transform the parks of Isla Vista into illuminated evening spaces, engaging existing underutilized spaces and animating them through visually compelling experiences that contribute to the safety, economic viability and quality of night life and sense of place.

Spearheaded by UCSB Art Professor, Kim Yasuda, an Isla Vista resident who is passionate about using the arts as a positive force for community engagement, LightWorks is part of a long-term community development partnership effort with Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, and other key partnerships that include UCSB Visual and Public Arts; Offices of the 3rd District Supervisor and County Sheriff; Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District; Isla Vista Community Network; UCSB Materials Research Laboratory; Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology and the Santa Barbara Foundation.

“This multi-agency arts initiative is the first of its kind for Isla Vista and offers a way to engage the leadership of artists and designers in helping Isla Vista reimagine its future as a creative community,” says Yasuda, who worked hand-in-hand with Santa Barbara County Arts Commission to secure grant funding for the project.

Building on momentum from last spring’s Blunite Memorial Vigil, which lit the UCSB campus and adjacent Isla Vista area with thousands of blue LED lights, Yasuda says, “All of that was really the momentum of post-tragedy healing, artists kind of moving into those spaces and engaging them. Art is always kind of a way to make a space more beautiful. …So art is our catalyst. Artists and art are, to me, catalytic in beginning something beautiful and positive and that’s kind of how…I hope this will work.”

IllumPardallTunnelNovak_May2015

Photo by Marcos Novak, courtesy Kim Yasuda

She continues, “I was thinking about the lighting as being a key feature that artists could tackle. Rather than having enforcement lighting or surveillance lighting or security lighting, we would have engaged lighting in beautiful illuminated spaces.”

“While public lighting and clear sight lines are critical components for safety, we have identified the arts as an integral component to affect the permanent cultural change our community so desperately needs,” writes Alex Rodriguez, board chair of Isla Vista Recreation and Park District.

Initial funding for LightWorks: Isla Vista is based on temporary art installations, but Yasuda envisions this project as the beginning of developing a more permanent exhibit. “What I imagine is that the campus and IV community actually embark on a partnership to host this event annually, so essentially we would have a kind of contemporary art festival. That’s my dream. And also that we would start a collection, an illuminated public works collection of different projects…We would actually be one of the first campus communities that would have a public art collection comprised of light and technology.”

With support from UCSB Materials Research Laboratory—the lab of UCSB Professor Shuji Nakamura, who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 2014 for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LED lights)—Isla Vista certainly seems ideally suited to bring the long-term vision of LightWorks to life.

This story originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine.

Cocktail Corner: S.Y. Kitchen’s Refreshing Spring Cocktails

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SOL y ARENA made with fresh pineapple, cilantro, smoked agave, mescal, lime, roasted pineapple bitter, chipotle powder, courtesy SY Kitchen.

SOL y ARENA made with fresh pineapple, cilantro, smoked agave, mescal, lime, roasted pineapple bitter, chipotle powder, courtesy SY Kitchen. Photo by Elisabetta Antonacci.

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

Inspired by our warm, spring days, S.Y. Kitchen Mixologist Alberto Battaglini has added five creative new cocktails to the menu, all inspired by local market produce, herbs and botanicals.

Battaglini is the General Manager and resident Mixologist at S. Y. Kitchen where he creates his own infusions of spirits and bitters from a local bounty of fruits, vegetables and herbs.  “The soul of mixology is found in all the old recipes that we twist with modern ingredients and tools, in order to play with tastes to give every customer an extraordinary experience,” he says.

His newest cocktails include:

DOUBLE FRENCH BERRIES with cognac, blackberry, raspberry, mandarin napoleon infused with vanilla, simple syrup, courtesy SY Kitchen.

DOUBLE FRENCH BERRIES with cognac, blackberry, raspberry, mandarin napoleon infused with vanilla, simple syrup, courtesy SY Kitchen. Photo by Elisabetta Antonacci.

DOUBLE FRENCH BERRIES

cognac, blackberry, raspberry, mandarin napoleon infused with vanilla, simple syrup

 SOL y ARENA

fresh pineapple, cilantro, smoked agave, mescal, lime, roasted pineapple bitter, chipotle powder

VALLEY GIRL made with berries, mint, vodka, sambucus nigra, lime, vanilla sugar, courtesy SY Kitchen.

VALLEY GIRL made with berries, mint, vodka, sambucus nigra, lime, vanilla sugar, courtesy SY Kitchen. Photo by Elisabetta Antonacci.

 VALLEY GIRL

berries, mint, vodka, sambucus nigra, lime, vanilla sugar

S.Y. JULEP with mint, cynar, grapefruit juice, zesty attitude bitter, courtesy SY Kitchen.

S.Y. JULEP with mint, cynar, grapefruit juice, zesty attitude bitter, courtesy SY Kitchen. Photo by Elisabetta Antonacci.

 S.Y. JULEP

mint, cynar, grapefruit juice, zesty attitude bitter 

SELLE FRANÇAISE with cucumber, raspberry, gin, sambucus nigra, simple syrup, courtesy SY Kitchen.

SELLE FRANÇAISE with cucumber, raspberry, gin, sambucus nigra, simple syrup, courtesy SY Kitchen. Photo by Elisabetta Antonacci.

SELLE FRANÇAISE

cucumber, raspberry, gin, sambucus nigra, simple syrup

 S.Y. Kitchen is located at 1110 Faraday St. in Santa Ynez. For further information visit www.sykitchen.com.

Happy spring sipping! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

 Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on April 29, 2016.

Music Academy of the West Reaches $17.5 Million FINALE Campaign Goal

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A standing ovation for Music Academy of the West! The organization recently achieved a $17.5 million campaign goal, thanks in part to a $4.4 million leadership gift from the Hind Foundation.

Rendering of the Hind Hall Teaching Studio Building, courtesy Music Academy of the West.

Rendering of the Hind Hall Teaching Studio Building, courtesy Music Academy of the West.

The 15-month fundraising effort will provide monies to renovate the historic Marilyn Horne Main House, construct a new Teaching Studio Building, purchase 11 Steinway pianos, endow a long-range instrument fund propelling the institution to All-Steinway piano status in perpetuity and increase the Academy’s recently established maintenance endowment.

The new Teaching Studio Building will be named Hind Hall, commemorating a generous $4.4 million gift from the Hind Foundation that completed the $17.5 million campaign goal. The Hind Foundation’s mission is to fund community-based projects and programs that encourage people to work together to build an enduring legacy for future generations.

“Our philanthropic community has truly embraced our vision to create an extraordinary institution devoted to the next generation of great classically trained musicians. This project enhances our campus to provide our fellows, audiences, faculty, and community partners with world-class facilities for education and performance. We appreciate the Hind Foundation’s generous gift to the Music Academy’s future. They join a dedicated group of contributors who have all helped to make this project possible,” says Scott Reed, Music Academy of the West President and CEO.

Margaret Cafarelli, Academy Board Chair, adds, “We are grateful to our matching gift leaders, Shirley and Seymour Lehrer, who generously contributed a $3 million gift to name the Main House for Marilyn Horne. I would like to thank our Board of Directors, who all participated in the FINALE campaign. The commitment our donors have to our vision has been remarkable, successfully meeting our campaign goal.”

The Marilyn Horne Main House will officially be unveiled at an elegant Opening Night Gala on Saturday, June 4, celebrating the opening of the 2016 Summer School and Festival and honoring Horne, the legendary singer and Director of the Academy’s Voice Program.

The Hind Hall Teaching Studio Building will begin construction immediately following the Academy’s 2016 Summer Festival and will open in June 2017, as a part of the Music Academy of the West’s 70th anniversary celebration.

FINALE Campaign Contributors include: Leslie and Philip Bernstein, Linda and Peter Beuret, John C. Bowen and Shelby C. Bowen Foundation, Sharon and David Bradford, Michele and Arnold Brustin, Margaret Cafarelli and Jan Hill, Jo Ann and Howard Chase, Lynn and Andy Chou, Patricia and Larry Durham, Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, Margo and Robert Feinberg, Julia and David Geber, Judy and Ernie Getto, Bernie Gondos, Paul Guido and Stephen Blain, Hind Foundation, Jackie Inskeep, Ann Jackson Family Foundation, Michelle Joanou, Irma and Morrie Jurkowitz, Linda and Michael Keston, Shirley and Seymour Lehrer, Lucifer Lighting, Leatrice Luria, Kandy Luria-Budgor and Beno Budgor, Mercedes Millington and Jack Mithun, Margaret Morez, Ronnie Morris and Tim Cardy, Dot and Rick Nelson, Ellen Lehrer Orlando and Tom Orlando, Gamble Parks and Gary Douville, Ellen and John Pillsbury, Scott Reed, Dorothy Roberts, Joan and Jerry Rocco, Regina and Rick Roney, Santa Barbara Foundation, Maryan Schall, Lila Scher, Robin Schutte, Linda Seltzer Yawitz, Anitra and Jack Sheen, Eileen Sheridan and Roger Wilde, Maurice Singer, Stephen Singleton and Christopher Teasley, Mary Lynn and Warren Staley, Glenn Jordan and Michael Stubbs, Perrin Pellegrin and Tim Taylor, Elaine and Bob Toledo, Christopher Toomey, Patricia Toppel, Anne and Michael Towbes, Pam and Terry Valeski, Susie and Hugh Vos, Wade Fund, Patty and Nick Weber, Carolyn and Carl Williams, Pat and Joe Yzurdiaga and Cheryl and Peter Ziegler.

Music Academy of the West’s Summer School and Festival takes place from June 13 to August 6 at the Academy’s scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara. For more information, visit musicacademy.org.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on April 22, 2016.

Cocktail Corner: Getting Fizzy With Sloe Gin

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Savage Thorn, courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

Savage Thorn, courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

My first introduction to the Sloe Gin Fizz was a few decades ago at a football tailgate party in Berkley, Cal vs. UCLA. I don’t recall whether my Bruins won, but I can still remember my first delectable sip of that frothy and delicious Sloe Gin Fizz. It really is the perfect concoction for day drinking.

Sloe Gin Fizz courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

Sloe Gin Fizz courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

Not just for football games, this playful spirit is also great for backyard gatherings, sun soaked brunches and afternoon barbecues when warm days call for refreshing cocktails worthy of sipping all the livelong day. A frothy, tangy, lightly sweet Sloe Gin Fizz just hits the spot for spring.

I recently tried a new Sloe Gin from the all female distilling team at Sebastopol-based Spirit Works Distillery who are crafting the only traditional sloe gin made in the U.S. Unlike many of the syrup-based products associated with sloe gin, each Spirit Works’ batch starts with whole sloe berries, a tiny relative of the plum, which they carefully steep in their handcrafted gin. This vibrantly hued liqueur features both bright berry and citrus notes, combining ripe sweetness with fresh acidity. It’s really quite tasty!

For those who are unfamiliar with this spirit, Sloe Gin gets its flavor from the bittersweet sloe berry, a purplish-colored relative of the plum. The shrub is native to England, where Sloe Gin is very much more popular. Most Sloe Gins are liqueurs or cordials, which contain more sugar per liter than regular spirits.

The gals at Spirit Works Distillery were generous enough to share a few recipes with us, including a really good one for the Sloe Gin Fizz. Enjoy!

Sloe Gin Fizz

2 oz. Spirit Works Sloe Gin

1 oz. lemon juice

.5 oz. simple syrup

Egg white (optional, but recommended)

Soda water 

Combine sloe gin, lemon, simple syrup, and egg white into cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into fizz glass and top with soda water. Release the oils of a lemon peel over the cocktail as a garnish. Discard the lemon peel.

Savage Thorn

Sloe Gin Spritz courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

Sloe Gin Spritz courtesy Spirit Works Distillery.

1 oz. Spirit Works Sloe Gin

1 oz. Blanco Tequila

.75 oz. fresh lime juice

.5 oz. simple syrup 

Combine sloe gin, tequila, lime juice, and simple syrup into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain over ice. Garnish with lime wheel.

Sloe Gin Spritzer

2 oz. Spirit Works Sloe Gin

Soda (Your choice – examples: sparkling lemonade, sparkling grapefruit soda, ginger beer, ginger ale, soda water) 

Pour sloe gin into glass and fill with ice. Top with your favorite soda. Garnish with appropriate citrus twist.

Sloe 75

1 oz Spirit Works Sloe Gin

1 oz fresh lime juice

3/4 oz simple syrup

1 dash Fee’s Old Fashioned Bitters 

dry sparkling wine

Have a champagne flute and chilled sparkling wine ready. In a shaker, combine sloe gin, lime, simple syrup, bitters and ice. Shake and strain into flute, and top with sparkling wine.

Happy spring sipping! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on April 22, 2016.

Editor’s Pick: Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival

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Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival by Jessica Roy.

Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival by Jessica Roy.

The longest-running Earth Day celebration in the U.S., Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival (Apr. 16–17) is a weekend of live music, educational speakers, sustainable food and hundreds of exhibitors eager to help you reduce your carbon footprint. This year’s 46th annual festival theme, “One World,” is a reminder that we must work together to keep global warming well below two degrees, the level at which scientists say climate change will have seriously detrimental effects on the human population.

For more information visit sbearthday.org.

—Leslie Dinaberg

This story originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine.

Cocktail Corner: Que Syrah, Syrah

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A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

Fellow Syrah lovers, have we got a seminar for you. As part of the Santa Barbara Vintners Spring Weekend, on April 23, this special tasting seminar throws the spotlight on this dark, delicious, full-bodied grape.

Panel participants (L-R): Chris Hammell, Bien Nacido Vineyard; Pater Stolpman, Stolpman Vineyards; Michael Larner, Larner Vineyard; Mark Horvath, Crawford Family Vineyards; Larry Schaffer, Tercero Wines; Scott Sampler, the Central Coast Group Project; Chad Melville, SAMsARA; and Wendy Thies Sell, Seminar Moderator & Wine Writer (courtesy photos).

Panel participants (L-R): Chris Hammell, Bien Nacido Vineyard; Pater Stolpman, Stolpman Vineyards; Michael Larner, Larner Vineyard; Mark Horvath, Crawford Family Vineyards; Larry Schaffer, Tercero Wines; Scott Sampler, the Central Coast Group Project; Chad Melville, SAMsARA; and Wendy Thies Sell, Seminar Moderator & Wine Writer (courtesy photos).

Featuring an in-depth exploration and tasting of Santa Barbara County Syrah, the panelists are an impressive lot:

Chris Hammell, Vineyard Manager of Bien Nacido Vineyard

Mark Horvath, Owner & Winemaker at Crawford Family Wines

Michael Larner, Owner & Winemaker at Larner Vineyard and Winery

Chad Melville, Owner & Winemaker at SAMsARA

Scott Sampler, Owner & Winemaker at the Central Coast Group Project

Larry Schaffer, Owner & Winemaker at Tercero Wines

Peter Stolpman, Partner at Stolpman Vineyards

Wendy Thies Sell, Seminar Moderator & Wine Writer (& Santa Barbara Seasons contributor)

The Santa Barbara Wine Seminar takes place on Saturday, April 23 from 10 – 11:30 a.m. at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott, 555 McMurray Rd., Buellton. Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased here.

Wine Tasting, courtesy Santa Barbara Vintners.

Wine Tasting, courtesy Santa Barbara Vintners.

According to vinepair.com, “A great bonus to drinking Syrah is that due to the high level of tannins present in the wine, Syrah has one of the highest level of health-benefiting antioxidants.” I just like the taste.

I like the music too. Here’s the original Que Sera Sera by Doris Day, as well as an update by Corinne Bailey Rae. Cheers!

Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on April 8, 2016.