{"id":7422,"date":"2016-01-23T15:37:36","date_gmt":"2016-01-23T23:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2016-01-22T15:40:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T23:40:06","slug":"cocktail-corner-valentines-weekend-garagiste-wine-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7422","title":{"rendered":"Cocktail Corner: Valentine’s Weekend Garagiste Wine Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! by Leslie Dinaberg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2016Wine and romance pair together so well, why not celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend at the fourth annual\u00a0Garagiste Wine Festival Southern Exposure 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/b>This fun\u00a0and very unique wine festival takes place\u00a0Feb. 13-14\u00a0<\/sup><\/span>at the Veterans\u2019 Memorial Hall in Solvang. In honor of Valentine\u2019s Day weekend, the festival features micro-production local sparkling wines, in addition to handcrafted red and white vintages poured by hard-to-find, cutting-edge commercial artisan garagiste wineries from Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Valley, Paso Robles, Napa and more.<\/p>\n

Not only is this an ideal way to try hard-to-find, up-and-coming wines (and meet their makers), proceeds from the event benefit The Garagiste Festival Scholarship Fund<\/a> at Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy

Courtesy Garagiste Festival.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Los Angeles Times<\/em> calls this\u00a0a “wildly exuberant and fun wine event,” and I couldn’t agree more. (Click here<\/a> for a previous Cocktail Corner about the event.) The event features\u00a0Grand Tastings of different vintages\u00a0on both Saturday and Sunday. In addition, each Grand Tasting is\u00a0preceded by a\u00a0tasting seminar.<\/p>\n

From 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturday they’ll be\u00a0Digging Deep into Mourvedre:<\/strong>\u00a0This seminar explores different styles of Mourvedre<\/a> and helps you understand why it is one of the most widely planted varietals in the world. Bob Tillman (Alta Colina Vineyards<\/a>), Larry Schaffer (Tercero Wines<\/a>) and Eric Mohsemi (Zaca Mesa Vineyards<\/a>) will explain the joys of this under-the-radar grape as you taste your way through an amazing array of Mourvedre\u2019s to showcase what this grape brings to the bottle.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s seminar,\u00a0from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and sponsored by BubblyFest<\/a>, is called\u00a0Rise of the Bubbles \u2013 The New Breed of California Sparkling Wine:<\/strong>\u00a0Start Valentine\u2019s Day off right by tasting some of the exciting new bubbles\u2014white, pink and red\u2014that are being produced by small winemakers in California. You’ll explore\u00a0the wines of Norm Yost (Goat Bubbles<\/a>), Tyler Elwell (Halcyon Wines<\/a>) and Dan Kessler (Kessler-Haak Vineyards<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe are proud to continue our mission of bringing the best new garagiste winemakers to our audience and, just as importantly, bringing the\u00a0story behind the wines<\/span>\u00a0straight from the winemakers themselves,\u201d says\u00a0Garagiste Festival Co-founder Doug Minnick. \u201cGreat wines and great winemakers in the beautiful countryside of the Santa Ynez Valley? We think this is the perfect Valentine\u2019s Day gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched in Paso Robles in 2011, the nonprofit Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemakers, commercial artisan winemakers who handcraft under 1,500 cases a year and pay close, hands-on attention to every wine they make. To purchase\u00a0tickets and for more information, go to: http:\/\/garagistefestival.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Winemakers scheduled to pour include: Archium Cellars, Ascension Cellars, Baehner Fournier Vineyards, Bevela Wines*, Brophy Clark Cellars, Carucci Wines, The Central Coast Group Project, Cloak & Dagger Wines, Clos des Amis, Coda Wines, Cordon Wines, Dascomb Cellars, El Lugar Wines, Graef Wines, Halcyon Wines*, Iter Wine*, Kessler Haak Vineyard, La Montagne Winery, Larner Vineyard, Levo Wines, Mallea Wines*, MCV Wines, Millesime Cellars*, C. Nagy Wines, Pace Family Wines, Press Gang Cellars, Rhythm Wines*, Ryan Cochrane Wines, Scott Cellars, Seagrape Wines, small + tall wines*, Stirm Wines*, STANGER\/JP3, Tercero Wines, Travieso Winery, Trojak-Knier Winery, Weatherborne, West of Temprance*\u00a0and Workman Ayer.<\/p>\n

Hope to see some of you there.<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>\u00a0for more cocktail corner columns.<\/p>\n

\"Leslie<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not busy working as the editor of\u00a0Santa Barbara SEASONS<\/a>, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a \u201cgoal-oriented drinker.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine<\/a> on January 22, 2015.<\/p>\n

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