Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure in Solvang March 27-29: Best of the smallest

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Big Tar Wines, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure

 

The weekend described as “wildly exuberant and fun” by the Los Angeles Times returns to Solvang at the end of March with wine from cutting-edge micro-production wineries, a new winemaking symposium, winemaker mixer and Big Red “Shoot Out.”

Tickets for the weekend’s events, held at the Veterans Memorial Hall, remain available, but are very limited and Garagiste Festivals always sell out. For the full Southern Exposure schedule, seminar details, participating hotels and to buy tickets, visit http://garagistefestival.com

Proceeds from the weekend will once again benefit the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Wine and Viticulture program.

New this year are two new events kicking off Southern Exposure on Friday, March 27:

•  Happy Yeast Make Better Wine: This educational (but fun) winemaker symposium features Cal Poly professor and winemaker Matt Brain of Baker and Brain. Time: 5 to 6:30 p.m.
•  No Repeats: Rare & Reserve Winemaker Mixer: Winemakers will bring out the best of their best for attendees, including Club Only, Library and Pre-Release bottles, and compete in the “Big Red Shootout,” a friendly competition in which they blind-taste each other’s wines and vote for the best red in the room. Time: 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Come Saturday and Sunday morning will be Garagiste’s signature tasting seminars, which will be moderated by Stewart McLennan, radio host and co-founder of the Garagiste Festival with Doug Minnick.

On Saturday, March 28, will be “The Diversity of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA: It’s Not All Pinot & Chardonnay,” featuring Dan Kessler of Kessler-Haak, Chad Melville from SamSARA Wine Co. and Peter Work from Ampelos Cellars.

On Sunday, March 29, comes “The Elephant in the Bottle: The Great California Alcohol Debate,” with panelists Norm Yost from Flying Goat Cellars, Keith Saarloos from Saarloos & Sons and Stillman Brown from Zeppelin Winery.

“We could not be happier to be back in Solvang for the third year in a row with yet another extraordinary slate of 60 talented and innovative micro-production winemakers from Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara, over 20 of whom are pouring at the festival for the first time,” said co-founder Minnick.

“More and more winemakers are telling us that The Garagiste Festivals are the only wine events they participate in because they are so full of passionate, knowledgeable (but decidedly un-snobby) fans of these very special handcrafted wines.”

Lee Tomkow photo/Aaron Watty’s label is Big Tar Wines, and this year’s Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure will be his first.

One of those winemakers is Aaron Watty, whose small label is Big Tar Wine Company. I met Watty in 2007 in classes at Allan Hancock College, when he worked in the tasting room of a Santa Ynez Valley winery.

This festival will be Watty’s first foray into Garagiste, and he’s excited to introduce the public to his wines, which include cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, sangiovese and pinot noir.

He has spent the last six harvests working with fruit from Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, and calls that AVA “the perfect place to grow Bordeaux varietals. I am making this my focus, because its what I know and love.”

At a private tasting in December, where I tried his wines for the first time, Watty told me that his production is between 400 and 500 cases. His first vintage was 200 cases, in 2012.

Watty made only one barrel of his 2012 pinot noir, and it’s a blend of three vineyards: Rio Vista, Sebastiano and La Encantada.

“I think the Garagiste Festival is a great event for small winemakers who do not have an outlet to show their wines,” he told me in a recent e-mail.

“The amount of people and press that the group provides let the small wineries get together and ‘show off.’ There are not many opportunities to pour like this.” Like most of the winemaking participants at Garagiste, Watty doesn’t have a tasting room.

He does have an extensive background in restaurants, including at Gotham Bar and Grill and Picholine in New York City, and Moody’s Bistro in Truckee, which he opened and managed. He continues to keep a foot in the restaurant business, he said, working a few shifts per week at bouchon in Santa Barbara.

Watty worked with Rick Longoria in Lompoc during the last harvest, learning more about pinot noir and chardonnay, he said.

Participating Saturday in the Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure are: Apical Cellars, Archium Cellars, Baehner Fournier, Bellissimo Cellars, Bradley Family Winery, Brophy Clark, Carivintas Winery, Carucci Wines, Clos Des Amis, Cordon Wines, Cotiere, Crawford Family Wines, Dascomb Cellars, Ferguson Crest, Kessler-Haak Vineyards, LaMontagne Winery, Larner Vineyards, Levo Wines, No Limit Wines, Pence Ranch, Press Gang Cellars, Roark Wine Co., SamSara Wine Co., Scott Cellars, Seagrape Cellars, Section Wines, Solminer Wines, Turiya Wines and Weatherborne.

Winemakers on Sunday include Alta Colina Vineyards, Ascension Cellars, Barbieri Wines, Big Tar Wines, Central Coast Group Project, Center of Effort Wines, Cloak & Dagger Wines, Conarium Wines, Dilecta Wines, Dreamcote Wine Co., Falcone Family Vineyards, Graef Wines, Imagine Wines, J. Brix Wines, J. Ludlow Vineyard, Mattina Fiore, MCV Wines, Mount Dorado Winery, Old Creek Ranch Winery, Pace Family Wines, Ryan Cochrane Wines, STANGER Vineyards, Tercero Wines, Tierra y Vino, Vines on the Marycrest, Vino Vargas, Wandering Dog Wines, Workman Ayer and Zeppelin Winery.

Launched in Paso Robles in 2011, the non-profit Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemakers, commercial artisan winemakers who handcraft less than 1,500 cases a year and pay close, hands-on attention to every wine they make.

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press for centralcoastwinepress.com

 

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The CCWP Wine Week: WiVi Central returns to Paso in March; Cal Poly receives $20,000 check from Garagiste Festival

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Cal Poly Wine & Viticulture, Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Palmina Winery, Stewart McLennan, WiVi Central Coast Wine Industry Conference & Tradeshow

 

WiVi Central Coast two-day conference for growers, winemakers

The WiVi Central Coast Wine Industry Conference & Tradeshow’s third annual event returns to the Paso Robles Event Center Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17 and 18, and organizers hope to draw winemakers, grape growers and hospitality managers to network and explore resources available on the Central Coast and beyond.

The conference includes education seminars on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and a Wednesday tradeshow that will feature more than 150 companies showcasing new products and tools.

Hosting WiVi Central are Wine Business Monthly, the wine industry leader in product information and resources, and Precision Ag Consulting, a regional viticulture consulting business.

“The Central Coast is still a young wine region but growing rapidly. Education and access to resources is important to its continued growth and success,’’ said Becky Zelinski, WiVi director.

“As the region grows, so does the importance of a conference like WiVi, which is the only one of its kind here. In just two days, anyone in the wine industry can learn from our panels of experts, network with peers, and connect with suppliers at the WiVi tradeshow. It really is a one-stop shop for the entire Central Coast industry,’’ she said.

Among the seminars scheduled both days are “The Year 2014 in Review and Update on Recent Changes on Ground Water Rights;” “The Effect of Water Availability on Property Values;” “Improving Wine Grape Quality Through the Use of Phenolics Measurements in Winemaking;” “Measuring the ROI of Social Media;” and “Top 10 Success Tips for Tasting Room Sales.”

The conference will include two social events: A launch party on Tuesday evening and an exhibitor-sponsored lunch Wednesday.

Registration for WiVi is open to the public and tickets can be purchased online. Early registration discounts and special discounted prices for wine industry association members are available through Feb. 28, as are free tradeshow passes for association members.

Information and tickets: www.WiViCentralCoast.com; email: info@wivicentralcoast.com, and phone: (888) 974-WIVI (9484).

Garagiste Wine Festival presents $20,000 donation to Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Program

The Garagiste Festival presented a check for $20,000 to the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture department from proceeds raised at its three Garagiste Festivals in 2014.

It also announced that the Cal Poly program will continue to be a beneficiary of the festivals in 2015, including the upcoming “Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure,” scheduled for March 27-29 at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Solvang.

Garagiste Festival Photo/Receiving the $20,000 check were Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Department Lecturer Shohreh S. Niku, second from left, and Interim Department Chairperson Marianne McGarry Wolf, second from right. Garagiste co-founders Stewart McLennan and Doug Minnick are far left, and far right, respectively.

The check was presented in the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture lab in San Luis Obispo, where students are benefitting from spectrophotometers purchased using funds donated by the Garagiste Festivals in 2013.

“In addition to throwing a spotlight on small-lot, innovative artisan winemakers, a huge part of our mission is to further the education of future winemakers. It was very exciting today to see the results of our efforts at work at Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture,’’ said Garagiste Festival Co-founder Doug Minnick.

“We have many alums of the program among the exceptional winemakers pouring at our festivals and could not be more proud to be part of helping shape the future of our industry, starting with its next generation of winemakers.’’

Launched in Paso Robles in 2011, the Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemakers, commercial artisan winemakers who handcraft less than 1,500 cases a year and pay close, hands-on attention to every wine they make. The only festivals in the United States dedicated to these innovative, hard-to-find winemakers, the events have helped thousands of consumers discover the remarkable wines of hundreds of garagistes.

“We appreciate the Garagiste Festival’s continued support of our program and its contribution to the vitality of our area, which is rapidly evolving into one of the most important wine regions in the world. We believe our program embraces the entrepreneurial spirit of the garagiste winemaker by integrating enology with viticulture and wine business. Our program reflects the evolution our wine region and the funds donated by the festival over the past three years, as well as the attention it has brought to our program, have truly made a difference,” Wolf said.

“This year’s donation will go a long way to helping extend the footprint of our students in the wine industry. Thank you Garagiste Festival, and thank you to the hundreds of garagiste winemakers and sponsors who help make this festival possible.”

The Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Program includes nearly 300 undergraduate majors, making Cal Poly among the largest Wine and Viticulture programs in the country. The program uniquely integrates three fundamental components of the modern wine industry, with a curriculum emphasizing the inherent connectivity between wine grape growing in the vineyard, wine making in the winery, and wine selling in the marketplace through a unique “learn-by-doing” approach. The program is currently developing a Center for Wine and Viticulture that will include new state-of-the-art teaching facilities.

The upcoming Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure will feature 60 artisan winemakers from throughout Santa Barbara County and the Central Coast pouring throughout two days, as well as wine tasting seminars and the popular Winemaker Mixer, which includes the Festival’s signature “winemaker shootout” —where winemakers blind taste each others wines to pick the best red.

For tickets and to be alerted to breaking news about Southern Exposure and other Garagiste events, sign up for The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up/ or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook. For more information on The Garagiste Festivals, go to http://garagistefestival.com

Silicon Valley Bank predicts “breakout year” for U.S. wine biz

Silicon Valley Bank, a leading provider of commercial banking services to the innovation sector and the wine industry, releases its annual State of the Wine Industry report Jan. 21.

“We are seeing real strength in the U.S. economy going into 2015, which will increase demand for wine,” said Rob McMillan, founder of SVB’s Wine Division and author of the report.

“Declining oil prices are transferring wealth to oil-consuming countries, the employment picture is improving, the U.S. dollar is strengthening and interest rates will move at a measured pace. As long as the industrialized world economies can hold their own, the middle-income consumer will see improved prospects. We’ll be toasting to that.”

“We are especially positive on the year ahead,” McMillan said. “We expect the fine wine business will experience accelerating growth, achieving 14 to 18 percent sales growth in 2015. At the same time, the cellars are full with several consecutive years of very good vintages.”

Based on a survey of nearly 600 West Coast wineries, in-house expertise and ongoing research, SVB’s annual report covers trends and addresses current issues facing the American wine industry.

Key findings and predictions:

• Supply: We expect to see the third consecutive harvest of heavy yield and great quality across most appellations.
• Sales Growth: After finishing the year at the top end of our predicted sales growth of 6 to 10 percent in 2014, we are predicting a breakout year of growth in the fine wine category in the 14 to 18 percent range in 2015.

• Pricing: While the large supply of wines in the cellars should normally indicate continued depressed pricing, we believe 2015 will be a year of both volume and price increases in the fine wine segment, driven by an improving economy and higher demand.

• Demand: Wines priced below $7 a bottle performed poorly both on and off premise in 2014. This poor performance is likely to continue in 2015.

• Planting: Grape planting is shifting regionally. Oregon and Washington are showing strong growth in planting on a percentage basis and we expect that this will continue for the foreseeable future given favorable quality and price dynamics relative to the fine wine growing regions in California.

SVB’s wine division specializes in commercial banking for premium wineries and vineyards and the industries that support them. SVB has the largest team of commercial bankers dedicated to the wine industry of any bank nationwide. Founded in 1994, SVB’s Wine Division has offices in Napa and Sonoma counties and serves clients in the fine wine producing regions of California, Oregon and Washington.

Palmina Winery names John Busby as general manager

Palmina Winery, which produces a range of wines crafted from Italian varietals grown in Santa Barbara County, has named John Busby as its new general manager.

Busby, previously an executive in the asset management industry, has been manager of direct-to-consumer sales at Palmina for the past two years.

“I am extremely enthused at the prospect of taking on this new role at Palmina,” Busby said. “As the winery celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2015, I look forward to continuing to work closely with Steve and Chrystal to firmly position Palmina as a sustainable Santa Barbara County brand for the next 20 years and beyond.”

Steve Clifton, winemaker and owner, produced the first Palmina wines in the basement of his home in 1995. Formerly assistant winemaker at Rancho Sisquoc and manager of The Wine Cask in Santa Barbara, Steve was joined at Palmina by his wife, Chrystal, in 2000. The Cliftons are also partners in Brewer-Clifton, a Sta. Rita Hills producer of pinot noir and chardonnay.

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press for centralcoastwinepress.com

 

 

 

The Top 22 Wines I tasted during 2014

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Aaron Watty, Ballard Canyon Road American Viticultural Area, Big Tar, Blake Sillix, Ethan Wines, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA, Mark Cargasacchi, Sta. Rita Hills AVA

Let me be the first to acknowledge that yes, I need to venture further afield, because all of these wines hail from Santa Barbara County grapes — not that there’s anything wrong with that fact — and yes, I’m posting this list late, as it’s already 2015.

Oh well.

My disclaimer: I have personally tasted all of these wines, either by the taste, glass or bottle. Naturally, I sampled other wines throughout the year, but only the following made my cut for this list.

Taking good notes does pay, for I can share where and (sometimes) even when I came to taste these particular beauties. Comments appear where I remembered to jot them down … but in many cases, I was too enamored of the wine to do more than just sip.

In no particular order:

Discovered this at BubblyFest, and have since enjoyed it several times

Mosby Wines Stelline di Cortese: (“Little Stars of Cortese”), California (estate) sparkling, NV (BubblyFest, October)

2013 Dreamcote Wines Malvasia Bianca: Lively. And, as the label states: “Life’s short; Drink what you like.” (Private tasting, December)

2012 Cholame Vineyard “Summer Shade,” Grenache Blanc: La Presa Vineyard. Crisp and complex.(Garagiste Festival, Southern Exposure, March 2014). Cholame Vineyard features longtime local winemaker/vineyard manager Andy Ibarra as winemaker.

2012 Dragonette Cellars Sauvignon Blanc: Vogelzang Vineyard. Straw colored, and more viscous, less brisk. (bottle purchase)

2010 Clos Pepe Barrel Select Chardonnay: (bottle purchase)

This wine strengthens my vow to consume more Italian varietals.

2010 Ethan Wines Nebbiolo: Stolpman Vineyards (bottle purchase)

2011 Sillix Wines Syrah:  (first tasted at Garagiste Festival, Southern Exposure, March 2014), (bottle purchase)

2013 Lindley Wines Chardonnay: estate (private tasting, December)

2102 Carucci Wines Viognier, White Hawk Vineyard: (Garagiste Festival, Southern Exposure, March 2014)

True confessions: I’ve had a lot of this wine over the years. A LOT. And it never loses its allure.

2010 Jalama Wines “El Capitan:” (Blend of syrah, mourvedre and cabernet sauvignon) (bottle purchase)

2013 Alta Maria Wines Carbonic Pinot Noir: whole cluster, 100 percent carbonic maceration, bottled four months after harvest (tasting room)

As you can see, I couldn’t choose just one pink wine. Here are my three dead-heat favorites: Hitching Post, Dragonette Cellars and Andrew Murray Vineyards.

2013 Hitching Post Rosé; 2013 Dragonette Cellars Rosé (Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara); and 2013 Andrew Murray Vineyards, Esperance Rosé. (Bottle purchase, all three; the HP is pinot noir and the other two are Rhone blends)

2010 Samsara Wine Grenache: Spectacular. (bottle purchase)

2009 A-non-ah-mus Grenache: D’Vine Wine Bar, by the glass

2009 Stolpman Vineyards L’Avion: Roussanne, (bottle purchase)

2012 Stolpman Vineyards Estate Grown Syrah: (Wine Bloggers’ Conference seminar: “Syrah Terrority, Ballard Canyon,” July; and again during Celebration of Harvest seminar, October)

2011 Brave and Maiden “Union:” Blend of syrah, merlot and cabernet franc. Beautifully dusty. (Wandering Dog Wine Bar, by the glass)

2010 No Limit Wine “The Nutz” Syrah: (private tasting, December)

2012 Big Tar Wines Cabernet Sauvignon: Winemaker Aaron Watty’s goal is food-friendly wines, and he nails it with this silky beauty. (private tasting, December)

While I tasted all four of these Rack and Riddle bubblies, the Blanc de Blancs gets my top vote

Rack and Riddle North Coast Blanc de Blancs: (100 percent chardonnay, NV) (BubblyFest, October)

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press for centralcoastwinepress.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former “Tasting Panel” returns as “Thursday’s Bottle”

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Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, International Grenache Day, Jalama Wines, Samsara Wines, Sillix Wines

Here’s the deal: Ya’ll know I’m not up to consuming an entire bottle of wine every Thursday, so the blog feature I debuted as “Thursday’s Bottle” fell into the weeds pretty quickly after its launch earlier this year.

Much later, in a rare moment of genius, I thought: Why not marry “Thursday” with another former attraction: The CCWP “Tasting Panel”? I pulled the plug on the latter in mid-2013 after I decided it had grown too, well, “chatty.”

So once again, with little to no fanfare (considering my track record on longevity), welcome back to “Thursday’s Bottle.”

The rules? There are none. Let’s keep it simple:

When I stumble across a single bottle of wine so spectacular that deserves its own spotlight, that wine can stand alone as “Thursday’s Bottle.”

Otherwise, a consistent group of food and wine geeks as serious as serious can be will gather around a table, sip wine, talk and take notes. At evening’s end, I’ll gather all the notes and turn them into a story. Deal? Good.

I’ll always name the “tasters” and will never exclude a comment, but so that each of us can remain candid, I’ll never divulge who said what.

Oh, wait — there is one rule: We taste blind. No exceptions.

Four of us tasted grenache at my house on Friday, Sept. 19, which was International Grenache Day. Coincidence? Think again.

The players: Katie Baillargeon and Marcel Rivera-Baillargeon, UCSB creative writing professor and online marketing specialist, respectively; Angela Soleno, winemaker/owner, Turiya Wines; and myself.

The bottles: Three grenaches, all Santa Ynez Valley, two vineyard designates.

What we wrote:

Bottle One: “Weird nose; dust; barrel; medium body; long finish; good tannin structure; mid-range; soft; burnt match, smoky; cannot get past the smoke; cotton candy; burns going down; mild fruit; think it’s corked; long finish; mildly corked; bright color; long finish; would like this if it wasn’t corked.”

Bottle Two: “More fruit; wow; bigger, more elegant; black; yummy; lots of mid-palate spice; an elegant expression of Grenache; big and jammy; fruit forward; clay; cola; spice.

Bottle Three: “Tighter; sweeter; more oak; better with food — not a sipping wine; like a teenager, needs to be aged longer; has some SO2; thicker.”

Bottle one — 2010 Sillix Wines Grenache, Santa Ynez Valley
My first encounter with winemaker Blake Sillix was earlier this year at Solvang’s Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, and his syrah and grenache were stellar. To have this bottle be corked was beyond disappointing.

Bottle two — 2010 Samsara Wines Grenache, Larner Vineyard

Bottle three — 2011 Jalama Wines Grenache, La Presa Vineyard

Thursday’s Bottle, starring Sillix, Samsara and Jalama grenaches

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press for www.centralcoastwinepress.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

July’s Wine Calendar: The Garagiste Festival: “Urban Exposure” in L.A.

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Artisan winemakers, Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure, Lisa Dinsmore, Melanie Webber, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara County California, Stewart McLennan

 

Saturday, July 12, is your chance to meet and taste wines from more than 40 artisan winemakers who live in greater Los Angeles and will participate in The Garagiste Festival’s first foray into this city. (See list of participants, below)

What’s a Garagiste? (gar-uh-zhe-stuh) is a term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to slight renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their “garages” (anything considered not a chateau), who refused to follow the “rules,” and is now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world.

Founded in Paso Robles in 2011, the Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure debuts at Union Station and will benefit Mending Kids International and the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Program.

My first Garagiste Festival was the organizers’ premiere event, held in November 2011 outside Paso Robles inside a show barn at Windfall Ranch. Calling the venue a “barn” doesn’t do it justice, for Windfall Farms is a 724-acre equestrian facility, and the barn was brick with glass and copper steeples. Winemakers set up tables inside the stalls, most of which were bigger than my living room.

In 2013, two years after their Paso Robles launch, co-founders Stewart McLennan and Doug Minnick, along with event director Lisa Dinsmore and publicist Melanie Webber, expanded Garagiste to Solvang with “Southern Exposure.”

You can read one of my previous stories about the crew here:
https://ccwinepress.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/second-annual-solvang-garagiste-festival-southern-exposure-march-28-30/

Same idea, in different locales: The Paso Robles, Solvang and now Los Angeles Garagiste Festivals focus on tiny (and often, undiscovered) artisan winemakers who produce as few as a couple hundred cases each year.

Many of the Los Angeles-based winemakers participating in “Urban Exposure” still work day jobs, but like their colleagues in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, follow their passion for wine.

According to Webb, among the Garagistes are the team who work together in film production and have received raves for their winemaking; a couple whose wine is rooted in their Indian heritage and inspired by the 64 arts of KamaSutra; an Orange County mortgage broker; a winemaker inspired by his grandfather, who made wine in his Ontario basement; and a brewer and lab manager at Golden Road Brewing.

And my favorite: The Culver City sound engineer who secretly planted his first vines at Culver City’s MaryCrest Manor (a nursing home managed by Carmelite nuns), and had to answer to the police for his efforts.

After all, one doesn’t have to own a vineyard, winery, cellar or tasting room to make good wine.

Details, participants and ticket information is available at http://www.garagistefestival.com/

The event takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. at Union Station. Wood & Vine will provide cheese and charcuterie.

Among the winemakers already scheduled to pour are: Alma Fria Winery, Alma Sol Winery, Alta Colina Vineyards, Archium Cellars, Ascension Cellars, Autonom, Blue Cape Cellars, Bon Niche Cellars, Bratcher Winery, Carucci Wines, Center of Effort, Cholame Vineyards, Cloak & Dagger Wines, Cutruzzola Vineyards, De Su Propia Cosecha, Dilecta Wines, Dubost Ranch, DV8 Cellars, Graef Wines, Kessler-Haak Vineyards, La Fenetre Wines, Levo Wines, Luminesce, LXV Wines, Marin’s Vineyard, MCV Wines, Montemar Wines, Native9, ONX Wines, Pulchella Winery, Rendarrio Wines, Seven Angels Cellars, Shai Cellars, Singer Cellars, Soaring Hawk Vineyards, The Farm Winery, Turiya Wines, Two Shepherds Winery, Vinemark Cellars, Vines on the Marycrest, Vino V Wines, Weatherborne and Workman/Ayer.

 

 

 

 

 

Garagiste showcases Ballard Canyon Grenaches and Syrahs, and winemakers

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Ballard Canyon Road American Viticultural Area, Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Kaena Wines, Larner Vineyard, Larner Winery, Larry Schaffer, Michael Larner, Mikael Sigouin, Santa Barbara Vintners, Stewart McLennan, Tercero Wines

My Saturday started at 4:30 a.m.

However, “early to work” meant “early off work” — just in time to slide into an empty seat for “RhônesRule: The Wines of Ballard Canyon,” the first of two seminars during “Southern Exposure: The Garagiste Festival” at the Solvang Veterans Hall.

Stewart McLennan, co-founder of the Garagiste Festivals with Doug Minnick, moderated a panel of winemakers who source from vineyards in Ballard Canyon.

McLennan led winemakers Michael Larner, Larry Schaffer and Mikael Sigouin through an hour-long discussion of the merits of Ballard Canyon, the newest of Santa Barbara County’s five American Viticultural Areas (AVAs).

The three men are friends and their back-and-forth banter with McLennan about Santa Barbara County versus Paso Robles (also a Rhône superstar) and winemaking styles kept the audience attentive.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved the petition to designate Ballard Canyon last October. “The approval came right in the middle of harvest last year,” Larner said. “We’re very excited to be able to take ‘Santa Ynez Valley’ off labels and be able to add ‘Ballard Canyon’ (to future vintages still in the barrel or tank).”

Crucial to a petition for an AVA is the research outlining the weather (rainfall and degree days), and particulars of soil, including bedrock and lichen, Larner noted. His family’s vineyard is comprised of sand — a factor key both to the distinctness of the AVA and to the grape varietals that best thrive in its soils.

The two Rhône grapes most prevalent in Ballard Canyon are Syrah, with 274 acres planted, and Grenache, with 61, according to Santa Barbara Vintners.

McLennan and Minnick crafted Saturday morning’s seminar around those two red grapes, featuring two by each of the three winemakers.

Following is the order in which we tasted, comments from the winemakers and my brief notes on each.

~ Kaena 2011 Grenache, Tierra Alta Vineyard: Sigouin, who said he first worked with Grenache for Beckmen (where he’s still the winemaker) called Ballard Canyon “a sweet spot for Grenache,” and this vintage of his Kaena exemplifies that. I wrote: “Feminine but with solid tannins.” Clone: Tablas A.

~ Kaena 2011 Grenache, Larner Vineyard: Sigouin emphasized Larner Vineyard’s sandy soils, and the south-facing block from which this vintage hailed. “Every year, Larner is the most solid of all the vineyards I work with,” he said. This was my favorite of the three grenaches (two from Kaena, one from Tercero). It’s balanced and elegant. Clone: ENTAV 362

~ Tercero 2009 Grenache, Larner Vineyard: Schaffer, who has sourced Grenache from Larner since 2008, is a huge supporter of the varietal — in Santa Barbara County in particular. This is a big wine, one that’s short on nuance but long on life. Put it down for five years (IMO).

And then came Syrahs:

~ Tercero 2009 Syrah, Larner Vineyard: This was aged for a whopping 42 months in neutral French oak, Schaffer said, and co-fermented with 5 percent viognier (which I swear I can discern, on the very end of the lengthy finish). This wine is bold but contains layers of flavors.

Larner’s two wines were 2009 and 2010 estate Syrahs. After the attendees had tasted both, Larner posed a question: Did we think the two vintages were more similar, or more different? I and a few other participants voted similar; the majority of the room voted dissimilar. (It’s all right; I stand by my palate).

Both vintages’ clones are 3, 383, 877 and Estrella, but the 2010 contains seven clonal lots and the 2009 just five — all fermented individually, according to Larner’s notes. The 2009 saw 18 months in 30 percent new French oak, and the 2010 was aged in similar barrels, but for 22 months. Both vintages were aged six months in bottle before being released.

The difference between the two, barrel wise: The 2010 utilized 5 percent new American oak barrels, and the 2009 just the French oak.

I favored the 2010 over the 2009 for its “clarity, elegance and lovely finish.” The 2009, I wrote, has “more cherry and less finish.”

Thanks to McLennan, Minnick, Dave and Lisa Dinsmore and Melanie Webber for another superb weekend of Garagiste wine and winemakers.

Coming next: Saturday afternoon with the Garagiste producers.

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press

 

 

Meet two local Garagistes: Ron Hill and Angela Soleno

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A-non-ah-mus Wines, Angela Soleno, Ballard Canyon Road American Viticultural Area, C2 Cellars, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Lompoc Rotary Club, Ron Hill, Turiya Wines

Let me introduce two of the winemakers participating in the March 29 and 30 Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure: Ron Hill, owner and winemaker of a-non-a-mus of Orcutt, and Angela Soleno, owner and winemaker of Turiya wines, based in Lompoc.

Hill pours during the grand tasting Sunday, and Solena on Saturday. This is his second trip to Southern Exposure, but her first.

Ron Hill, left, and friend Andrew, at the recent Rotary Winetasting event in Lompoc

First, I’ll let Hill tell his tale, outlined to me via e-mail:

“My case production in 2013 was 340 cases, and consists of small lots of rosé, viognier, syrah, grenache and pinot noir.

“I make my wines in a small corner at C2 Cellars in Orcutt, and I would like to give a big shout out to the Cuevas Brothers and crew for putting up with me these last three years.

“I live in Santa Maria and have two Rhodesian Ridgebacks — Jack and Lily — that have appeared in more wine-related publications than I have (how’s that for being anonymous!).

I asked Hill, a native of Kansas, how he came up with the name of his label, which, to be honest, is quite unusual.

“When I started the task of coming up with a name for label, back in 2008, I never thought that an original name would be so difficult to come up with,” he said. “I spent countless hours thumbing through dictionaries and thesauruses looking for a name that was “catchy” and wasn’t either trademarked or already in commerce, thus making it unusable.”

Like many others, Hill wanted his label to “be about the wine” and not simply the name on the bottle.

Choosing “a-non-ah-mus” turned out be “as close to ‘anonymous’ as I could get,” Hill reflected. With the help of a good trademark attorney, “now I own them both.”

Hill has started a wine club for a-non-ah-mus and hopes to grow slowly, with a goal of 500 cases by next year, he noted. In addition, he wants to start sourcing grapes from “unique little vineyards that aren’t that well known, and plans to bring grenache blanc, mourvèdre and a blend into his line up.

Without a tasting room, Hill offers tastings only by appointment.

Hill left a long-term career as a respiratory care practitioner, both in Kansas and — seeking a warmer climate — Arizona, followed by California. (Note: When you meet Hill, ask him about the incident involving a long scarf and a snow blower).

After about 20 years working in hospital ICUs, Hill, now 53, wanted a change.

He caught the winemaking bug “quite by accident” from a neighbor when he lived in San Jose.

“He ran with a group of five close friends, and they all made their own wines — which all were very different,” Hill recalled. “I actually learned a lot from observing them make their true “garage wines.”

Years later, Hill recalled, “I took a bottle of my neighbor’s garage wine and ran every test I could in the lab at the winery where I worked.

As is often the case with the tiniest of wine makers, who are meticulous in crafting wine, Hill’s friend’s “garage” wine had “perfect numbers” despite never having been tested with a pH meter or ebulometer, he said.

In 2001, Hill began his winemaking career in earnest as a harvest intern at Babcock Winery, where he worked his way up to associate winemaker. He remained at Babcock until 2011, when he left to focus on being, well, a-non-ah-mus.

Angela Soleno and a bottle of her “Perpetual Bliss,” a blend of cabernet sauvignon and syrah

I caught up with Angela Soleno at Corner House Coffee in Los Olivos early in March. Several years ago, I met Soleno in her previous life — working in marketing and shipping at Consilience Wines in Los Olivos, “wearing many hats,” she recalled. She worked there for about six years.

Now she wears just one hat — winemaker — and, in fact, has just left her “day job” of two years, as caretaker at Figueroa Mountain Ranch.

“I’ve found my calling! I’m done,” Soleno laughed, obviously excited about what lies ahead for her label.

Like Hill, Soleno, 34, made her first vintage in 2008, choosing to call it Turiya, which means “a state of consciousness wherein reality and truth are harmonious.”

Her first vintage was three different wines, all reds, with a total production of 96 cases. Soleno’s focus is “mostly Bordeauxs and some sangiovese,” made with grapes from one of the region’s best sangiovese sites, Stolpman Vineyard, on Ballard Canyon Road.

Because she started small and has stayed that way, Soleno still has some of her initial vintage left for tasting – and sales. Like her 60/40 cabernet sauvignon and syrah blend, “Perpetual Bliss,” with grapes sourced from Camp 4 Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Again, like Hill, Soleno doesn’t have a tasting room, but is more than happy to allow by-appointment tastings inside the winery space she shares with Peter Scott of Scott Cellars on F Street in Lompoc.

A single mother of two children, Veronica, 17, and Trenton, 11, Soleno has a firm grip on her future:

When I ask, any future plans for a tasting room? “No, never!”

Do you plan to grow above 500 cases? “No, I only want to produce enough for an allocation list, so that I can sell out every vintage.”

And, while she likes white wines made by other winemakers (Tessa Marie Parker’s sparkling vermentino, for example), Soleno vows she’s “never gonna make a white wine” herself.

Soleno is a big fan of the natural acidity in wines, especially reds, especially Italian reds, and looks forward to getting her hands on some Aglianico, perhaps from French Camp Vineyards outside Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County, she said.

“The more obscure the varietals, the better.”

Before she releases them, Soleno ages her wines in barrel for 36 months, and then for an additional year in the bottle.

“I like ‘finished’ wines. I wait until the wine tells me it’s ready, and then I go from there.”

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press

Second-annual Solvang Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure March 28-30

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Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, Lisa Dinsmore, Melanie Webb, Solvang Veterans Hall, Stewart McLennan

While half of the upcoming “Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure” is already sold out, some tickets — for the Sunday grand tasting and the new pizza/wine pairing dinner Friday — remain available as of this morning.

However, if you’re on the fence, don’t dawdle: Whatever else you may want to do March 30 can wait until another day.

Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure returns to the Solvang Veterans Memorial Hall Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, and once again, all proceeds will benefit the Wine & Viticulture Department at Cal Poly.

Last year’s inaugural one-day event sold out, and, despite adding a second full day for the 2014 festival, “we expect to sell out this year, too,” said Garagiste co-founder Doug Minnick.

Tickets: Saturday’s Grand Tasting sold out days ago, but a few of the VIP tickets (Signature Tasting Seminar plus Grand Tasting) remain. Tickets for Sunday’s Grand Tasting are still available, as are Sunday’s VIP tickets and the Friday evening pizza/wine dinner, Webber told me this morning.

http://californiagaragistes.com/buy-tickets/

Before their first Garagiste Festival, November 2011 in Paso Robles, Minnick and co-founder Stewart McLennan “did the ground work,” tasting wines from garagiste-style winemakers.

In fact, “before us, this event did not exist,” McLennan noted.

In other words, these two men, garagistes themselves, did the footwork for their events’ guests, meeting producers and sampling wines.

Show some gratitude: During Garagiste, introduce yourself to either of these gentlemen, or to co-organizer Lisa Dinsmore, or veteran Garagiste publicist Melanie Webber, and say “thank you” for the introduction to wines you’re unlikely to have otherwise discovered.

The roster has nearly 30 winemakers to pour either Saturday or Sunday — not both. (See below for the list by day). Only winemakers who produce fewer than 1,500 cases per year can participate — and the majority of them make less than 500 cases.

New this year is the Friday, March 28, Pizza/Wine Pairing Event, which will take place at Cecco Ristorante in Solvang and kicks off the weekend’s festivities.

Friday will feature 11 winemakers pouring their wines alongside Chef David Ceccini’s wood-fired pizzas, handmade pastas and more. Time: 6:30 to 9 p.m.; Cost: $39 plus tax.

Winemakers pouring Friday evening are Archium Cellars, Calilove Wines, Kessler-Haak Winery, Larner Winery, Montemar Winery, Press Gang Cellars, Scott Cellars, Solminer and Vinemark Cellars.

Pouring only Friday will be Sforzando Wines and De Su Propia Cosecha.

Nearly half of the winemakers who will pour at the event are first-time Garagiste Festival participants, and 13 of those will pour their very first vintage. In addition, most of these uber small-lot winemakers don’t have a tasting room. A few of the names I saw listed don’t even have websites

Here’s the list by day; first-time participants bear an asterisk (*):

Saturday: Archium Cellars*, Ascension Cellars*, Carucci Wines*, Casa Dumetz, Cholame Vineyard, Cordon Wines, Crawford Family Wines*, Dubost Ranch*, DV8 Cellars*, Graef Wines*, Ground Effect Wines, Harrison Clarke Wines, Kaena Wine Company, Kessler-Haak Winery, Kita Wines*, Larner Winery, Liquid Farm, Luminesce, Moretti Wine Co.*, Pence Ranch, Press Gang Cellars, Roark Wine Co., Ryan Cochrane Wines, Seagrape Wine Company, Shai Cellars, Tercero Wines, Transcendence Wines, Turiya* and Vinemark Cellars*. 

Sunday: a-non-ah-mus, Alta Colina Winery, Baehner-Fournier, Bradley Family Winery*, Brophy Clark Cellars*, C. Nagy Wines, Calilove Winery*, Cloak & Dagger, Clos Des Amis*, Dascomb Cellars*, Desperada*, Dilecta Wines, Fontes & Phillips*, Frequency Wines, Gioia Wines*, Guyomar Wine Cellars*, J. Wilkes Wines, La Fenetre Wines, LaZarre Wines, Montemar Winery*, Nicora Wines, ONX Wines, Plan B Cellars*, Refugio Ranch, Scott Cellars*, Solminer Wine*, STANGER Vineyards, Toretti Family Vineyards*, Weatherborne Wine Co.* and Zinke Wine Company*.

The Signature Tasting Seminars:

From 11 a.m. to noon Saturday will be “Rhones Rule: The Wines of Ballard Canyon,” featuring Mikael Sigouin (Kaena), Michael Larner (Larner Vineyards and Larner Winery) and Larry Schaffer (Tercero Wines).

From 11 a.m. to noon Sunday will be “A Pinot Noir Primer from the Roots Up,” featuring Joshua Klapper (La Fenetre), Clarissa Nagy (C. Nagy Wines) and Adam LaZarre (LaZarre Wines).

For more information on The Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, go to http://garagistefestival.com

Twitter: @GaragisteFest or Facebook

Copyright Central Coast Wine Press