‘Southern Exposure’ includes Grand Tasting of over 150 hand-crafted, micro-production wines from 30 wineries
America’s Best Wine Festival, The Garagiste Wine Festival, returned to Solvang on Feb. 10 and 11, offering rare access to over 30 of the most exciting small-production winemakers from the Santa Barbara County area. Tickets are now on sale at my805tix.com/e/garagiste-solvang-2023. Following on the heels of another sold-out year of events, the festival also announced its lineup for 2023, which includes Sonoma, Los Angeles and Paso Robles.
Hosted in Solvang, named one of America’s 10 Best Small Historic Towns, for the ninth time, “Southern Exposure” will be held at the Veterans Memorial Hall on Mission Drive.
“This charming town has a special place in our hearts, not least because it is at the center of some of the best winemaking in the world, but also because it is a beautiful and walkable place to spend a weekend — all while tasting over 150 ultra-premium, hand-crafted small-lot production wines, and meeting their winemakers, under one roof,” said Doug Minnick, Garagiste Festival co-founder.
The event includes Garagiste’s Friday night signature “Rare & Reserve” tasting with a traditional Santa Maria-style barbecue dinner buffet on Feb. 10 and the Grand Tasting on Saturday February 11th, which includes a Silent Auction filled with first-rate wine packages that benefit The Garagiste Festival Scholarship Fund at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Weekend Pass holders have entry into both events, along with lunch and a special Valentine’s Day treat.
Sunday, Feb. 12 is the popular Garagiste Passport Day, during which several participating wineries — including some “Garagiste Graduate” wineries who have poured with Garagiste in past, but have grown larger in over the years — will be offering special treats and discounts for Garagiste Festival attendees.
“We love our Solvang event,” continued Minnick. “The Vets Hall is right in the heart of the village and makes for a fantastic casual weekend of walking the town, seeing the sights, and enjoying the many restaurants, shops, and all that Solvang has to offer. It’s a great way to get a jump on celebrating with your Valentine. And Sunday’s Passport Day is a perfect excuse to take an extra day and night in town. Call in sick if you have to — we always do!”
“Southern Exposure” starts the 2023 Garagiste Festival season, which will bring hundreds of new wine discoveries from across California to wine lovers in Solvang, Paso Robles, Sonoma and Los Angeles.
The Garagiste Festival premiered in Paso Robles in 2011 and is the only wine festival that exclusively features high quality wines from commercial California “garagiste” winemakers. Unlike other festivals, the wines are poured by the winemakers/owners themselves, offering a rare opportunity to interact with the creative forces behind the wines, while making brand new wine discoveries. The festival expanded to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2013 to highlight the wines of Santa Barbara County and surrounding AVAs, as well as small production wineries from across California.
The 30+ winemakers scheduled to pour at the Garagiste Festival Southern Exposure include (new wineries marked with an asterisk):
Camin’s 2 Dream, Costa Vinedo*, Cypher Winery, Diablo Paso, Dusty Nabor Wines, Entourage Wines, Fuil Wines*, Greyscale Wines, Hayseed and Housdon, Herrmann York Wine*, Imagine Wines, Kendric Vineyards, Kimsey Vineyard, Lepiane Wines, LePoidevin Cellars, Lions Peak Winery, MCV Wines, Montagne Russe, Montemar Winery, Pine Mountain Vineyards, RF Fine Wines, Seven Oxen Estate, Silver Wines, Steinbeck Vineyards, Sycamore Ranch, Tercero Wines, Tomi Cellars, Trixon Wine Company.*
For more information and full Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure schedule details, go to: http://www.garagistefestival.com
