That Bear is Watching You: The 2013 Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Enforcing Good Behavior at the 2013 Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Back on June 29, the delightful Santa Barbara Wine Festival took place at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. It was a beautiful day and almost 90 Central Coast wineries and food purveyors poured wine and shared samples of their products to an appreciative crowd thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Adding to the festivities was a new bouncer this year, surveying the crowd while standing next to the bougainvillea.  Last year?  A dinosaur checking your ID.  This year?  A bear threatening to take your car keys away if you didn’t make sure to enjoy yourself in moderation.

For the record, we’re big fans of using oversized creatures to enforce appropriate social behaviors at food and wine events (be old enough to drink, be courteous towards fellow attendees, move out the the way when you should, drink in moderation, and don’t eat all of the food).

Just saying.

Favorite Wines at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Tablas Creek Vineyard

Wines from Tablas Creek Vineyard at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival

There was a wine for everybody at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival. White wines included Albariño, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache Blanc and Malvasia Bianca. Red wines included Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Lagrein and Touriga Nacional. There were also plenty of Rosés made from a range of varietals. Listed below are the wines we enjoyed the most that day. We encourage you to seek these out for yourself and to visit their winery tasting rooms the next time you are in the region.

Alma Rosa Winery

Alma Rosa Winery

Alma Rosa Winery (Buellton) – 2012 Pinot Gris, 2011 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay, 2011 Clone 115 La Encantada Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2011 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Brander Vineyard (Los Olivos) – 2012 Santa Ynez Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 2010 Merlot, 2009 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Coghlan Vineyard & Jewelers (Los Olivos) – 2010 Grenache Blanc

Daniel Gehrs Wines (Los Olivos) – 2011 Chenin Blanc, 2010 Chardonnay

de su Propia Cosecha

de su Propia Cosecha, aka La Cosecha

de su Propia Cosecha/La Cosecha (Lompoc) – 2011 Central Coast White Wine (Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Albariño)

Dierberg Vineyard/Star Lane Vineyard  (Lompoc) – For Dierberg, the 2011 Steel Chardonnay, 2009 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir, 2008 Happy Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon and for Star Lane, the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc)

Fiddlehead Cellars (Lompoc) – 2012 Pink Fiddle (Rosé), 2009 Seven Twenty Eight Pinot Noir

Flying Goat Cellars (Lompoc) – 2009 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir (2A Clone)

Ken Brown Wines (Buellton) – 2011 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir

Kenneth Volk Vineyards (Santa Maria) – 2011 Albariño, 2009 Santa Maria Cuvée Pinot Noir, 2010 Touriga Nacional

Koehler Winery (Los Olivos) – 2009 Magia Nera (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah)

Kunin Wines (Santa Barbara) – 2012 Sauvignon Blanc

Martian Ranch & Vineyard (Los Alamos) – 2012 Uforic (Albariño)

Melville Vineyards and Winery (Lompoc) – 2011 Estate Pinot Noir – Sta. Rita Hills

Mosby Winery (Buellton) – 2011 Cortese, 2006 Lagrein

Presqu’ile Winery (Santa Maria) – 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, 2011 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir

Tablas Creek Vineyard (Paso Robles) – 2011 Côtes du Tablas Blanc (Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne), 2012 Dianthus (Rosé of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Counoise), 2011 Patelin de Tablas (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Counoise)

Vogelzang Vineyard (Santa Barbara) – 2010 Happy Canyon Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

The WinehoundIf you’d like to do a comprehensive tasting on your own of Santa Barbara wines, an outstanding wine store in the area is The Winehound, who also participated in the Festival. This source of local, national, and international wines used to be on Chapala Street but is now located at 3849 State Street, Suite 136 in Santa Barbara and is open 7 days a week.

 

Favorite Foods at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Lemon Cake from La Mousse

Lemon Cake from La Mousse

The food tastings at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival came from multiple restaurants, caterers, and other local food purveyors. These were the companies and samples we enjoyed the most on June 29:

Casitas Valley Creamery (Carpinteria) – Part of Regenerative Earth Farm, Casitas Valley Creamery has grown out of a family held endeavor that seeks to promote and sustain food resiliency and ecological vibrancy in their local area.  Our favorite cheese they offered at the Festival was a Plain Creamy Feta, made of cow’s milk and aged in organic olive oil for about 2 months.

C’est Cheese (Santa Barbara) – This store in downtown Santa Barbara has about 120 different types of cheese (and accompaniments) and is staffed with friendly, knowledgeable people.  At the Wine Festival they were sampling their tasty Roasted Tomato Feta Spread on baguette slices.

Freezer Monkeys (Thousand Oaks) – Started by a Mom (and pastry chef), this vendor manufactures natural frozen pops and treats using fresh seasonal herbs, fruits, and spices primarily from local growers and farmers.  We thoroughly enjoyed their Mexican Chocolate frozen treats again this year.

Georgia’s Smokehouse (Santa Barbara) – A gourmet food truck business specializing in Southern comfort food, Georgia’s usually makes daily lunch and dinner stops in addition to participating in local community events.    At the Festival they were offering a scrumptious House-Made, House-Smoked Pork Sausage with a Whole Grain Mustard/Horseradish Sauce and Fresh Cabbage.

La Mousse (Los Angeles) – A Mango Cheesecake and a Blackout Cake were impressive offerings from this bakery with over 30 years of experience and which currently makes over 120 different desserts and baked goods. However, for us the standout was their Lemon Cake.

Omni Catering (Santa Barbara) –  This outstanding catering company has been serving Santa Barbara and the Tri-County area for 12 years, serving fantastic food with outstanding service.  At the Festival, their Slow Braised Italian Style Pork with a Balsamic Reduction over Polenta was awesome.

State & Fig

Roasted Beet Salad from State & Fig

State & Fig (Santa Barbara) – Located in the La Arcada Plaza in downtown Santa Barbara, this café offers a seasonally inspired menu focusing on products that are handcrafted, raised, or grown in California.  They presented an outstandingly fresh and flavorful Roasted Beet Salad with Wild Baby Arugula, Pickled Peaches, Burrata Cheese, and Pistachios.

 

Another Food and Wine Event from the Museum

Sensational Seafood LogoDid you miss the Wine Festival?  Well, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has another special event coming up and this one focuses on pairing seafood with wine.   The 5th annual Sensational Seafood event will take place in the evening of October 10 on Stearns Wharf at the Ty Warner Sea Center.  Attendees can sample local wines, watch chefs prepare seafood harvested around Santa Barbara, experiment with different wine and seafood pairings, and meet some of the local fishermen and chefs who are leading the way to a more sustainable future.

Some of the food purveyors already confirmed for the evening’s events between 5:30 and 7:30 pm are:   Arlington Tavern, Carlitos Café y Cantina, Cava Restaurant & Bar, Cultured Abalone, Finch & Fork, Dos Carlitos Restaurant & Tequila Bar, Julienne, Mac’s Fish & Chip Shop, and Michael’s Catering.  For more information and/or to purchase tickets ($60 per person, $45 for Museum Members), please go here.

 

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural HistoryThe Santa Barbara Wine Festival was a well managed event and it is certainly easy to understand why it sells out. Proceeds from the Festival support the non-profit Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s educational programs and exhibits, inspiring a thirst for discovery and passion for the natural world in all ages.  Next year’s event will be on June 28, 2014.

Members of the Museum receive extensive benefits including free admission, invitations to Members-Only events, and discount admission to events such as the Santa Barbara Wine Festival and Sensational Seafood.  Membership starts at just $60 per year, and is tax deductible. To learn more about the Museum and how to support it, or to explore the different membership levels and their benefits, please go here.

 

 


Comments

That Bear is Watching You: The 2013 Santa Barbara Wine Festival — 2 Comments

  1. Hey you two: I’m the project manager of this wine festival and I can’t thank you enough for this wonderful article. You captured everything we tried to do to make it an enjoyable fundraiser for our museum. I wish I could hug you! And thanks for the promo for the Sensational Seafood Event. Will you be coming down to it?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *