Twenty-Sixth Annual Central Coast Wine Classic
Thursday, July 8, through Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation is pleased to announce the grantees for funds from the 2010 Twenty-Sixth Annual Central Coast Wine Classic, to be held from July 8th through 11th, 2010, in Avila Beach, Shell Beach, San Simeon, Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. From net proceeds from the Wine Classic, the Foundation funds specific projects for 501(c)3 non-profit corporations in San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County whose missions are in the Healing, Performing or Studio Arts. Over the past six years the Foundation has conferred grants totaling $1,370,025 to 62 such non-profits. Grants for 2010 will be conferred in early October in San Luis Obispo.
Events will be happening all weekend. Santa Barbara Winery will participate on Sunday at the Reserve Wine Tasting, featuring the most special wines from over 75 wineries.
Central Coast Wine Classic, Reserve Wine Tasting
Sunday, July 11, 1-4pm
Dolphin Bay Resort, Avila Beach
$45.00
Visit the Central Coast Wine Classic website to purchase tickets and find out more information.
Wine is a great accompaniment to your Fourth of July Barbeques, and summer heat calls for wines on the lighter side to keep your temperature down.
2008 ZCS is a favorite for summertime grilling because of its lighter body, soft tannins, jammy fruit forwardness, and tickling spice. This Zinfandel based blend (blended with Carignane and Sangiovese) can stand up to all sorts of spices, char, and rubs.
The 2008 Central Coast Pinot Noir is a light and fruity choice for warm day red wine sipping. Neutral barrel aging preserved the forward fruit flavors that have becomea signature for this wine.
Our 2007 Reserve Chardonnay pairs perfectly with full-flavored, fatty sheep’s milk cheese plate as well as grilled chicken topped with freshly chopped fruit salsa.
The Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Winery tastings rooms will be open for regular business hours (10am-5pm) on the 4th.
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
It’s here!
Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Wine Club Members are invited to join us for one of our favorite and heavily attended events of the year on Saturday August 7 from 1-4pm. Our Annual Wine Club BBQ will be held at Lafond Vineyard, and we will enjoy fabulous food from Pierre Lafond Bistro and wine (including barrel samples and new releases from Lafond Vineyard). Winemaker Bruce McGuire will be there to answer questions about the wines and this year’s harvest (Pinot Noir clusters are looking good!). It’s a great opportunity to enjoy the vineyard, the summer sunshine, and meet fellow club members and winery staff.
Saturday August 7, 1-4pm
50.00 per person, exclusive for club members
For reservations call the Santa Barbara Winery at 805-963-3633 or Lafond Vineyards at 805-688-7921
Lafond Vineyard (located in the Sta. Rita Hills between Buellton and Lompoc), 6855 Santa Rosa Rd. Buellton, CA 93427
Ventura & Carpinteria Wine Companies present Wine and Wishes
Sunday, June 27, 2010
2-5pm at the Ventura Wine Company (4435 McGrath St. #301 Ventura, CA 93003)
This is a grand Wine Tasting event held at The Cave inside Ventura
Wine Company. The tasting will feature over 100 of our favorite wines
(many Nick’s Picks and Nikki’s Choices) and small bites prepared by
The Cave’s Chef Gary Daniel.
There will be live entertainment from 2-4pm and then a giant check presentation at
4:30pm. Stick around to find out how much money you helped raise for
the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties.
Visit the Henry Wine Group table to taste current Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond releases.
This weekend… Don’t miss one of the most beautiful venues for wine tasting in Santa Barbara (although it’s very difficult to go wrong), the 23rd Annual Santa Barbara Wine Festival, held at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on the outside grounds woven through creeks, fallen leaves, and Central Coast foliage.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
2:00–5:00 PM
SWIRL, SIP, & SAVOR…
…more than 75 Central Coast wineries complemented with savory and sweet delectable delights. A must-do summertime favorite and the wine festival you cannot miss.
TICKETS:
Save up to $35 when you purchase tickets
by Friday, June 25, 2010 at 5:00 PM.
~ Members $60/person
~ Non-members $85/person
> If the festival is not sold out, available tickets will be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. The at-the-door price will be $95/person (no member discount).
Proceeds benefit the Museum’s exhibits and education programs.
Space is limited. Buy your tickets today.
Three easy ways to buy tickets:
- Via Phone: 805-682-4711 ext. 443
- Via Email: mmoore@sbnature2.org
- Via Internet: www.sbnature.org/tickets
Where to find the best Cabernet Sauvignon in California?
For Cabernet in California, let’s first consider district. The grape needs moderate to full warmth to ripen. Plant it too close to the coast, and the thick-skinned grapes will never mature. The resulting wine will have a green character, of the sort. On the other hand, if you plant Cabernet in too warm an area the grapes will lack sufficient acidity, and also the bunches will likely contain some raisined fruit, which will give the wine a pruny taste.
So you need something in the middle.
Draw a diagonal line, running northwest to southeast, starting from Lake County and parallel to the coast. You’ll see how it goes through Napa Valley, then hits a little piece of Solano County and slices through Livermore Valley. After that, the line crosses the southeastern tip of Monterey County, crosses the eastern part of San Luis Obispo County, and trails off in the far eastern part of Santa Barbara County, where the coast turns inland in the Transverse Range…
…Finally, the Cabernet line crosses that eastern part of Santa Barbara County, the region that just got its own AVA, Happy Canyon. The people promoting it are making a huge deal about its Cabernet potential, and I will admit I’ve had a couple of really good Cabernets from down there. They’re not as rich as Napa, more like a Graves, with a certain blackcurrant, mineral and herb essence…
Click Here for the rest of the article, and one of my favorite places to read about current wine trends, Steve Heimoff’s blog.
2007 Santa Barbara Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Grassini Vineyard Happy Canyon $25.00
Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dad’s out there. We hope you’re enjoying your day and evening with good company and a nice celebratory bottle (or two) of wine tonight!
I’m home in Los Angeles with my family, sipping some 07 Lafond Chardonnay SRH, and prepping dinner in our wood burning oven outside. Even though my Dad should be sitting down relaxing and letting us cook, he has his glass outside with him, poking at the 4 inch prime steak slowly cooking through. My brother is chopping sugar snap peas to plate with fresh zucchini stuffed flowers. Yum!
Have a wonderful Sunday. I’ll be selling wine down in San Diego for the next couple of days and hope the weather stays as beautiful as it has been over this weekend.
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
One of our favorite ways to learn about wine here at the winery is to host tasting parties at our homes. Gather family, friends, and wine bottles galore, pop the corks, enjoy and learn!
A home wine tasting party is a excellent way to get to know innumerable wines that are available. You can also make these informal occasions fantastic events in which you can have friends over and find out what they reckon about these wines. As there are so many different types of wines for you to choose from you will want to make your selections carefully.
As a home wine tasting party is informal in nature you should choose exactly what are the different foods that you will be serving to keep the party from disintegrating into a drinking party. As this home wine tasting party is to learn about the innumerable wines that can be used for innumerable meals and other occasions you should make sure that your guests are not overwhelmed with a lot of wines.
And since you primarily want a home wine tasting party to enlarge the knowledge of the wines and it’s always a excellent thought if everyone’s relaxed, you might want to let everyone come together as they drink the wine. This way you can talk with amongst yourselves and gain an thought of what everyone thinks about the wines that have been offered. The best way to ensure that all the wines are tasted in your home wine tasting party will be to keep the wines in an simple to reach place.
A home wine tasting party is I don’t know the best place for you and your friends to learn more about fantastic wines. To ensure that everyone can delight in themselves you should select about five or six different wines. These wines should be different brands and you should absolutely have some red wines and white wines. In addition you can choose to introduce a sweet wine or two for pairing with the dessert…
Click Here for full article on hosting your own wine tasting party
Some natural winemaking insights… From The Pour at NYTimes.com
Natural Winemaking Stirs Debate
THE world of wine is full of hornets’ nests. The minute you step on one, whether you nudge it accidentally or boot it with malice aforethought, the angry buzzing begins, rising to a high-pitched howl that would send anybody in search of shelter and a beer.
Prime among these are natural wines. These wines, which barely make up a tiny slice of the marketplace, effortlessly polarize, not least because of the implied repudiation contained in the word “natural.” If your wine is natural, what does that make mine? Unnatural? Artificial?
Even defining the term incites the sort of Talmudic bickering usually reserved for philosophers and sports talk-radio hosts. Generally speaking, though, it is intended to mean wines made of grapes grown organically, or in rough approximation, and then made into wine with a minimum of manipulation — nothing added, nothing taken away, the winemaker simply shepherding the grape juice along its natural path of fermentation into wine.
This would seem to be the kind of laudable idealism worth encouraging. Instead, in recent months natural wines and their adherents have been harshly criticized in newspaper and magazine articles, in conferences and on Internet bulletin boards. Some writers have warned of green-washing, the practice of making false or exaggerated claims about ecologically virtuous practices in order to reap marketing gains. Others resent what they feel is a scolding, finger-wagging sanctimony inherent not only in the term “natural wines,” but also in the admirers of the wines. Most damning is the assertion that many wines regarded as natural are unclean, impure and downright bad…
Click Here for the full article
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