The annual Celebration of Harvest Festival will be held on Saturday, October 11 from 1-4pm at Rancho Sisquoc Winery in the Santa Maria Valley. This is a very exciting and special time for our local wineries and winemakers as they have started the laborious process of the 2008 Harvest. The Festival showcases each wineries latest wines as well as culinary treats from local restaurants, upbeat live music, and a Silent Auction. Talk to the winemakers or winery insiders to get insight into how their harvest is going, what to look out for and what to expect from Santa Barbara County’s 2008 vintage.
A Vintner’s Visa pass is offered for those who want to extend their stay in the valley for a few days. This four-day pass is accepted at 12 participating wineries (10/10-10/13). Keep your eyes peeled for special events in the area over the weekend that surround the harvest celebration.
Santa Barbara Winery andLafond Winerywill be pouring our latest collection of recently bottled wine as well as a few of our favorites. I try not to miss my chances to attend these events because, for lack of a better way to put it, they are just fun. Everybody is out to have a good time, see what is released on the local market, meet new people, and taste some great food and wine.
Celebration of Harvest, $65 Celebration of Harvest, Designated Driver, $25 Bus to Celebration of Harvest, $25 (click here for more details on transportation) Vintner’s Visa, $35 Combination Tickets: Celebration of Harvest and Vintner’s Visa, $90
There was lots of Santa Barbara Winery wine going around at after hours events around town this weekend, including a private tasting for Team in Training as well as an event hosted by Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort a few blocks away.
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training has been helping save lives for over 20 years. The program provides training to run or walk in marathons and half marathons or participate in a triathlon. Members help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and since 1988 have raised more than $850 million. The Santa Barbara chapter held their recommitment event in our winery tasting room after hours last Thursday. This was the last after hours event we will have in the winery until Harvest 2008 wraps up as winemakers need access to the barrel room at all times.
Saturday evening Fess Parker’s Doubletree hosted their own mini wine event in the Grand Ballroom for the California Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery. Production assistant Cameron Bendetsen poured a selection of four wines at a table on the outside patio framed by the ocean. The selection included 2007 Pinot Gris, 2007 Chardonnay, and the 2006 Lafond SRH Pinot Noir. Other participants in the event included Jaffurs Wine Cellars, Whitcraft, Prodigal, Melville, Summerland, Carr, Fiddlehead, and Brander.
Ryan Ralston, Santa Barbara Wineryassistant winemaker, attended this past weekend’s 27th Annual Taste of the Town and poured samples alongside over 80 of Santa Barbara’s finest restaurants and premiere wineries. The event was held on Sunday, September 7 from noon-3 at the Riviera Park Gardens overlooking the ocean and all of the proceeds benefit the Arthritis Foundation. This organization is the only nonprofit dedicated to discovering the cause and cure for arthritis. While helping a great cause attendees got the opportunity to embark on an “epicurean adventure.”
Restaurants who attended included: A Piece of Cake; Bacchus; Ballard Inn Restaurant; Barcliff and Blair; Bay Cafe Seafood Restaurant and Fish House; Brothers’ Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern; Ca’ Dario;Caribbean Coffee; Cheese Pies; Chef Karim’s Moroccan Restaurant; CrushCakes; Elements; Emilio’s Ristorante; Green Star Coffee; Los Arroyos; Louie’s; Michael Hutchings; Mondial; Neo Chase Restaurant and Lounge; OMNI Fresco; Opal Restaurant and Bar; Outback Steakhouse; Pacific Beverages; Palace Grill; Peet’s Coffee; Piatti; Pierre Lafond Bistro; Quantum Kitchen and Cocktails; Renaud’s; Santa Barbara Olive Company; Scotch Bonnet; Sesto Senso; SOhO Restaurant; Spa Cafe at Bacara Resort; Stateside Restaurant and Lounge;Sweet Buttercup Cupcakes; The Palace Grill; UCSB Faculty Club; Via Maestra 42; and Wine Cask.
Wineries included: Adelaida Cellars; Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards; Artiste; Au Bon Climat; Babcock Vineyards; Beckman Vineyards; Bedford Thompson Winery and Vineyard; The Brander Vineyard; Brophy Clark Cellars; Buttonwood Farm Winery; Cambria Winery and Vineyard; Clendenen Family Vineyards; Cottonwood Canyon Vineyard; Curtis Winery; Daniel Gehrs Wines; Edna Valley Winery; Firestone Vineyard; Foley Estates Vineyard and Winery; Geissinger Winery; JanKris; Laetitia Winery/Barnwood Vineyards; Lincourt Wineries; Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards; Mandolina Wines; Melville Winery; Mosby Winery; Nichols Winery & Cellars; Pacific Oasis; Qupe Wine Cellars; Rancho Sisquoc Winery; Robert Hall Winery ;Roblar Winery; Santa Barbara Winery; Shadow Canyon Cellars; Soleil & Terrior; Sterns Wharf Vintners; Summerland Winery; Sunstone Wineries and Tolosa Winery.
I recently discovered a great comprehensive resource for finding wine events in Santa Barbara. Localwineevents.com has all sorts of information on events happening all over the world. The calendar of food and drink events has a weekly e-newsletter that is called The Juice, and it displays wine tastings, wine dinners, wine festivals, cooking classes, beer festivals, and more - in your area coming up in the next 30 days. Food and drink professionals can add their events to the calendar for free. They have resources where you can find answers to the most obscure wine questions, wine articles, and blogs.
Each Juice newsletter contains quiz questions to test your wine knowledge or learn something new, the calendar of food and wine events, a Q&A section, Wine FAQ’s, and tidbits. The calendar provides event details, costs, and contact information. I get my newsletters every Tuesday morning, and it has been the best way that I have found to find out about events in the area. It’s also just an great way to keep in touch with the wine community, see what everybody is doing, and learn one or two tidbits a week. To sign up for the newsletter just go to localwineevents.com and register (click on ‘be notified’).
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
This is a slideshow of the Chef and of some of the participants at the Indian Cuisine demonstration at Santa Barbara Winery. With the coming of harvest we have to cancel al public events in the Barrel Room. We can, however, still accomodate small informal groups in the Tasting Room.
Over the weekend, we hosted our final wine club special event prior to Harvest 2008. Chef Joel Chapman led an Indian cooking class in the barrel room for an intimate group, and it was a blast. He provided helpful demonstrations while weaving in pieces of the history of the food and culture. Santa Barbara Winery wines were paired with each of the three delicious courses. This class was a follow up to the Greek cooking class back in June. Below is the menu of plates Joel dished out.
Saturday August 23 Chef JoelChapman:
Vegetarian Samosa with Cilantro Pesto Dipping Sauce
Paired with 2007 Pinot Gris
Lamb Skewers with Three Dipping Sauces and Fragrant Rice
Paired with 2005 Petite Sirah
Shrikhand (an Indian sweet dish made from strained yogurt)
Paired with 2007 Riesling 7.3% R.S.
Yesterday I attended an event organized by the American Institute of Wine and Food (AIWF) at Santa Barbara’s own Cultured Abalone Farm. This was the 4th Annual Tour and Tasting at the farm that the esteemed national organization has put together. AIWF’s mission statement is to “enhance the quality of life through education about what we eat and drink.” With this in mind, they organize artisan food gatherings, winemaker dinners, and exclusive wine tastings for their members and guests, to name a few. At the core of these events is the educational element, which is really where wine and food appreciation comes into play.
Guests of the abalone event were first guided through the farm where we learned how abalone are bred, grown, processed, and marketed commercially. Local restaurants such as Square One and The Wine Cask are just two clients who go directly to the source to obtain the freshest abalone. We got to take a look at the “specialty market” tanks, which held abalone three times the size of commercially market standard size (which looked like it was about 3 inches in diameter). The specialty market abalone are coveted by sushi chefs throughout the southern and central California coast. After our tour we enjoyed a three course luncheon, which included a cooking demonstration by Chef Michael Hutchings, set up in the middle of the harvesting tanks. The abalone was lightly breaded with granulated flour (which I learned doesn’t clump) and served with roussanne (2007 Jaffurs Roussanne - a classic pairing). The shellfish and the richness of the rhone varietal white went together seamlessly.
If you have an interest in food and wine, AIWF is worth looking into. The organization has 25 chapters in major cities across the U.S., and over 4000 members.
Cultured Abalone Farm (9580 Dos Pueblos Cyn Rd. 805-685-1956)
The annual Celebration of Harvest Festival will be held on Saturday, October 11 from 1-4pm at Rancho Sisquoc Winery in the Santa Maria Valley. This is a very exciting and special time for our local wineries and winemakers as they have started the laborious process of the 2008 Harvest. The Festival showcases each wineries latest wines as well as culinary treats from local restaurants, upbeat live music, and a Silent Auction. Talk to the winemakers or winery insiders to get insight into how their harvest is going, what to look out for and what to expect from Santa Barbara County’s 2008 vintage.
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