Garagiste Wine Festival: 12th Annual Southern Exposure

Find out why we were named Best Wine Festival in the country by USA Today!

Taste over 150 ultra-premium wines from over 30 hard-to-find, micro-wineries from the Santa Barbara region and the Central Coast of California. The Garagiste Festival is the first and only organization that gathers these undiscovered artisan ‘garagiste’ winemakers who are making some of the best, most exciting, handcrafted small-lot wines in the world. You'll never find these wines in supermarkets - and you'll never find them all in one place like this. Discover the biggest "small" thing happening in the world of wine. One place, one tasting fee - a world of wine awaits!

Participants Include:

Bocce Ball Wine, Bodega de Edgar, Chateau Caroline, Chris Caruso Wines, Common Thread Wines, Decemil Estate, Diablo Paso, Dusty Nabor Wines, El Vinero Wines, Fates' Lieutenant, Final Girl Wines, Fuil Wines, Hayseed & Housdon, J Dirt Wines, Kaleidos Winery, Kiler Canyon Vineyard, Lyons Vineyard, Malibu Wine Company, Montemar Winery, Pars Fortuna Wines, Pelletiere Estate, Songs Wines, St. Avalo Wines, Sycamore Ranch Winery, Tomi Cellars and V1no Juan Wines.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

All Events at The Veterans' Memorial Hall. 1745 Mission Drive, Solvang, CA

FRIDAY - FEBRUARY 6th - 6:30-9:00pm

"NO REPEATS" RARE & RESERVE TASTING & BUFFET: Get up close and personal with the winemakers as they share wines you won’t get to try anywhere else this weekend…and few other people get to try at all! This evening will showcase extremely limited Club Only, Library and Pre-Release bottles – perhaps even some barrel samples – that truly showcase what micro-production winemaking is all about. This event is like digging for diamonds with an earth mover. You are guaranteed to find more than a few gems! A Cajun-inspired buffet from local favorite Clean Slate Wine Bar is also included in the fun.

SATURDAY - FEBRUARY 7th - Please note different starting times below...

The day begins with one of the most popular features of the Garagiste Festivals, its engaging, educational and unique winemaker panel and tasting seminars.

*SATURDAY SEMINAR: 11:00am-12:30pm

“Original Garagistes: A Deep Dive & Tasting with Greg Brewer”

We continue our series with a chat and taste with another Santa Barbara winemaking legend - Greg Brewer (Brewer-Clifton / diatom / Ex Post Facto)

Greg Brewer started his career as a French instructor at UC Santa Barbara before being trained in wine production at Santa Barbara Winery starting in 1991. He created his eponymous label, Brewer-Clifton with original partner Steve Clifton in 1996 and later designed Melville where he worked as winemaker from its' inception in 1997 to the end of 2015. He created his diatom label in 2005 to focus on starkly raised Chardonnay and additionally Ex Post Facto wines in 2016 dedicated to cold climate Syrah. In 2020, Greg was named Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

The primary focus of his wineries is the pursuit of refinement. He is engaged in all facets of the winemaking process from the vineyards to marketing, giving every level of the process his equal attention. The entirety of his career has been rooted in the Sta. Rita Hills appellation, which he helped to map, define and establish in 1997.

This seminar will explore his vision of winemaking and all facets of his 30 career, from start-up to national powerhouse, tasting a number of his flagship wines along the way. A not to be missed discussion with one of the pioneers and current stars of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.

*The seminar is only available as part of the WEEKEND PASS* or Saturday VIP TICKET, which also includes a Wine Country Box Lunch provided by Panino and (1) hour early access to the Grand Tasting & Silent Auction.

Saturday continues with the Grand Tasting & Silent Auction from 2-5pm showcasing over 30 winemakers pouring 100+ wines and 20+ varietals.

There will be a limited number of Early Access Tickets available, which gives attendees an extra hour of tasting from 1-2pm. More time = more wines to discover. These tickets grant you 4 hours of tasting so you will have plenty of time to chat, taste and explore.

*Limited Weekend Passes Available - For those of you who want to attend ALL of our events, we have created an All Access Weekend Pass that gets you into both Friday's Rare & Reserve Tasting & Buffet and Saturday's VIP All-Day Seminar & Tasting for just $179. Only 50 passes available - no coupon code needed!

VIP All Access (11:00am-5pm)

Early Access (1-5pm)

Grand Tasting (2-5pm)