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Event Recap: Santa Barbara Vintners Celebration of Harvest

The 2014 harvest is almost complete. Most of the grapes have been picked and the grapes are in tanks and barrels so it was time to celebrate at the Santa Barbara Vintners Celebration of Harvest Festival (Oct 10-13). Over a three day weekend, Santa Barbara wineries opened up their tasting rooms with special offers and other events. The main event of the weekend was the Festival Grand Tasting. The Festival Grand Tasting took place outdoors at the Old Mission Santa Ines in Solvang. More than 100 members of the Santa Barbara Vintners were there, as well as local restaurants and artists. With all of the participants, the question always is, "which wines should we try? where should we go first?".

02 November, 2014

The Fun of La Paulée

Traditionally, La Paulée is a Burgundian celebration held at the end of the grape harvest. So, hosting "La Paulée", which comes from the French word for sauté pan, poile, during the Santa Barbara Celebration of Harvest Festival, was fitting.....and lots of fun. To kick off the Celebration of Harvest weekend, La Paulée was hosted on Friday night. In addition to a ticket to the event, the only other requirement is to bring a bottle of wine with you. This BYO event does not mean that you grab the first bottle you find or run to the supermarket on your way. What you want to do is look into your collection of wines and bring something that you are proud to share.

Santa Barbara Cebration of Harvest Fesitval La Paulee

24 October, 2014

Touring Ascendant Spirits Distillery

You may think wine when you think Santa Ynez Valley, but you can also think vodka and whiskey because Ascendant Spirits Distillery, the first legal distillery in Santa Barbara County since Prohibition, is located in Buellton, the heart of wine country.

We stopped by Ascendant Spirits on a recent trip up to wine country. After all, a few tastes of vodka and whiskey are a great start to a weekend filled with wine. Owner and Distiller Stephen Gertman was on hand to give us a tour in between the fermentation taking place that day. We got a first hand tour of the process to make Sempre Fi Corn Whiskey.

23 October, 2014