Bringing California wine country to the City...Meet the Winemakers, Taste their Passion!

Taste and discover the wines from over 40 high-quality, commercial micro-wineries from all over California. This unique festival is the heart of the hands-on, small-lot winemaking explosion now happening in California. We will have ultra-premium winemakers from all over the state - from Napa & Sonoma to Mendocino, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and all points in between. It would take months if not years of research and travel to discover this many artisan "garagiste" wineries on your own. 

What makes the Garagiste Festivals different?:

•   No long lines - we purposefully keep the guest-to-winery ratio low to provide a more intimate experience for tasters. No fighting a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd to get to the winery table. It’s a comfortable, fun, and no-snobs allowed event.

•   Meet the Winemakers - you get to taste with the winemakers/owners at EVERY table. Hear their stories and taste the wines with the people who actual craft them. Not salespeople or brokers, the winemakers themselves. It makes for a completely different wine tasting experience, trust us.

•   No supermarket wines – These are rare wines that can very hard to find – even in wine country. Most of our wineries do not have tasting rooms and are not on “wine country” maps – you have to know where to look. Now you can find over 40 of them under one roof at the Garagiste Festival. No supermarket wines here, unlike most other wine events.

•   Unmatched variety – There is no better place to vastly increase your wine knowledge. Whether you are an expert, a novice, or somewhere in between – you will be able to taste and compare an incredibly wide range of varietals and styles. You will have the completely unique opportunity to taste almost every grape being grown under the CA sun.

•   First Vintages - there's nothing more exciting than being the first to try something and we have 8 wineries participating in LA sharing their very first bottles of wine. How cool is that? You can say you knew them when...

VIP SEMINAR & EARLY ACCESS - 11:30am-5:00pm 

The day begins by bringing back one of the most popular features of the Garagiste Festivals, it’s our engaging, educational and unique winemaker panel and tasting seminar. The seminar is only available as part of the VIP All-Day Ticket, which also includes a Box Lunch* and entry to the Rare & Reserve Hour at 1:00pm.

An Exploration of the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA

What makes Garagistes so unique is their passion to create wines that push the boundaries, utilize unusual grapes or rare vineyard locations. In this Seminar we will be focusing on Santa Barbara County and the little-known AVA of Happy Canyon. Located in the easternmost end of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA, north and west of Lake Cachuma, the Happy Canyon sub-AVA is the warmest micro-climate in this region and thus able to branch out from the usual Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which dominate the Santa Barbara wine scene. In this seminar we will taste and learn how other varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and even Grenache found their home in Happy Canyon and what makes the wines from this under-the-radar, up-and-coming AVA so special.

Panelists include Dusty Nabor (Dusty Nabor Wines), Anna Lancucki (Final Girl Wines) and Jessica Gasca (Story of Soil). 

RARE & RESERVE EARLY ACCESS: Come early and get to taste the best of their best, as our wineries treat our Early Access guests with over 40 library, club only or reserve wines, only being poured during this special time period. The festival’s Grand Tasting follows from 2-5pm with an additional 100+ wines featuring over 25 different varietals.  These tickets are limited to ensure Early Access guests enjoy a more personal, less-crowded tasting experience. 150 Tickets Available.

GRAND TASTING: Join us from 2-5pm and taste with over 40 winemakers pouring 150+ wines and 25+ varietals. Complimentary cheese and charcuterie will be provided, as well as food samples from local artisan vendors including Boccabella Farms Olive Oil and LAs own Letterpress Chocolates. Bottled water will also be provided along with a keepsake crystal logo glass from Stolzle.

Our “All Wine” Silent Auction will be going from 1-4pm and is the ONLY way guests can take home these amazing wines. Don’t miss out on these unique bottles and special offerings from your favorite wineries! All proceeds from the auction go to support the Garagiste Scholarship Fund at Cal Poly SLO.

PARTICIPATING WINERIES INCLUDE: AJA Vineyards*, Ascension Cellars, Bella Luna Estate, Caelesta Vineyard, California Street Winery*, Cavaletti Vineyards, Civilization Wine Co., Concur Wines, Cypher Winery, Dana V Wines, DENO Wines, Dot Wine*, Dusty Nabor Wines, Elkins Wines*, Emercy Wines, Enriquez Estate Wines, Etnyre Wines, Final Girl Wines*, Fuil Wines, Greyscale Wines, Hayseed & Housdon, Hoi Polloi, Intent Wines, LePoidevin Wines, Lions Peak Winery, Lunasa Wines*, Lussier Wine Co., Marin's Vineyard, Monroy Wines, Montage Vineyards, Optio Vineyards, Pine Mountain Vineyards, Puppione Family Winery, PWR Wines, Rivahil Wines*, Second Line Wines*, Stiekena Wine Co.*, Tercero Wines, Thomas T Thomas Vineyards, Trois le Fou, and Vinicola La Nuestra*.

* First time Garagiste participants

Garagiste Events, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit whose proceeds go towards the education of future professionals within the wine industry.