As the clocks change, wines are bottled, spring time arises, vine buds bloom, and the wine festivals begin! 

Each "wine festival season" as I call it has a variety of events, focus, and in some cases a cause. March is coming to a close and April is fast approaching towards another "Earth Day." This particular day may not have a special meaning for some, however, this is a group that knows how to through a party, or shall we say wine festival. SIP, or Sustainable In Practice is an organization dedicated towards promoting vineyards/wineries that practice environmental responsibility among ...

Media release:

Celebrate 20 Years of Paso Robles Wine Country’s Heritage Winegrape Paso Robles, CA (December 13, 2011) Tickets are on sale now for the 20th Annual Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival, March during the popular Zin Tasting & Wine Country Auction Saturday, March 17, 2012. Two ticket levels are available for purchase at www.pasowine.com; ZIP (Entrance at 6 p.m.) and Zin Fan Del (Entrance at 7 p.m.).

“Zinfandel has been a key influence on the development and growth of the Paso Robles wine industry,” said Alex Villicana, board chairman of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance ...

After a full year of many fun wine festivals and events, I found myself very excited about the inagural Paso Garagiste, on Nov 12th.I didn't know completely what to expect. As so few of these producers have tasting rooms, I knew there would be very few that I had any familariy. You will not find these wines at your grocery store, that's for sure!

We were told the event would take place at Windfall Farms in a horse stable. Now you may have a visual of Christmas lawn decorations, baby Jesus, and farm animals, or whatever your ...

As the Summer closes and we make our way through harvest, here comes fall, and a new style of wine festival. The Paso Garagiste has a whole new spin on what we think of when it comes to wine festivals. 

On November 12, the grand tasting 2-5 PM, hosted at Windfall Farms in Paso Robles (Creston), will be an event celebrating, what I call the "mom and pop" winemakers, AKA the "garagistes." As their site explains, the garagiste is a term derived from France as a way to denigrate small lot winemakers, (often producing in the garage) who refuse to ...

It's that time of year when the grapes are being harvested and wine is being produced. It's also a time of celebration of the harvest, to enjoy the outdoors with good food and wine, while we still have great weather.

On October 8th, the Santa Barbara Vintners Association put on the annual Celebration of Harvest, held at Rancho Sisquoc winery, in Santa Maria Valley. There was no shortage of media covering this wine event, and I saw many familar friendly faces. Chris Czar was out with his crew taking footage for a television show, while local photographer Bob ...