Garagiste Wine Festival: Urban Exposure returns to LA County for sixth year in a row and for its first year in Glendale; features one-of-a-kind wineries from across California, Rare and Reserve kick-off party and seminar on rebirth of LA wine industry
Paso Robles, CA –April 30, 2019 – The Garagiste Wine Festival, which was named America’s Best Wine Festival by USA Today, returns to LA County on June 21st and 22nd with an expanded line-up of events, including a new-to-LA Rare and Reserve kick-off party and a seminar on the rebirth of the LA wine industry, featuring Angeleno artisan wineries. This marks The Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure’s sixth anniversary in LA county, and its first time in Glendale, at the historic Glendale Civic Auditorium. The festival features over 200 wines from 50 winemakers, including Angeleno Wine Company, Byron Blatty Wines and Cavaletti Vineyards making wine from Los Angeles county. Tickets are available at http://garagistefestival.com.
Dubbed “tasting nirvana” ‘strange and wondrous’, and “one not to miss” by the LA
Times, the Garagiste Festival is renowned for its diversity of wines, renegade spirit, passionate winemakers, handcrafted wines and rules-breaking, ‘no snobs allowed’ ethos. It is Los Angeles’ only wine festival that exclusively features high quality wines from commercial California ‘garagiste**’ winemakers, offering Angelenos a unique opportunity to discover hard-to-find wineries (most of whom do not have tasting rooms), taste hundreds of their wines, and personally meet the winemakers (only winemakers/owners pour at Garagiste Festivals) — for less than the cost of gas for a trip to wine country.
“We are excited to be back in Los Angeles County, this time in Glendale, to share a tremendous range of California’s micro-production winemakers – these are not supermarket wines, and the difference is astounding,” said Doug Minnick, Co-founder of The Garagiste Festival. “Winemakers of this size are artisans in the true sense of the word. Their wines are created from personal passion, not a marketing strategy. Without the constraints of the marketplace, these winemakers are free to explore rare varieties and cutting edge styles that you won’t find anywhere else. The Garagiste Festival is a unique opportunity to discover these rare wines and get in on the ground floor.”
Minnick noted that the Glendale Civic Auditorium means greater access to the festival for wine lovers in the San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Santa Clarita Valleys and the Eastside, as well enabling additional Garagiste events, such as a Rare and Reserve tasting and barbecue on Friday night.
A focus of this year’s festival is the rebirth of the LA wine industry, and the festival has dedicated a tasting seminar to some of the exciting winemaking that is taking place right here in LA County. The panel of winemakers, including Jasper Dickson, Angeleno Wine Co.; Mark Blatty, Byron Blatty Wines; and Patrick Kelley, Cavaletti Vineyards, are on a mission to place the Los Angeles County AVA back on the map as a must-visit wine region. Garagiste Festival Co-founder, Stewart McLennan, who hosts the popular The Garagiste Show on KRUSH 92.5FM, will moderate the panel.
“Most people are probably unaware that there is an LA County AVA, much less that the California wine industry was born in Los Angeles in 1782. In fact, vineyards were planted in Glendale as early as 1784 and LA is where Bordeaux vine cuttings were first planted in California,” said McLennan. “The region was once home to a hundred vineyards and a flourishing local community that was the heart of the California wine business. While urbanization has overtaken the original vineyards, the drive to regain world-renown for this AVA is on and our panel will take a deep dive into that while offering tastings of some of the remarkable wines produced in LA County.”
Time and Place:
Friday, June 21st
6:30 – 9:00pm The Garagiste Wine Festival: Urban Exposure launches with “No Repeats Rare & Reserve Kick-off Party”, showcasing extremely limited Club Only, Library and Pre-Release bottles and featuring a summer BBQ buffet.
Saturday, June 22nd
11:30 – 12:30: “The Rebirth of the LA Wine Industry” seminar (VIP ticket holders only: VIP tickets include lunch and early access to the Grand Tasting.)
2pm – 5:00pm The Grand Tasting showcases over 50 winemakers pouring 200+ wines and 20+ varieties.
All events take place at Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 North Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA. There is plenty of onsite parking and easy access from the 134 and 210 freeways.
Wineries Include: 13th & Third Wines*, Adron Wines*, Aldina Vineyards*, Alma Sol Wines, Angeleno Wine Co., Ann Albert Wines, Armitage Wines, Ascension Cellars, Bella Luna Winery, Bevela Wines, Brooks Note Wines*, Byron Blatty Wines, Cavaletti Vineyards, Cholame Vineyard, Cloak & Dagger Wines, Copia Vineyards, DB Cellars*, DENO Wines, DeWitt Vineyard*, Dusty Nabor Wines, Enriquez EstateWines*, Ferguson Family Winery*, Frostwatch Vineyard*, Gary Kramer Guitar Cellars*, Greyscale Wines*, Hoi Polloi Winery, Kings Carey Wines*, Kitson Wines, Lions Peak Wines*, LXV Wines, Marin’s Vineyard, MCV Wines, Metrick Wines, Montagne Russe, Ocean’s Churning*, Playground Cellars*, Powicana Farms, Record Family Wines, RF Fine Wines*, Say When Wine*, Torch Cellars, Turiya Wines, Two Papas Wine*, Two Shepherds, Velvet Bee Wines*, Vino Vargas, and Wander-Must Wines*
* First Time LA Participants
Tickets: To preserve an intimate experience with one-on-one interaction with winemakers, tickets are very limited for the Garagiste Festivals and always sell out. Tickets are available at http://garagistefestival.com. For special discounts and updates on Urban Exposure, Taste of Garagiste mini-tastings and other Garagiste Festival events and news, sign up for The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up, or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook (http://on.fb.me/1rgBC80).
Festival Sponsors include: Bank of Marin, ETS, AEB, Laffort, Digital Dogma, Hanover Insurance, Farm Credit, mWEBB Communications, Glenn Burdette, G3, WIVI, House Copper. For sponsorship info, email info@garagistefestival.com.
About The Garagiste Wine Festival
The Garagiste Wine Festival (http://www.garagistefestival.com), named the ‘Best Wine Festival in the US in 2018 in USA Today’s 10Best Readers Choice Awards, is the first and only wine festival dedicated to the undiscovered and under-recognized American artisan ‘garagiste’ producers who are making some of the best, most exciting, handcrafted small-lot production wines in the world. Founded by fellow garagistes Stewart McLennan and Douglas Minnick, the Garagiste Festivals are committed to discovering the best and most innovative limited-production winemakers and promoting and showcasing them to a broad audience of discerning wine consumers. In addition to its flagship annual festival in Paso Robles, CA, the Garagiste Festival line-up includes Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, featuring Santa Ynez Valley garagistes; the Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure, in Los Angeles; the Garagiste Festival, Northern Exposure, in Sonoma; winemaker dinners, a newsletter, garagiste profiles and more.
In addition to being named the US’ Best Wine Festival, the Garagiste Festival was named one of the ‘Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations’ in the world by ABC News, * “one of the premier wine events of the year,” by the LA Times and “Best Festival” by Sunset Magazine’s ‘Best of the West.’ The festivals are produced by Garagiste Events, a non-profit dedicated to furthering the education of future winemakers and those training for employment within the wine industry. Proceeds from the festivals support the Garagiste Festival Scholarship fund of the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo Wine and Viticulture Department.
* The Garagiste Wine Festival was named America’s Best Wine Festival by USA Today in 2018.
**Garagistes (garage-east) is a term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their “garages” (anything considered not a chateau), who refused to follow the “rules,” and is now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world. The Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemaker in 2011.
