Held November 8th & 9th in Paso Robles, the Garagiste Festival celebrates its 13th anniversary with a wealth of California’s most innovative, micro-production wineries, a dedicated rare and reserve tasting, live music and VIP tasting seminar: “1500 Cases & a Plan(e): The Gary Eberle Story”
Paso Robles, CA – August 26, 2024 – America’s Best Wine Festival, The Garagiste Wine Festival, will be held November 8th and 9th in Paso Robles, celebrating its 13th anniversary as it showcases over 50 of the region’s most innovative micro-production winemakers. The festival will also feature Paso wine legend, iconoclast and pioneer, Gary Eberle, in the tasting seminar ‘1500 Cases & a Plan(e): The Gary Eberle Story: A Trip Across the Vintages with an Original Paso Pioneer.’ Festival Tickets are on sale now at: https://www.my805tix.com/e/13th-annual-paso-garagiste-wine-festival-2
“We love our Paso Robles festival, where it all began in 2011; and it is especially fitting that, for our 13th anniversary, we are recognizing Gary Eberle, without whom this area would not have such a rich and renowned winemaking scene. It is no exaggeration to say that, in every one of the wines poured at our Paso festivals – including many Cabs, there is a little bit of Gary,” said Garagiste Festival Co-founder Douglas Minnick. Minnick noted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the release of Eberle’s flagship Cabernet Sauvignon and that Eberle’s winery was recently crowned 2024 Winery of the Year by the Central Coast Wine Competition.
Among the over 50 wineries pouring at the Paso festival are Garagiste Festival first-timers, including Arbuckle Ridge, Creek Cut Wines, Cutbow Wines, Loom Wines, Slouch Hat Wines, and Tribeca Wine Co. who will be sharing their wines side-by-side with a wide range of some of the best Paso and Central Coast-based small-production winemakers. Over 200 wines, including unusual blends, single varietal wines, sparkling wines, and more, from over 25 different grape varieties, will be available for attendees to taste — all under one roof.
“Over the years, we have shone a light on more than 600 under-the-radar wineries, with each festival revealing the incredible diversity of winemakers, wine styles, and grape varieties that Paso Robles is famous for. This year is no exception. As our winemakers pour their gems, and share their personal stories, they continue to illustrate that The Garagiste Festival is the best place for wine insider information and new wine discoveries,” continued Minnick.
In addition to the tasting seminar, all of the Garagiste Festival Paso Robles’ fan favorite festivities return this year, including Friday’s Rare and Reserve ‘No Repeats’ Tasting at Pavilion on the Lake in Atascadero, and Saturday’s main event, the Grand Tasting, as well as the popular, ‘it takes a lotta beer to make great wine’ Keep It Rockin’ After Party.
Moderated by Garagiste Festival Co-founder Stewart McLennan, ‘1500 Cases & a Plan(e) The Gary Eberle Story: A Trip Across the Vintages with an Original Paso Pioneer,’ will explore with Gary his winemaking journey – from his discovery of food and wine in New Orleans in the late 1960s, to beginning his own winery in 1979, producing just 1500 cases (like a true garagiste), then piloting his own plane across America to promote his wines – to how he grew his winery into the Paso legend it is today. The seminar is only available to advance purchasers of VIP All-Day and Weekend Passes.
“Gary was instrumental in building the vineyards and reputation of Paso Robles, propelling it onto the world wine map and making it one of the most popular wine country towns in America — and he continues to be one of Paso’s most generous and inspiring legends,” said McLennan. “We are proud to welcome Gary to the festival and to offer seminar attendees the opportunity to taste Gary’s wines and see for themselves why Eberle is one of Paso’s most famous, approachable and longstanding brands.”
Dubbed “tasting nirvana,” “strange and wondrous,” and “one not to miss” by the LA Times, the Garagiste Festival showcases under-the-radar, innovative, commercial winemakers who handcraft 1500 cases or less of wine and is renowned for its diversity of wines, renegade spirit, passionate winemakers, and rules-breaking, ‘no snobs allowed’ ethos. It is the only wine festival that exclusively features high quality wines from commercial California ‘garagiste**’ winemakers, and, unlike other festivals, the wines are poured by the winemakers/owners themselves, offering a rare opportunity to interact with the creative forces behind the wines, while making brand new wine discoveries.
Since its inception in 2011, proceeds from the Garagiste Wine Festivals have supported the Garagiste Festival Scholarship fund of the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo Wine and Viticulture Department.
Event Line Up
The Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles kicks off on Friday night, November 8th at 6:30 pm at the Pavilion on the Lake in Atascadero, with the Rare & Reserve “No Repeats” Tasting, featuring a one-of-a-kind opportunity to taste barrel samples, reserve wines and more from 30 winemakers, as well as a French-inspired catered buffet dinner catered by Steins BBQ & Catering.
Saturday November 9th’s festivities begin at 11:30am for VIP ticketholders with ‘1500 Cases & a Plan(e): The Gary Eberle Story, A Trip Across the Vintages with an Original Paso Pioneer.’ The Grand Tasting follows, starting at 2:00pm (1:00pm for early access ticket holders) with over 50 winemakers, a silent auction benefitting The Garagiste Scholarship, and complimentary cheese and charcuterie curated by Vivant Cheese, along with shopping from local artisan vendors.
The fun continues with the Keep It Rockin’ After Party from 5:30 – 8:30 pm, featuring live music from Five Parts the Devil and local brews. All of Saturday’s events take place at Paso Robles Event Center a.k.a The Fairgrounds.
Sunday November 10th brings the return of Garagiste Passport Day, with special events and deals at festival tasting rooms only for Festival attendees.
Among the over 50 winemakers pouring at The Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles are:
Absolution Cellars, Arbuckle Ridge*, Bella Luna Estate, Boutz Cellars, Buckaloose Wines, Bushong Vintage Company, Cairjn Wine Cellars, Ciento Cellars, Concur Wines, Creek Cut Wines*, Cutbow Wines*, DENO Wine, Diablo Paso, Dubost Winery, El Vinero Wines, Ella’s Vineyard, Emercy Wines, End of the Day Wines, Etnyre Wines, Hayseed and Housdon, IIWII Wines, Kaleidos Winery, Kiame Wine Cellars, Loom Wines*, Marin’s Vineyard, MCV Wines, Nenow Family Wines, Quench + Temper Wines, Red Door Ranch, Seven Oxen Estate, Sinor-La Vallee, *Slouch Hat Wines, Songs Wines, Staysail Cellars, Steinbeck Vineyards, Stilson Cellars, Tolo Cellars, Torch Cellars, Tribeca Wine Co.*, TW Fermentation Co, Ulloa Cellars, Ultima Tulie, Vigo Cellars, Zanoli Wines, and Zobeto Wines.
*First Time Garagiste Participants
Tickets are very limited for the Garagiste Festivals and always sell out. Tickets are available at: https://www.my805tix.com/e/13th-annual-paso-garagiste-wine-festival-2
For breaking Garagiste Festival news and special discounts, sign-up for our free newsletter, The Dirt, at https://www.garagistefestival.com/garagiste-blog or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook.
Sponsors include:
City of Atascadero, ETS Laboratories, Farm Credit West, Travel Paso, VisitAtascadero.com, Pavilion on the Lake, G3 Enterprises, Glenn Burdette, Fortis Solutions Group, AgWest, Laffort USA, MWWine School, New Times SLO, The Allegretto Resort, Best Western Black Oak, The Paso Oaks Hotel, La Quinta Inns & Suites, and Springhill Suites Paso.
The non-profit Garagiste Festivals benefit the Cal Poly SLO Wine and Viticulture program.
For sponsorship info, email info@garagistefestival(dot)com.
For more information and full Garagiste Festival Paso Robles schedule details, go to: https://www.garagistefestival.com/paso-robles-nov-24
About The Garagiste Wine Festival
The Garagiste (pronounced garage-east) Wine Festival (http://www.garagistefestival.com), named “Best of the Fests” for 2019 by Fest Forums and 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’ micro-wineries 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.
**Garagiste (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.
