US premier artisan wine festival supports education for aspiring winemakers; festival announces Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program continues as beneficiary for 2015
Paso Robles, CA – The Garagiste Festival presented a check for $20,000 to the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture department from proceeds raised at its 2014 Garagiste Festivals. It also announced that the Cal Poly program will continue to be a beneficiary of the festivals in 2015, including the upcoming Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, scheduled for March 27th 29th in Solvang.
The check was presented in the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture lab in San Luis Obispo where students are benefiting from spectrophotometers purchased using funds donated by the Garagiste Festivals in 2013. On hand to receive the $20,000 check from Garagiste Festival Co-founders Stewart McLennan and Doug Minnick were Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Department Interim Head Marianne McGarry Wolf and Wine and Viticulture Lecturer Shohreh S. Niku, who utilizes the equipment purchased with Garagiste donations to help Cal Poly winemaking students accurately and routinely measure a variety of wine chemistry components critical to the production of superior wines.
”In addition to throwing a spotlight on small-lot, innovative artisan winemakers, a huge part of our mission is to further the education of future winemakers. It was very exciting today to see the results of our efforts at work at Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture,” said Garagiste Festival Co-founder Doug Minnick. “We have many alums of the program among the exceptional winemakers pouring at our festivals and could not be more proud to be part of helping shape the future of our industry, starting with its next generation of winemakers.”
Launched in Paso Robles in 2011, the Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste* winemakers, commercial artisan winemakers who handcraft under 1,500 cases a year and pay close, hands-on attention to every wine they make. The only festivals in the US dedicated to these innovative, hard-to-find winemakers, the Garagiste Festivals have helped thousands of consumers discover the remarkable wines of hundreds of garagistes.
Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Department Interim Head Marianne McGarry Wolf commented, “We appreciate the Garagiste Festivals continued support of our program and its contribution to the vitality of our area, which is rapidly evolving into one of the most important wine regions in the world. We believe our program embraces the entrepreneurial spirit of the garagiste winemaker by integrating enology with viticulture and wine business. Our program reflects the evolution our wine region and the funds donated by the festival over the past three years, as well as the attention it has brought to our program, have truly made a difference, said Wolf. This years donation will go a long way to helping extend the footprint of our students in the wine industry. Thank you Garagiste Festival, and thank you to the hundreds of garagiste winemakers and sponsors who help make this festival possible.
The Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Program includes nearly 300 undergraduate majors, making Cal Poly among the largest Wine and Viticulture programs in the country. The program uniquely integrates three fundamental components of the modern wine industry, with a curriculum emphasizing the inherent connectivity between wine grape growing in the vineyard, wine making in the winery, and wine selling in the marketplace through a unique learn-by-doing approach. The program is currently developing a Center for Wine and Viticulture that will include new state-of-the-art teaching facilities.”
The non-profit Garagiste Festivals were named one of the Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations in the world by ABC News,* are described by the Los Angeles Times as one of the premier wine events of the year, and were dubbed Best Festival in Sunset Magazines Best of the West in November. The upcoming Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure held at Veterans Hall in Solvang March 27th 29th, will feature 60 artisan winemakers from Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara counties and the Central Coast, as well as wine tasting seminars, a winemaker dinner and the festivals signature winemaker shootout (where winemakers blind taste each others wines to pick the best blend).
For tickets and to be alerted to breaking news about Southern Exposure and other Garagiste events, sign up for The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up/, or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook. For more information on The Garagiste Festivals, go to http://garagistefestival.com.
For sponsorship opportunities with the Garagiste Festivals that help support the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program, contact doug@garagistefestival.com
2014 Garagiste Festival Sponsors
Major Sponsors
Travel Paso Alliance, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, mWEBB Communications, Glenn Burdette, G3 Enterprises, Visit Santa Ynez Valley, WiVi Central Coast Wine Industry Conference, Laffort, Wandering Dog Wine Bar
Contributing Sponsors
Farm Credit West, Pack and Ship Direct, The Oaks Hotel Paso Robles, La Quinta Inn and Suites Paso Robles, The Carlton Hotel, Visit Atascadero, Digital Dogma, Distinctive Glassware, Stolzle Glasware, Scott Laboratories, Sempli Design, Vinzy, Enartis Vinquiry, Umpqua Bank, Soiree Home, Baker Wine and Grape Analysis, One West Insurance Services, The Good Life, Chumash Casino Resort, Spin the Bottle, Wood and Vine Restaurant, All American Containers, Golden State Overnight, GoVino
Media Sponsors
KSBY, KCBX, The KRUSH, 92.5 Vineyard and Winery Management Magazine, Wines & Vines, The Los Angeles Register, Los Angeles Register, Santa Ynez Valley Wine Club, Wines & Vines
*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.
About the Garagiste Festivals
The Garagiste Festivals (http://www.garagistefestival.com) are the first and only wine festivals dedicated to the undiscovered and under-recognized 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; garagiste mini-tastings presented from So Cal to Tahoe; winemaker dinners, a newsletter, garagiste profiles and more. Named one of the Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations by ABC News, Garagiste 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 are donated to the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Program.
