California Wine Fest is biggest in area

BY STEVEN LIBOWITZ
DAILY SOUND ARTS EDITOR

There are all sorts of wine events in the Santa Barbara area every year, but none of them come close to the sheer size and diversity of the California Wine Festival.
In only its fourth year, the festival — which takes place Saturday afternoon on the ocean side of Chase Palm Park just East of Stearns Wharf — has grown exponentially from 1,500 people in 2004 to 2,500 last year, and organizers are expecting up to 3,000 people to attend this year.


The festival is the brainchild of Santa Barbara magazine co-founder Don Fritzen, now the publisher of the national Touring & Tasting magazine that has been published in Santa Barbara since 1996.
“The original inspiration was that the wineries we’d been doing business with were all very impressive,” he said. “Whether they were the large and famous ones with big name wines or small, boutique vintners no one’s ever heard of, in either case, the background of the founders was very interesting.
“We thought, ‘Why not display Santa Barbara and our beautiful environment as a backdrop for these great wineries.’ ”
At first, they invited wineries that were somehow associated with the magazine — which Fritzen said he started as an alternative to the “snooty publications that write high-tech things about wine like pH values and brix (the percentage of sugar) which actually a very small percentage of wine lovers know of or even care about” and instead focus on the tasting experience.
Now the guest list has expanded to all wineries in the state, and the list of participants in this year’s festival numbers more than 100.
“As the festival’s reputation has grown, so has the desire for wineries to come and show off their fare,” Fritzen said. “They each bring at least three to four wines to pour, so that means there are more than 400 different ones you can taste.”
On top of the fruit of the vine, this year’s festival will also include several craft breweries, including most of the local beer producers in the region, from Firestone on down to Island Brewing Company in Carpinteria, Fritzen said.
Plus, more than 20 local eateries — including many gourmet restaurants such as Epiphany and Bouchon as well as 3,000 servings of tri-tip from Shalhoub’s and markets offering several hundred pounds of cheese, a natural for a wine festival — will have booths at the festival.
Such volume calls for a strategy, since it would be nearly impossible to find enough time – or intestinal fortitude – to visit each of the vintners and food providers. The sheer size of the festival can be a bit overwhelming.
“Use the program,” Fritzen suggested. “It lists all the wineries and restaurants. Pace yourself, taste 10-12 wines, depending on your tolerance and desires. Mark in the program some of your favorites you want to make sure to visit, plus some that sound interesting. Make up an itinerary rather than just blindly wandering around.”
Zinfandel lovers should be especially pleased as the festival once again has created Zinfandel City, a special row of wineries all specializing in the popular California varietal. “There should be at least 20 vintners, mostly from the Gold Rush area upstate, a total of about 40-50 Zins you can try.”
Fritzen also suggested drinking water between tastings. The festival will hand out 5,000 bottles, more than twice the number last year, when sweltering heat caused them to run out of the agua hours early.
“It’s only supposed to be 72 this year, so I think we’ll be OK,” he said. “But get here early. We only have 3,000 glasses (souvenirs that guests are allowed to take home), and when we run out, we’re out. Unless you want to bring one from home.”
The California Wine Festival takes place 1-4 p.m. on Saturday (special VIP tickets with early admission at noon are already sold out). Tickets are $55 and available online at www.touringandtasting.com or at the door.