The Garagiste Festival is different from other wine festivals. Here are eight things you may not know about us...

No other wine event lets you taste this many varietals and styles all under one roof.
Most other wine events focus on a single region or certain varietal (Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Rhones, etc.), but not The Garagiste Festival. This is the widest range of wines available in one place anywhere, including Pinot Noir, Cabernet and anything else you can think of and from all over California - Paso Robles, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Mendocino, and more….

Most of us don't remember the first time we tasted wine. Those of us who have been drinking it a long time would most likely be horrified if we re-tried that first sip. Perhaps it was Boone's Farm, Beringer White Zinfandel (guilty) or even a bottle of 2-Buck Chuck. Or maybe you're one of the lucky few who's parents let you try it when you were a kid. (Another reason to love the French and Italians.) Hey, we all have to start somewhere. There's no judgement here. Most likely we don't really recall the wine, because there was nothing about it - besides the way it ultimately made us feel (thanks Alcohol!) - that wowed us. That made us think it was anything special. And then it happened. That one wine that turned your palate upside-down with pleasure, that made you actually THINK about what you were drinking and perhaps for the first time, actually SAVOR it.

What's the big deal about small production? What difference does it make, and who really cares how much wine a winery makes?

We know that "craft beer" has re-shaped the brewing industry, but what does that really mean when a "craft" producer such as Sam Adams makes over 2.5 MILLION BARRELS per year? And garagiste winemakers are making about 60. Not sixty million or sixty thousand. Sixty. Six-0…

Here's where the story goes: Our first vintage turned out pretty well. We made a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon, and when that went smoothly, we followed it up with a barrel of Syrah. We learned some lessons (like what to do when your fermentation smells funny, among other things) and yet ended up winning a Gold Medal from the Winemaker Magazine Competition (the largest amateur competition in the country). There was no looking back. We were hooked.

My friends and I make wine in a garage. Okay, it's a nice garage, and we have an air conditioner in it, but it is still a garage. Sometimes I stand and stare - glass in hand - at the barrels, the blue drums, the kegs, the carboys, and all the other crap we've accumulated over the last three years - and reflect on how we got here.

“Fresh-Cut Garden Hose!” In the documentary Somm, that phrase is used as an aroma descriptor for a wine by one of the Master Sommelier candidates. Really? I don’t know, call me crazy, but I have a hose and a garden and yet would still be challenged to recognize that aroma in a glass, let alone in real life…

It seems once wine captures your heart there’s a sizable, and ever-growing, group of wine lovers who get bit by the wineMAKING bug as well. The Garagiste Festival is proof of that.