Garagiste Wine Festival: “Northern Exposure” Premieres in Oakland on Thursday,
May 19 in Conjunction with Craft Beverage Expo
The Garagiste Festival heads to the Bay Area for the first time ever, featuring 32 hard-to-find, cutting-edge, micro-production wineries from California – majority from Northern California
Paso Robles, CA – April 12, 2016 – Garagiste Events today announced the first ever Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure held in conjunction with Craft Beverage Expo (CBExpo) on Thursday, May 19 from 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm at the Marriott City Center in Oakland, CA. Tickets go on sale today at www.garagistefestival.com.
The Garagiste Festival – dubbed “one of wines premier events…fun and exuberant…not to be missed” by the Los Angeles Times – offers more than 100 different handcrafted wines from over 20 varietals poured by 32 hard-to-find, cutting-edge commercial artisan ‘garagiste’ wineries from Northern California, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara County. Proceeds benefit the Garagiste Festival Scholarship Fund at Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture Department.
Launched in Paso Robles in 2011, the Garagiste Festival was the first event to define, and shine a spotlight on, the American “Garagiste” wine movement, which has exploded in the past five years. Garagiste 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.
“Our festivals have been bringing micro-production wine discoveries to thousands of wine lovers in Central and Southern California for over five years, and we could not be more pleased to collaborate with CBExpo as we expand our unique festival to Northern California. We feature a line-up of winemakers – all under one roof – that Bay Area wine lovers won’t find anywhere else,” says Doug Minnick, Co-founder of the Garagiste Festival. “As always, festival attendees will enjoy one-on-one interaction with the winemakers; an unmatched tasting range of hard-to-find, high-quality wines; first-time and ‘soon-to-break-out’ discoveries; a ‘no-snobs-allowed’ atmosphere, and, of course, a renegade and fun-loving spirit.”
“We’re excited to extend the message and mission of ‘craft’ to wine producers and align CBExpo with Garagiste Festival,” says Kellie Shevlin, Executive Director of Craft Beverage Expo. “Anything we can do to further the advancement of artisan beverages is a positive for all segments of the industry.”
Northern Exposure marks the first time The Garagiste Festival has focused a festival on artisan commercial wineries from Northern California. Chenoweth Wines, El Lugar, Flywheel Wines, Halcyon Vineyards, Kendric Vineyards, Legendre Cellars, Lynch Wines, Maidenstoen Wines, Murder Ridge, Playground Cellars, Russian Ridge Winery, Theopolis Vineyards, Tessier Winery, Travieso Winery, Two Shepherds and Von Holt Wines are among the wineries from Northern California who are participating.
The festival is also bringing rockstar Garagiste winemakers from Central and Southern California to Northern Exposure, offering Bay Area wine fans, in many cases, a ‘first look and taste’ at these remarkable winemakers which include Ascension Cellars, Cloak and Dagger Wines, Carucci Wines, Cutruzzola Vineyards, Dilecta Wines, Hoi Polloi Winery, Larner Vineyard, Levo Wines, MCV Wines, Ryan Cochrane Wines, Tercero Wines, The Central Coast Group Project, Vinemark Cellars, Weatherborne and Workman Ayer.
Tickets are limited and Garagiste Festivals always sell out. To buy tickets and for more information, go to: http://garagistefestival.com. For breaking festival news and special discounts, sign-up for our free newsletter, The Dirt at http://garagistefestival.com/sign-up/, or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook. For more information go to: http://garagistefestival.com.
About The Garagiste Wine Festivals
The Garagiste Wine Festivals (http://www.garagistefestival.com) are the first and only wine festivals 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; garagiste mini-tastings presented from So Cal to Tahoe; winemaker dinners, a newsletter, garagiste profiles and more. The festivals were 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.
About Craft Beverage Expo
Founded in 2014, Craft Beverage Expo (CBExpo) is the leading trade exposition and conference for the entire craft beverage industry, with the primary goal of creating and defining a cohesive craft beer, wine, cider, mead and spirits market. As the premier show for the industry, CBExpo offers education, marketing strategies and turnkey solutions for the challenges facing craft beverage producers today. CBExpo 2016 will take place May 18-20 in Oakland, CA.
For more information, or to register to attend CBExpo: www.craftbeverageexpo.com.
Media Contacts:
mWEBB Communications for The Garagiste Festivals:
Melanie Webber, melanie(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, 424-603-4340
Crystal Hartwell, crystal(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, 714-987-1016
For Craft Beverage Expo:
Nick Lashinsky, nick@marketingdesigngroup.com, 619-298-1445
