Beth and I and some friends had a wonderful Saturday afternoon tasting wines and meeting new people at the Garagiste Wine Festival in Paso Robles. Hundreds of wine lovers converged at the Paso Robles Event Center for the fifth annual event.
The wine fest featured about 50 small production winemakers, those who make less than 1,500 cases a year, pouring over 200 wines.
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 – a term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their “garages.”
Photos from the Garagiste Wine Festival
Carl Bowker, the owner and winemaker of Caliza Winery in Paso Robles, pours his wine.Patrick Doyle, from left, David and Johana Platt share their Chene wines from the Edna Valley.Ishka and Mareeni Stanislaus our their Guyomar wines from the Templeton Gap.Winemaker Jacob Toft pours his petite sirah.Winemaker Michael Rose offers up several of his eastside Paso Robles wines.Mike Rubino of D’Anbino Vineyards and Cellars shows off the wineries exclusive label, Prizm.Amber Bierwirth and Daniel Boone pour wine from Moon Cellars, a wine label from Clavo Cellars in Templeton.Winemaker Ryan Render pours a selection from his Rendarrio VineyardsMaria Stolo Bennetti pours wine from her Stolo Family Vineyards in Cambria.Vineyard manager Paul Quinn and winemaker James Schreiner debut their first wine, TW Ferm Co. cabernet from the Estrella District on the eastside of Paso Robles. They are both veterans of Opolo Vineyards.Winemaker Amy Butler shares tastes of her Ranchero Cellars brand.
