The Bacara Resort & Spa hosted the launch party of the Foley Food & Wine Society on September 28th at the culinary highlight of the year. Attendees sipped nearly 40 different wines, including a limited quantity of premium cellar selections not available anywhere outside the tasting rooms, and nibbled on delectable appetizers from a stellar line-up of chefs.
Santa Barbara is a gourmet's paradise. For a relatively small town of 90,000+, we have a remarkable number of excellent dining establishments and caterers. Part of the reason may be that our prosperous town on the "American Riviera" can support a vibrant culinary scene. Beyond that, we are in close proximity to where top quality of the fresh fruit and vegetables are grown, available year round due to our ample sunshine and moderate climate. Farm-to-table and organic movements that foster the best produce and hand-raised meat and poultry.
Fine food follows fine wine--as vineyards go in, great restaurants are launched. The same people who enjoy exploring the myriad flavors and nuances of wine are also likely to be food connoisseurs. Great wine deserves great food and the launch party delivered both.
www.foleyfoodandwinesociety.com
The launch party benefited the Santa Barbara Culinary Arts Scholarship in Honor of Julia Child at Santa Barbara City College. Santa Barbara Culinary Arts (SBCC) was proud to be represented at the gala launch party by two of the top caterers in town--both of them members of SBCC: Chef Diana Cuttrell of Dining With Di and Chef Michael Hutchings of Michael's Catering. They joined Miró Restaurant's Chef de Cuisine Johan Denizot and the Bistro's Chef de Cuisine Chris Turano, who was featured on the Food Network's popular program Chef Wanted.
Chef Diana Cuttrell grew up in a family well rooted in the art of fine cuisine. Her grandfather was the founder of Mother's Cake and Cookie Company in Oakland, CA and her parents owned the Branding Iron Restaurant on Cobb Mountain. Diana uses her culinary skills for groups large and small. Her skills as a chef are always enjoyed by her many private clients and friends. The photos above show some of her creations that have delighted guests and clients. www.diningwithdi.com/
Chef Michael Hutching's career began in the kitchen of Disneyland's fabled private Club 33 where he was trained by the Master Chef Rudolph Stoy. Michael's impressive resume includes working in London at Le Gavroche where the Roux brothers were so taken by his work that they offered to provide financial backing for his own restaurant. For 10 years this Santa Barbara institution, Michael's Waterside, was recognized as a leader in contemporary California-French cuisine. Now, Chef Michael oversees his catering service and creates a diverse range of cuisines and styles. www.michaelscateringsb.com/
Santa Barbara is a gourmet's paradise. For a relatively small town of 90,000+, we have a remarkable number of excellent dining establishments and caterers. Part of the reason may be that our prosperous town on the "American Riviera" can support a vibrant culinary scene. Beyond that, we are in close proximity to where top quality of the fresh fruit and vegetables are grown, available year round due to our ample sunshine and moderate climate. Farm-to-table and organic movements that foster the best produce and hand-raised meat and poultry.
www.foleyfoodandwinesociety.com
Winemaker/owner Milla Handley has also won countless gold medals and high ratings for her wines, including 95 points for her Mendocino County Pinot Noir and 93 points for her Pinot Gris. We loved these varietals she poured for us, plus her Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir Rosé. She also has ridge-top old-vine Zinfandel with great character. As she commented, "You can taste it in the vines all the way through to the wine...these wines have intensity, they have a story."
Touring &; Tasting President Paul Arganbright and I chose to start our Happy Canyon winery visits at the farthest end of the AVA. 
The gravity flow winery was designed to minimize handling of the grapes and juice. The massive winery is set into the side of the mountain with a ramping drive up the back to the third floor where trucks can unload the grape harvest. Grapes are pressed on the third floor, flow down to tanks on the second floor, then down to the ground floor for bottling. The 
Vogelzang had a charming outdoor setting next to their vineyard for the tasting, pouring their highly-rated Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier. Michelle described to us how the Vogelzangs found their property. They were looking for loamy clay soil with a shallow pan--that is, poor soil that was not too deep, because both of those factors favor concentration of flavor in the grapes. They also were looking for land with native mustard and brush rather than land covered with trees and bushes because the latter means the soil will produce a more vegetative taste to the wine. Another factor was ample well water, a very important factor in the Santa Ynez Valley where the higher elevations can have low water tables. On good advice from their vineyard manager, they entered a contract to sell their grapes for the first eight years before making their own wine, helping to amortize the cost of startup. Today, Vogelzang's premium grapes are purchased by other notable wineries such as Fiddlehead, Foxen, Dragonette, Andrew Murray, Ken Brown, Rusack, 
When we turned into 
The winery has the feeling of a tenuto in Italy, complete with the friendliness of the family and staff. Account Manager Paul Azdril was pouring their well-balanced Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blend. Mandy, one of the lovely Grassini daughters, showed off her Rhodesian ridgeback. We also had a peek at their wine caves, reminiscent of those in "the old country" and ideal for maintaining temperature and humidity levels.
Crown Point Vineyard encompasses Westerly Vineyards, bought by proprietor Roger Bower last year and the former Cimarone/Three Creek Vineyard he purchased last year that will yield the grapes for the first Crown Point wines, due to be released in 2017. The utmost care is being put into the vineyard and winery practices, with promises of ultra-premium wines. The pretty and vivacious Sara Bush was pouring the Westerly Cab, Syrah, and Merlot, plus pinot from the Sta. Rita Hills. She recently joined Crown Point after being with KCOY and KEYT and was excited about her new career path. We chatted with news reporter John Palmintieri, who was at Crown Point to cover the trade event, and enjoyed some nice catered food, live music and the spectacular panoramic view of Happy Canyon from the expansive deck.
Handley Cellars
Allan Green has been producing wine in Anderson Valley since 1980. Since that time 
Along an adjacent wall in the stylish space is a row of high-tech wine dispensers offering pours of 15 highly-acclaimed wineries like Ken Brown, Hitching Post and Sort This Out Cellars. Behind-the-scenes, argon tanks are connected to each wine bottle, with the neutral gas preventing oxygen from contacting the surface of the wine, keeping it as fresh as newly opened wine. On weekends, Avant Tapas is so busy, there is one employee who just switches out wine bottles!
The sun smiled on the 10th Annual California Wine Festival--three days of ocean front wine, music, and food. We were able to stop in briefly to the Sunset Rare & Reserve tasting on Friday, July 19th. With the colorful antique Carousel as a backdrop, the Sunset Rare & Reserve tasting offered proprietor's reserves, end-of-vintage and award-winning wines, along with live jazz and appetizers from local restaurants. My favorites: the spoons of lobster bisque from Fish Enterprise and the juicy nuggets of beef from Holdren's.
At the Festival entrance, Leticia Vineyard & Winery was pouring their Brut Cuvée, their finest reserve bottling of their méthode champenoise sparkling wine. Among the wonderful wines we tasted were those of 
Among the many other wineries of note, wonderful wines were being poured from Hearst Ranch Winery, whose east-side Paso Robles vineyards and winery have been producing wines with big scores, like their 95 Point 2010 "Pico Creek" Merlot. Also, 
Refugio Ranch hosted a wine biz party last Thursday at their bucolic Santa Ynez ranch. Refugio Ranch owners Kevin and Niki Gleason were the generous hosts, providing a spit-roasted Berkshire pig, watermelon-and-tomato salad, cornbread, bread-and-butter pickles, and baked beans to pair with their portfolio of luscious wines. Wine industry folk enjoyed live music, great wine and the opportunity to soak in the views of the 415-acre estate, which were particularly compelling with the golden summer sun slanting across the vineyards.
In March, Inside Wine Santa Barbara hosted a picnic at the view point of Refugio Ranch (read 
Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Rousanne are planted along the river on the warmer valley floor. Sangiovese, Petite Sirah and two blocks of Syrah are planted on the hills near the largest pond. Four blocks of Syrah, Grenache, Malvasia Bianca and another block of Roussanne surround the ranch house, beautifully laid out to enhance the vegetation and curves of the natural landscape. The vineyards are meticulously tended by Vineyard Manager Ruben Solorzano; the grapes are hand-harvested in the cool of night, hand-selected, then crafted into wines of finesse by winemaker Ryan Deovlet.
We had the chance to talk with winemaker Ryan, who was talking technique with winemaker Michael Roth of Martian Winery. We also were given a tour of the living quarters by Kevin Gleason, including the oil paintings of his son Max, Creative Director of Refugio Ranch and a professional artist, who designs the labels for Refugio Ranch wines. The master bedroom on the second floor and the kitchen look out to this panorama--a pretty nice place to sit and enjoy a glass of Refugio Ranch Barbareño!
2012 Agua Dulce de Refugio (100% Malvasia Bianca), light and refreshing, with a bit of spritz
As a slight evening chill began to set in, a fire was lit and we made our own s'mores. Nicole Carnevale, Refugio Ranch Sales Manager, brought out a special treat to pair with dessert--the Refugio Ranch 2012 Nectár. A dessert wine made from hand selected clusters of Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Malvasia Bianca with a small amount of residual sugar, the wine is lightly sweet, aromatic, with a long finish. The wine is made with the Vin de Paille or passito method, where the grapes are dried for about 2 1/2 weeks on straw mats to concentrate their flavor. This wine is normally only available at the tasting room.
The next day, we stopped by the Refugio Ranch tasting room conveniently located in Los Olivos at 2990 Grand Avenue. The historic building dates back to the 1880s. Much of the construction material was re-purposed from the original building, keeping the rustic feel even with the modern updating.