The multi-day California Wine Festival is at the top of the list of the hundreds of public wine tastings offered throughout the state each year. The principal venue is a seaside park in Santa Barbara.
The Winter Wine Classic
Building upon the outstanding participation in last summer’s California Wine Festival, the organizers are introducing a winter event to be held in the Grand Ballroom of the luxurious Fess Parker Doubletree Resort at the beach in Santa Barbara. More than 100 world-class gold medal and reserve wines will be poured. Guests will be limited to 700. Special rates are available for overnight accommodations at the resort, but there are many other nearby options ranging from simple motels to the five-star Santa Barbara Biltmore.
The Winter Wine Classic differs from the larger summer event in that it features an indoor ultra-elite wine tasting experience with $360,000 worth of super-premium wines to enjoy. Around forty California wineries will present their finest wines, most scoring over 90 points and many as high as 94-96 points. This is no ordinary tasting. Many of California’s top wineries will be featured, including Chateau Montelena, Byron, Caymus, Grgich, Hall, Hess, Mer Soleil, Tablas Creek, Trefethen, and of course, Fess Parker.
While fine wineries often participate in public tastings, they usually offer their more affordable bottlings for tasting. Even in Napa Valley, most premium wineries require a special tasting fee, sometimes as high as $25, for a single taste of their flagship wines. But at the Winter Wine Classic you can taste Trefethen’s 94-pt. “Dragon’s Tooth;” or Andrew Murray’s 94-pt. Reserve Syrah that has been compared to France’s famed Cote-Rôtie; or Grgich Hills 96-pt. Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as their 4-star legendary Estate Zinfandel.
The Winter Wine Classic will be held Sunday, December 4, from 4 pm to 7 pm. The ticket price is $100 and can be purchased from their website.
Nearby Attractions
Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort is across Cabrillo Avenue from Santa Barbara’s beautiful oceanside park and just a short walk from Stearn’s Wharf, where numerous shops and restaurants can be enjoyed out on the pier. Dozens of restaurants of every type are also located within walking distance and Santa Barbara’s main shopping district is just blocks away on State Street. The Amtrak train station is also nearby and within walking distance.
Alan Boehmer - Alan Boehmer has conducted regular wine seminars and wine tours since 1967. Originally based in Los Angeles, he served as a consultant for ...
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