Wine and Dine

Oenophiles and gourmands were out in force when the California Wine Festival, which encompasses three different events, celebrated its 15th anniversary, kicking off with its Old Spanish Nights tasting fiesta at the historic De La Guerra Adobe courtyard, which attracted a record 500 guests.

Montecito-based Blaine Lando, one of the fest’s three owners, along with Sean Hecht and Chris Bellamy, says numbers continue to be on the increase, describing it as “an event for the senses” showcasing nearly 250 wines from more than 70 vineyards and 30 eateries.

Just 24 hours later, it was a sunset rare and reserve tasting at Chase Palm Park Plaza, with the wine lovers delight wrapping the following day with the beachside festival opposite the park with more than 90 suppliers showing their wares to thousands of fans.

A portion of the proceeds went to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and over-imbibers were given free rides by Uber.

I’ll drink to that.

Chan on Hand

It is hard to believe the Music Academy of the West’s 71st annual popular summer festival is at the halfway mark.

After an entertaining concert at the Lobero with works by Altenburg, with a torrent of trumpets and timpani, Elizabeth Ogonek and Brahms, the week wrapped on a high note at the Granada with the Academy Festival Orchestra, under young Hong Kong conductor Elim Chan, a London Symphony Orchestra guest artist.

Chan, the first female to win the Donatella Flick conducting competition in 2014 and youngest director of the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra, took the talented musicians through a mostly British program with Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Holst’s The Planets, sandwiching academy guest Ogonek’s West Coast premiere of Sleep & Unremembrance.

A cracker of an evening.