Harvest Party Santa Barbara Vintners Bring Back Annual Feast

Santa Barbara Vintners, the group that represents and advocates for most of Santa Barbara County’s wine companies, is once again hosting its annual fête of record. This year’s Santa Barbara Vintners Festival is slated for Saturday, October 14, from noon to 4 pm, at the new Vega Vineyard in the town of Buellton. Dozens of winemakers will host hundreds of wine fans, and there’s plenty that’s new on the agenda of this longstanding affair to wow them all.

Here are five reasons this one-day party is well worth putting on our calendars.

The History: Now on its 39th year, the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival holds the distinction of being one of the oldest events of its kind in the county. It started small, put on by a group of winemaker friends at a time – the early 1980s – when the region was in its nascency. Fast-forward to 2023, and many of those original pourers are still at it, alongside a brand-new wave of intrepid winemakers. And their repute has certainly grown: Wine Enthusiast Magazine, for one, named Santa Barbara County its Wine Region of the Year in 2021, a global distinction. But while the crowds have gotten bigger – several hundred wine buffs will descend on this year’s feast – that original sense of community remains, making the level of vintner participation at this festival the best in the area.

The Location: This year’s festival features a brand-new location, and a chance for guests to explore one of the region’s newest destinations. Vega Vineyard and Farm sits on what was once Mosby Vineyard, the 200-acre viticultural playground founded in 1976 by the affable Bill Mosby, who passed away in 2020. It’s now owned by hospitality industry veterans Demetrios and Karen Loizides, who opened Vega a year ago this month, and who reimagined the property as a farm-to-table-inspired winery, restaurant, and catering operation. The talented Steve Clifton leads the winery operation. Guests can feed farm animals, buy produce and homemade pies, and, now through November, visit the pumpkin patch. The festival takes place this year on a spot that really is a snapshot of ag life in the Santa Ynez Valley.

The Wine: This is the festival’s big-ticket item, of course – hundreds of wines to choose from. More than 60 wineries will be participating, and you can expect most to be manned by the winemakers whose names are on the labels. So much wine, in fact, that it can be daunting, so a plan of attack is key if you’re going to maximize your visit. What’s your pleasure? If you’re like my wife, it’s all about the pinot, and here’s a chance to strategically compare and contrast styles from the Santa Maria Valley and the Sta. Rita Hills. Or maybe you wander from stand to stand as you explore dry whites, or syrah-grenache blends, or nothing but cabs. Strategy can pay off at an event that so nicely spotlights Santa Barbara’s uniquely diverse potential for growing pretty much anything. When time comes to cleanse the palate, the Bank of Marin Bubble Lounge will house nothing but sparklers, including Fess Parker, Presqu’ile, and Carhartt.

The Food: Actually, this is my favorite palate cleanser – the food! And one thing that I’ve seen improve at this festival over the years is the variety of options to pause sipping and recharge with samples from some of the region’s top chefs, caterers, and bakers. More than 30 of them will dole out food at this year’s event, including top-tier purveyors like the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Pico in Los Alamos, the new Victor Restaurant in Santa Ynez, Finch & Fork at Santa Barbara’s Kimpton Canary Hotel, and The Willows at the Chumash Casino Resort.

The Buzz: Fall is probably the best time of the year to visit wine country – the temps are milder, the crowds are smaller, and those grapevines are at their plumpest and fullest. On visuals alone, a visit to the Santa Ynez Valley in October is a must. So the timing of this event is perfect, especially in the way it taps the buzz of the moment: the 2023 grape harvest is in full swing, and wine growers are starting each day well before the sun comes up to pluck this year’s bounty. The Vintners Festival brings these agrarians together in one place – women and men in the throes of what is arguably the most exciting and critical moment of the year for them – and fosters a unique camaraderie that we, as visitors, get to take part in. The unique ability to mingle and chat with winemakers is perhaps this event’s greatest attribute, and the guests that gain the most are those who take time to, above the sipping and the eating, do just that.

The $125 per person pricing is worth it for the early admission – noon versus 1 pm. General admission, from 1-4 pm – is $95 and a non-wine tasting ticket, for designated drivers and kids, is $25. Most guests will park offsite for free and take a five-minute shuttle to the event. There’s also roundtrip bus transportation from the Hilton Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara for $50 for those who’d rather leave the driving to someone else.

Live music from The Coals and cooking demos are also part of this year’s Vintners Festival.  

For more information and tickets, check out sbvintnersweekend.com. See you there!