In case you were abstaining, Dry January is now over. So, grab a friend and come thirsty — the tenth annual Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure is stopping in Solvang next Friday and Saturday, February 9 and 10. The festival celebrates small-batch, boutique winemakers whose wares often can’t be found outside their winery walls. With 35 producers in attendance, nearly all of them making between 100 to 1,500 cases of wine annually, there’s no better opportunity to taste the up-and-comers of Santa Barbara County wine.
We recently reported on newcomers Alamati Wine and Entity of Delight, who will be pouring at the Festival. Here are a few more you should know.
Marbeso Wine
Given Colin McNany’s love for the ocean, it’s no wonder he made it to Santa Barbara County. On top of harvests in coastal Australia and New Zealand, McNany worked in the equally beachside Santa Cruz Mountains for 15 years. Much of that time was spent with La Honda Winery and even on the tasting panel for Wine and Spirits Magazine. He and his wife Hannah founded Marbeso — which means “kiss of the sea” — in 2019 as an ode to the coastal, cool-climate vineyards they partner with here in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.
“It’s a massively rich and diverse growing landscape to say the least,” McNany said of the Santa Barbara sites alone, from which he makes low-intervention pinot noir, chardonnay, cabernet franc, and an orange wine blend. With a wealth of experience in his bones and some coveted vineyards in his back pocket, McNany keeps a curious, driven cool. The grind required by the garagiste life isn’t new to this family. “I’ve worked in small-ish productions my whole career,” McNany said. “However, creating my own brand and remaining small has contributed to high quality and attention to detail. The winegrowing community and clientele are all so supportive of young and upcoming brands on the Central Coast, which feels refreshing.”
Chris Caruso Wines
What happens when you’re a wine lover trapped in the L.A. gridlock, looking for a career change? If you’re Chris Caruso, you brave the traffic and explore the nearest wine country — Santa Barbara County. For two years the former engineer commuted 150 miles each way to Santa Maria’s Allan Hancock College to earn his enology degree. After graduating in 2020, Caruso, along with wife Kristina and daughter Penny, moved up to Santa Ynez. Chris worked two harvests as a cellar rat for second-wave Santa Barbara godfather Paul Lato.
In 2021, Caruso started his own Chris Caruso Wines label with his sights on Ballard Canyon syrah and grenache. The wines are classic examples, his syrah co-fermented with some viognier as is common in France’s Northern Rhône Valley.
For Caruso, employing organic vineyards and hands-off winemaking is personal. “We buy locally grown, organically farmed foods. Why then have a factory-produced wine from halfway around the world on our dinner table? It didn’t make sense. In a world of increasing globalization, offshoring, and factory-scale production, it’s more important than ever to seek out locally produced wines and food. Artisan crafted products, such as wines, are one of the last remaining unique aspects of human culture that we can share with others so they can learn and understand us.”
Fuil Wines
With little experience beyond drinking wine, actor Matthew Espiro Jaeger felt kind of silly starting his own winery from scratch. “Even more so when I began working as a 40-year-old intern at a local winery!” he said of helping friend Dusty Nabor of Dusty Nabor Wines.
So, Jaeger called the fledgling winery Fuil (pronounced “fool”) Wines. His labels wear a jester’s cap, and Jaeger enjoys poking at stodgy wine jargon with irreverence. But Fuil also translates to blood, family, and tribe, and it’s this spirit that courses through the liquid in each bottle. His father’s passion for wine influenced the younger Jaeger, who met his wife Carolina at a winery. “[Fuil] is all the things that make a person who they are. That hit deep for me,” Jaeger mused. The label began in 2019.
Though the wines are made in Camarillo, Fuil homes in on syrah and viognier from Ballard Canyon, the nation’s first American Viticultural Area dedicated to grapes from the Rhône Valley. Tábla, Jaeger’s value-driven label, includes chardonnay, pinot noir, and grenache, all from Sta. Rita Hills.
“Santa Barbara is my favorite wine region as a drinker, so of course I’m thrilled to be able to make wine here,” Jaeger said, adding, “I love exploring [the region’s] style and creating wines that surprise people.”
See garagistefestival.com for schedule and tickets.
