Wine + Food = Two Times Good

What's in a name? Well, if it's both wine and food, that's twice as good, no?

That's what the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum figured, so to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the longest running feast in Santa Barbara County it officially changed the name of the Santa Barbara Wine Festival to the Santa Barbara Food + Wine Festival.

In the photo above you see Meredith Moore, the extraordinary organizer of this fete, showing off the new logo. The name isn't just branding bluster but the lord's honest truth, for no wine festival has as much or as good food as this one, which makes sense since SB has so much fine food to offer. But Moore has always also worked to get food booths close to wines that could suggest spot-on pairings, and her hope for the 2017 edition is to have a food vendor alongside each winery, 50 for 50.That's a perfect score in more ways than one.

Here's some history of my coverage of the Festival in past years, when you had to suffer with only 20 or 30 food booths (of course, you might have got on the line at Chef Michael Hutchings or Renaud's or Ca Dario more than once, but I won't tell).

Away from State Street for Solstice

A Festival from the Winery's Perspective

Under the Oaks

A Museum-Quality Wine Festival

And, in a moment of prescience, we gave the festival a Santa Barbara Independent Foodie Award back in 2012.

So you might want to take advantage of the deal they've got cooking right now:
Member Price: $75, Non-member Price: $100
*LIMITED TIME OFFER* Use promo code "wineandfood" to receive Member pricing on general admission. Hurry – this offer expires on Sunday, 1/29/17, at 10:00 PM! Tickets on sale here.

Away from State Street for Solstice

I get bored just posting photos of food and wine, so I figure this image helps capture the sense of fun that awaits at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival happening June 25 from 2-5 pm at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Of course, we're talking an event that had its first run in 1983 (same year GPS was released to the general public--how did anyone get anywhere back then?). This is far from my first run writing about the festival, as it's one of my favorites, an idyllic mix of the best wine and food in an oak grove setting that can't be beat but can beat the heat. (You can go read previous stories here, if you want.)

There's more, though, as I learned by talking to the ever-delightful Meridith Moore, events manager at SBMNH. "Since it's the hundredth anniversary of the museum--which is a huge time here in Santa Barbara if not a long time in the rest of the world--we will have one-hundred booths of food and wine," she informs. The festival also has a rep for the actual winemakers showing up to pour, and that tradition isn't ending soon. In fact, in the newly created VIP area, those who arrive for early entrance will have wine poured by Paul Lato (his first time at the festival) and Morgan Clendenen (pouring her Cold Heaven). With upscale munchies by C'est Cheese and Chef Pete Clement, it's going to be quite the spot...sorry that those tickets are already sold out.

The other great innovation for the 100th anniversary will be a Sparkling Way featuring many of the county's best bubbles--think Flying Goat, Fiddlehead, Alma Rosa. What's more, this spot will be home to food by Industrial Eats, too. Sure beats a ride to Buellton.

And then there's the ever-popular Cork Pull raffle: for $30 a pop (cash only!), you get a cork, it has a number, the number has a prize of at least $50 value. I've scored a dinner for two at Barbareno pulling a cork, just saying.

Finally, the big news that will be no surprise to anyone used to attending: the day after this year's event, it gets a new trademarked name that captures its tasty balance--The Santa Barbara Wine & Food Festival.

A Festival from the Winery's Perspective

Picking a wine festival to attend is easy for the consumer -- consider location, price, what wineries are pouring, and then go and enjoy in a proper manner. But how do wineries choose which festivals to attend, given it seems they can do one a week, and twice most summer Sundays?

Want to read the rest then do so at the KCET Food Blog.

Under the Oaks

"The festival is limited to fifty wineries this year, so if you see more than that listed on the website I've cheated," says Meridith Moore, Events Manager at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. "What's important is there's no wine I wouldn't drink." That's quite an endorsement from Moore, who has been the wrangler for the museum's Santa Barbara Wine Festival the past several years. (As for how they scored the primo name, it's because they were there first, kicking the event off in 1983; yes, you could have sung "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" to your hangover after the first one and been au courant.)

Want to read the rest then do so at the KCET blog.

A Museum-Quality Wine Festival

That there’s a waiting list for wineries hoping to pour at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival is a hint you need to go. Now in its 25th year at the S.B. Museum of Natural History, the event that winds throughout the enchanting, oak-shaded grounds is a taster’s delight. This year’s event is Saturday, June 30, 2-5 p.m.; tickets are $60 for members, $85 for nonmembers, and $95 at the door if available. For tickets, see sbnature.org. The museum’s events manager Meridith Moore recently answered questions about the fest via email.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Indy's site.