SIPS . . . 
Three Dates, Three Separate Events. Now in its 43rd year The Monterey Wine Festival has established itself as the premier wine & food event in Monterey. A few years ago we added a new addition that now has a following. One.The exclusive Friday Night VIP Tasting at The Monterey Wine Festival. It's the best of the best from across the country and beyond. Fine wines and beautiful sipping tequilas allow for a food and beverage experience that is beyond compare. Don't blame us if some fine scotch & whiskey make it into the mix too. You will be rewarded with gourmet offerings that will absolutely be one of your food experiences to remember. It's a great way to meet like minded people that enjoy a luxury food and beverage experience. Two. Included in the Saturday Ticket Price is a Chowdah Challenge & Celebration!
Professional chefs from the West Coast continually challenge themselves to make extraordinary chowders to satisfy their customers. These restaurants come to pay homage to their own special festival creations & inhouse favorite chowders – the tastes are legendary. Clam, Seafood and Fish Chowders are simmered to perfection and the order of the day. Guests can sample these award winning chowders, pick their own personal favorites and simply enjoy the cuisine that has become synonymous with Monterey and coastal destinations. A selection of local & international cheeses and charcuterie, and other foods will be available too. Add live music and this is just an absolutely joyful experience. It goes without saying that wines that pair with chowders will also be available and enhance the celebration even further. Three. Included in the Sunday Ticket Price is another seaworthy celebration. Highlights are our Kings of Calamari and Masters of Mussels! Locals and restaurants from afar bring the best in these two categories. Different seasonings and flavor combinations allow for much to taste as throughout the day different offerings are released alongside an array of international cheeses and charcuterie and more. Guests continue the celebration with a completely mouth-watering experience from both the wineries, spirits and beers and bounty of food. A Cheese & Charcuterie Experience courtesy of Sysco will also be available. Along with all these festival ingredients live music is the final sensation that further ensures a ultimate winning combination. Wine, Food, Beer, Spirits, Music! Aaahhh! ___________________________________________________________________ Ojai 33rd Annual Wine Festival June 9, 12:00-4:00 Lake Casitas Recreation Park www.ojaiwinefestival.com 
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Santa Barbara Wine + Food Festival
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History will again host their wine and food event from 2:00-5:00 PM. Net proceeds from the festival support the Museum’s nature and science education programs for all ages. 
I'm grateful for the time I've spent with my grandson and family enjoying the programs provided here over the past 23 years. Happy we spent time here and due to very unprofessional staff relations I'm sad to say goodbye. The 2019 festival features .jpg) more than 60 premier Central Coast wineries, including:•Alexander & Wayne Winery•Alma Rosa Vineyard and Winery•Andrew Murray Vineyards•Area 5.1•Arthur Earl•Au Bon Climat•Babcock Winery and Vineyards•Barden•Beckmen Vineyards•Bedford Winery and Vineyards•Brander•Brewer-Clifton•Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard•Cambria Estate Wines •Carr Vineyard & Winery•Casa Dumetz •Cebada •Consilience Wines•CORE Wine Company •Cutler's Artisan Spirits •D'Alfonso ~ Curran•De Paola Vineyard•Domaine de la Côte •DV 8•Epihany Cellars•Feliz Noche Cellars•Fess Parker Winery &(2).jpg) Vineyard•Fiddlehead Cellars•Flying Goat •Folded Hills Winery•Foxen Vineyard•Gainey Vineyard•Grassini Family Vineyards and Winery•Grimm's Bluff•Hitching Post II•Jaffurs Wine Cellars•Jamie Slone Wines•Kaena Wine Company•Kalyra Winery•Ken Brown Wines•Kenneth Volk Vineyards•Koehler Winery•LaFond Winery & Vineyard•Larner Vineyard and Winery•Longoria•Lucas and Lewellen Vineyards•Lumen•Mail Road•Margerum Wine Company•Melville•Mosby Winery and Vineyard•Municipal Wine Makers/Potek•Qupé•Rancho Sisquoc Winery•Rideau•Riverbench •Sagebrush Annies•Samsara •Sandhi•Savoy Wines•Silver Wines•Storm Wines•Tablas Creek•Tatomer•Tercero Wines•Zaca Mesa. .jpg) .JPG) .JPG)
Chef Dario - Chef Renaud Gonthier - Chef Peter Cham Food & Chef Bites complementing sips include more than 40 of Santa Barbara County’s eateries and caterers, including:•Barbareño•Benchmark•Black Bow Sweets•Blue Water Grill•Bob's Well Bread•Bottlest Bistro•Brophy Bros.•Ca' Dario•Corazon Cocina •Country Catering•Deux Bakery•Enterprise Fish Company•Farmer Boy•Finch and Fork Restaurant•Gelson's Market - Santa Barbara •Helena Avenue Bakery•Hitching Post•il Fustino•Industrial Eats •Jessica Foster Confections•Les Marchands•Loquita•Michael's Catering•Oat Bakery •Outpost at Goodland Hotel•Pacific Pickle Works•Pico•Renaud's Patisserie & Bistro•Santa Barbara Popcorn Co.•Savoy Cafe and Deli•Scarlett Begonia•Solvang Bakery•S.Y. Kitchen•The Bear and Star •The Lark•Tondi Gelato•Via Maestra 42Santa Barbara Wine + Food Festival tickets cost $80 for Museum members and $105 for non-members. VIP tickets, including access to the VIP Lounge, early entry at 1:00 PM, eight exclusive tastings and food pairings with winemakers, and more, cost $130 for Museum members and $155 for non-members. If you are drinking you should have a designated driver and they are free to enter as long as they accompany a paid guest. Designated drivers can sign up with the museum in advance. The event is made possible through the generous support of sponsors: The Berry Man, Town and Country Event Rentals, Frank Schipper Construction Company, HUB International, Inside Wine Santa Barbara, Sunrun, KOPU Sparking Water, Beacon Coffee, and Boxed Water is Better. Do support all the food purveyors, chefs and vintners who have supported this event to provide children's educational programs for many years.
BC ___________________________________________
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Rosé Piscine is one of my favorite wines and is a French wine that was made to always be served on the rocks. Rosé Piscine is made by Pascal Nacenta in southwest France. The tasting notes include being pale salmon in color, with a light to medium body. On the bouquet, it offers notes of Meyer lemon, skin of peach, vanilla, kiwi and McIntosh apple. Rosé Piscine is made with an indigenous varietal of southwest France: Négrette, which is a small, very dark and tough-skinned grape known for its powerful aromatic qualities. The fruit is sourced in Côtes du Frontonnais, which is located just southwest of Gaillac and just north of the city of Toulouse, on the western bank of the Tarn River. Wine Enthusiast awarded the Rosé Piscine region the Wine Region of the Year 2017 award. Rosé Piscine was created by Jacques Tranier, the president of Vinovalie, a group of producers in the French Southwest. In 2003, he was on a vacation in Saint Tropez when he saw many women drinking rosé on the rocks. He ordered one to give it a try, only to be disappointed in the taste of the wine being diluted by the melting ice. This set him on a mission to create a rosé that could hold its integrity while being served over ice. To find a store near you or to order online, visit the site at: www.rosepiscine.com. ___________________________________________________________ KIMPTON GOODLAND IN GOLETA NEWS . . . OUTPOST NAMES NEW LEAD BARTENDER
Gabrielle Ricord To helm Renowned Bar Program Outpost at the Goodland, the popular locale for innovative cocktails and one-of-a-kind events, names Gabrielle Ricord as Lead Bartender. The restaurant has appointed Ricord with designing seasonal beverage menus that speak to her fresh and educational approach to bartending, as well as the creative drinks Outpost is known for. Ricord gained much of her bar experience while working under George Piperis at Finch & Fork. It was there where she honed her skills creating cocktails with personality; drinks that celebrate spirits, not mask them. She believes drinks should consist of seasonal produce, recognizable spirits and a few wild card ingredients to keep things interesting. Ricord’s debut menus for both Outpost and Good Bar are each full of a half dozen must-try drinks. At Outpost, try the tiki-inspired 5 O’Clock Shadow with house-made orgeat, Campari, Plantation Pineapple Rum, Banks 5 Rum and lime oil, or one of Ricord’s favorites, the Cross Your T’s – a riff on an Old Fashioned with chamomile-infused Old Forester Bourbon, Amaretto and angostura and plum bitters. Good Bar kicks it up a notch with The Upside Down – a stunning, layered sipper with fresh orange, mango turmeric honey syrup, Vida mezcal, Maker’s Mark Bourbon, and black charcoal coconut foam. Also new to Good Bar is their version of a White Negroni called What’s the Dill?, with Yellow Chartreuse, Suze, dill-infused Dolin Blanc, and The Botanist gin. Beyond the new sippers, there are so many reasons to stop in to the bar, including the newly refreshed patio at Good Bar, Tuesday Yappy Hour and Wednesday Trivia Night. The full cocktail menu can be viewed on Outpost’s website, or at the bar. Come say hello and meet the friendly face behind your new favorite sippers. The bar is sure to make you feel welcomed, while delivering solid drinks that don’t take themselves too seriously. ____________________________________________________________ 2017 Indigène Pinot Noir Release Our 2017 Indigène Pinot Noir is 100% Clone 115 and is the only Pinot Noir we produce at Melville that is not inoculated with a commercial strain of yeast. We instead allow native (indigenous) yeast to carry out the fermentation and also elect to completely destem all of the fruit (a rarity for us in Pinot Noir and Syrah production). Crafted in this fashion, along with the utilization of 10-20 year old French oak barrels, we are left with an extremely pure and honest representation of this selection.
Indigène has developed a bit of a cult following over the years and having been included in the recent spring wine club shipment, there are now just a handful of cases remaining. 298 cases produced. | | 2017 Estate Pinot Noir
Indigène
Tasting Notes: Pretty pale garnet hued, intense aromatics of blood orange, tangerine rind, pumpkin pie spice and fresh dill come through initially. With time, hints of bright red fruits, black tea leaf, cardamom and cinnamon become apparent. The wine possesses loads of concentration, with medium weight and soft, pillowy tannins that add structure and tenderness.
$50/750ml
wine club discounts apply ____________________________________________________________ Boozy Ice Cream Happy Hour Now on the Menu At Velas Resorts In preparation for the summer sun, Mexico’s Velas Resorts have launched boozy ice cream treats in their version of a happy hour. Available at its properties in Los Cabos, Riviera Maya and Vallarta-Nayarit, offerings range from alcohol-infused popsicles and ice cream floats to frozen cocktail-inspired scoops. From 6 – 7 pm at its oceanfront Sky Bar, Grand Velas Los Cabos now offers a menu of alcohol-included ice cream floats. In one, bourbon, sweet vermouth and a shot of espresso tops a caramel popcorn-flavored ice cream. A Mexican carajillo (Licor 43 and espresso) complements vanilla ice cream in another. Perhaps the most unique is the Ginger Reyes which combines Ancho Reyes, an authentic spicy liqueur crafted from ancho and poblano chiles in Puebla, Mexico, with Ginger Ale and passion fruit sorbet. Red wine sorbet is also offered for oenophiles. On Mexico’s Caribbean Coast, Grand Velas Riviera Maya offers different types of popsicles in its three ambiences. At the Zen pool, surrounded by the flora and fauna of the Yucatan jungle, guava, horchata, and green tea are among the flavors available. No alcohol, as the area invites relaxation and well-being. The Ambassador section is geared towards families with flavors like strawberry cream, lemon and mango. In the resort’s adults-only Grand Class oceanfront infinity pool, chocolate mezcal, coconut rum, gin and tonic with cucumber, Kahlua, and margarita popsicles are all on tap. The popsicles are offered every day from 1 – 2 pm. In the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit area, Casa Velas and Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit respectively are launching seasonal happy hour from 5 – 7 pm. Flavors like Pina Colada, Mojito, Mexican red wine, and Negroni at Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit complement passion fruit with tequila and hibiscus with mezcal at Casa Velas. All-inclusive rates include luxury suite accommodations, a la carte gourmet meals at a variety of specialty restaurants, premium branded beverages, 24-hour in-suite service, fitness center, taxes, gratuity and more. For reservations or more information, call 1-888-407-4869, email reservations@velasresorts.com or visit https://www.velasresorts.com. About Velas Resorts: Velas Resorts in Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit and Los Cabos have earned 56 AAA Diamonds, including the prestigious Five Diamond Award. Other esteemed international awards for their services and facilities include Virtuoso’s “Best Spa,” Forbes’ “Coolest All-Inclusives,” Forbes’ Four Star Award, and TripAdvisor’s Hall of Fame, among others. Offering unparalleled all-inclusive experiences, properties include the AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas in Los Cabos, with dramatic ocean views and unique spaces infusing every area of the resort; AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit, which enjoys a privileged natural setting with flowering, landscaped gardens beside a long stretch of pristine beach and a dramatic backdrop of the Sierra Madre mountains; and AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Riviera Maya, located five minutes from Playa del Carmen, offering a sophisticated resort experience in the Caribbean with jungle and beach settings. In Puerto Vallarta, Casa Velas is a boutique adults-only hotel and ocean club located on the Marina Vallarta Golf Course, and Velas Vallarta, a family-friendly all suites resort and spa located on Banderas Bay. Mar del Cabo, a boutique hotel on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, opened on December 5th as its only European Plan offering. Eduardo Vela Ruiz, founder and president of Velas Resorts, operates Velas Resorts with brother Juan Vela, vice president of Velas Resorts, by his side. For reservations or more information, call 1-888-407-4869, email reservations@velasresorts.com or visit https://www.velasresorts.com.
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