03/15/2025
The Dirt
The Insider's Guide to the
"Garagiste" Micro-Winery Movement
Dear Fellow Wine Lover,
Thanks for subscribing to The Dirt, our free newsletter which will keep you in the loop about all things Garagiste, the exploding artisan micro-winery movement. This newsletter will give you first notice and discounts to our events, which regularly sell out. Please add this email as an approved sender in your mail program, or future emails may go to your spam folder.
Scroll down for an overview of some of the things we love about small-production wineries, and our events that bring these hard-to-find wineries to you.
Our Festival Schedule for 2025 includes:
Feb 7 & 8th - Southern Exposure - Solvang CA
April 26th - Northern Exposure - Sonoma CA
June 21st - Urban Exposure - Los Angeles CA
Nov 7 & 8th - The 14th Annual - Paso Robles CA
Come find out why we were voted the #1 Best Wine Festival in the Country by the USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards and Best Festival by Sunset Magazine. Come and see what the buzz is all about.
Tickets for upcoming events and full details available at our website here!
Welcome aboard and we hope to see you soon! - And don't forget to scroll down....
Doug, Stewart, Lisa, and Melanie
The Garagiste Team
What's So Great About Being Small? Creative, experimental winemaking is blooming in the shadows of the supermarkets.
By Doug Minnick, Co-Founder, The Garagiste Festivals
What's the big deal about small production wines? What difference does it make and who really cares how much wine a winery makes?
We know that "craft beer" has reshaped the brewing industry, but what does that really mean when a "craft" producer such as Sam Adams makes over 2.5 MILLION BARRELS per year? And garagiste winemakers are making about sixty. Not sixty million or sixty thousand. Sixty barrels, each producing a miniscule 25 cases.
You won't find garagiste* wines in supermarkets or large liquor chains among the Cab and Chard - these wineries just don't have enough wine to satisfy the requirements of large distributors and restaurants who don't want to have to re-print their wine lists regularly.
And importantly, you won't find the big wineries making this incredibly wide range of varieties and styles. Not only are these micro-producers making wine from every grape imaginable, but Garagiste winemakers are taking experimental and sometimes risky approaches like whole-cluster fermentation, extended maceration, native yeasts, low-alcohol, biodynamic farming, blends, and more that result in unique and exciting wines.
Most of these approaches just aren't practical in the large volumes of the supermarket wine producers. These techniques are the purview of the small winemakers; true artisans in the purest non-marketing sense of the word. They are changing the way wine is being made and a whole new audience is discovering that this kind of hands-on, artistic winemaking is worth seeking out.
Wines from these producers can be hard to find even in small shops and restaurants in their own backyards. Most do not have the time or resources to market their wine widely, and the financial realities of making wine in these tiny amounts demand that winemakers sell directly to the customer with no middle-man as much as possible. Many sell out just to their allocation lists. It helps to know them personally.
And how do you do get to know them? Most don't have tasting rooms, aren't on wine country maps, and are too busy tending the vineyard and making the wine to do much in the way of marketing. Determined wine country travelers who are dedicated to seeking them out may find one or two on any given visit, but they are not easy to find. It would take years of research (fun research, admittedly) for you to discover this many outstanding micro-wineries on your own. But not to worry, we at the Garagiste Festivals have saved you from all of this grueling work. We are home to over 600 micro-wineries. There is simply no other place to discover this many artisan wineries in one place.
Personal connections with their customers are crucial to these winemakers, and much like independent musicians, they can develop an "artist/fan" relationship with their audience. For the consumer, finding an undiscovered winemaker before they get big scores in the wine press or sell out their wine club list is very much like finding a new band in a club before they have a hit record and being able to brag about it to your friends for the rest of your life. I knew them when!
That's what makes the Garagiste Festivals such "a crazy thrill of discovery" according to KCET TV. Our unique festivals bring together dozens of micro-production wineries at one time and give you a chance to not only taste these ultra-premium, cutting-edge wines, but to meet the winemakers themselves, who pour at our festivals. Not salespeople or brokers; the winemakers themselves. This is true passion on display, face to face and in your glass. These folks love to meet their audience and tell their stories.
You now have the opportunity to personally explore these cutting-edge wines (and yes, some Cab and Chard, too!) at The Garagiste Festivals. We hold four major events per year. Paso Robles, Santa Ynez Valley, Sonoma, and Los Angeles. We limit ticket sales so to ensure a comfortable tasting experience with an opportunity to chat with the winemakers, No waiting in line and NO SNOBS ALLOWED! See you there!
* GARAGISTES - (garage-east) n, Fr. - A term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their garage, who refused to follow the "rules." Now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world. Who's laughing now, Francois? Syn: Rule-breakers, pioneers, renegades, mavericks, driven by passion.
Call now to connect with business.
