The West Sonoma Coast Vintners announce an exciting new line up of special events for their weekend long wine festival taking place in Sebastopol this weekend, July 31st – August 2nd, 2015.
The wine festival celebrates its fifth year with a new opening night ceremony and whole hog celebration BBQ party, entertaining and educational wine seminars moderated by Bloomberg wine writer Elin McCoy, a visit to epic coastal vineyards, access to the VIP Grand Tasting and an invite to the Saturday night seated grand dinner featuring award winning James Beard cuisine from Stark &Co paired with rare and allocated wines from the West Sonoma Coast Vintners.
To purchase newly released "a la Carte" tickets for the following events, click here:
Friday Night Opening Party: $150 LIMITED TICKETS LEFT
Saturday Seminars & Catered Lunch: $100
Saturday Grand Tasting: $125
Saturday Grand Dinner: $175 SOLD OUT
Sunday Grand Tasting: $100
This special destination wine weekend is held at Sebastopol’s The Barlow, a home to food producers, wine makers, brewers, distillers and artists that uniquely connect small artisan producers with the greater community of local and visiting consumers.
“The WOW wine festival has become a destination event for oenophiles world-wide and we continue to add new and exciting events to create an unparalleled wine experience. We have expanded our schedule to immerse our guests in this unique and stunning region that produces some of the finest cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the market place” says Michael McEvoy of Joseph Phelps, West Sonoma Coast Vintners’ Board President and founding member.
The association has also increased the size of the Saturday night Grand Dinner, allowing for more guests while retaining an elegant ambiance and the extraordinarily intimate ratio of guests to winemakers making this one of the few winemaker dinners where the wines and winemakers will outnumbers the guests.
The West Sonoma Coast Vintners is an association formed to highlight the distinguished wines crafted from grapes grown on the coastline of West Sonoma County. The West of West “WOW” wine festival is quickly becoming the preeminent tasting weekend for some of the finest cool climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah.
SEBASTOPOL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Friday, July 31st
Opening Ceremony: A West County Whole Hog Celebration. 6:00pm – 10:00 pm
The WOW weekend kicks-off on Friday, July 31st with a warm welcome as part of its inaugural Opening Ceremony followed by a West County whole hog celebration held at an historic Martinelli property. This casual and relaxed evening will include live music and of course, plenty of great West Sonoma Coast wines. Mix and mingle with the vintners, growers and an all-star list of sommeliers from the finest restaurants in the nation to learn what makes West Sonoma Coast so special.
Saturday, August 1st
Ode to Chardonnay: a blind tasting exploring famed Chardonnay producing regions from around the world.
10:00am – 11:30 am
Award winning wine journalist and author Elin McCoy will moderate this seminar exploring benchmark Chardonnay regions from around the globe extending from Burgundy to the cool climate of the West Sonoma Coast. This blind tasting of nine esteemed wines will take you on a journey to study the unique terroir of each region and to better understand how they are reflected in this charismatic varietal. It will challenge all your assumptions about this noble but often misunderstood variety.
Lunch
11:30 - 1:00pm
A catered lunch prepared by Rocker Oysterfeller’s and Firefly Fine Catering immediately follows the first seminar on the picturesque grounds of The Barlow.
A Study of Terroir: the Wines of Freestone and Occidental.
1:00 pm - 2:30pm
There’s no better way to understand the coastal influences, extreme farming conditions and unique terroir of the West Sonoma Coast than through a comprehensive tasting of 2013 Pinot Noir hailing from various vineyards throughout its Freestone and Occidental sub-regions. Wine writer Elaine Chukan Brown of Wakawakawinereviews.com and Jancis Robinson.com will moderate a panel of winemakers as you blind taste through 6-9 wines from these dynamic growing regions and discuss their differences and/or similarities.
VIP “All-Access Weekend Pass” Grand Tasting preview 2:30pm – 3:00pm
The doors open early to the Grand Tasting for our all access pass ticket holders. Enjoy an early opportunity to taste with our winemakers before doors open for general ticket holders. Experience select special reserve wines before they run out.
Grand Tasting 3:00 – 6:00pm
Spend the afternoon under the Grand Tasting tent exploring wines from roughly forty different winemakers and growers located throughout the extreme West Sonoma Coast. This unique tasting gives guests an opportunity to sample rare and hard to find wines that grace some of America’s top wine lists. Complementing the wines will be a selection of artisan foods from top local purveyors.
Grand Dinner
6:30pm – 10:00pm
The special seated dinner has literally moved under the stars this year. It will feature an outstanding local culinary bounty prepared by Sonoma County’s award-winning Stark & Co. The evening will start with a band and local oyster bar followed by porchetta carved tableside, halibut cheeks, Dungeness crab, fennel sofrito and many more specialties from our region. The Grand Dinner will be paired with a selection of fabulous library and reserve wines brought by our distinguished vintner guests. Feel free to bring special wines from your cellar to further spread joy as you are seated with new and old friends, as well as winemakers from throughout the West Sonoma Coast.
Sunday, August 2nd
Viticulture on the Edge of the Continent: A Stroll Down Taylor Lane Noon – 1:30pm (Vineyard Tour)
Take a late morning drive through towering Redwoods and coastal views ending at the West Sonoma Coast’s renowned Taylor Lane. After tasting some of the wines from these famed vineyards during Saturday’s second seminar, you will have a chance to visit the host vineyards, speak to the people who farm them, and understand the terroir of this special region like never before as you walk down a ridge top overlooking the magnificent Pacific Ocean.
* You are responsible for your own transportation to and from the vineyard. Directions will be provided.
Grand Tasting
2:00pm – 5:00pm
Finish your weekend with a return to the Grand Tasting tent where you can continue to explore the wines from forty West Sonoma Coast producers and growers.
The Traveling Sommeliers
Throughout the event, some the most experienced sommeliers in the country join WOW and will be on hand to help pour wines and answer industry questions during the seminars, the Saturday Grand Tasting and the Friday and Saturday night dinners.
“All Weekend Access Pass” is priced at $595 and has limited availability. Click here for a special pass purchase.
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