The 2nd Annual Garagiste Festival taking place in Paso Robles, CA has been in full swing since November 8th with women winemakers dominating – accounting for nearly 60% of the garagiste wineries at the festival (50% of owners/8% of winemakers).  And you can imbibe for more days. 48 Artisan winemakers will be pouring wine for hundreds of passionate consumers. Additionally, there will be an artisan food court and a winemaker symposium.

Named one of the Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations in the world,  the Garagiste is the first and only festival dedicated to promoting and showcasing high-quality, cutting-edge, small production wineries (or ‘garagistes’) that produce fewer than 1,200 cases a year.

“If you don’t own a château, it’s a good way to go!”

*Garagistes (gar-uh-zhe-stuh) is a term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their “garages” (anything considered not a chateau), who refused to follow the “rules,” and is now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world.

Innovative in the production of ‘Vins de garage’, a group first emerged in themid-1990ss in reaction to the traditional style of red Bordeaux wine, which is highly tannic and requires long aging in the bottle to become drinkable. The garagistes have developed a style more consistent with perceived international wine tastes.