Five years ago, when Stewart McLennan and Douglas Minnick started a festival focused on small winemakers, no one could pronounce garagiste, the French word used to describe hobbyists who made wine in their garages. Today, the Garagiste Fest, which happens this weekend in Paso Robles, is not only pronounceable; it is one of the most anticipated events on the Central Coast wine calendar, even boasting offshoot events in Los Angeles and the Santa Ynez Valley.
Here’s a brief look at just five of more than 70 producers participating, all of which make an intimate 1,500 cases of wine a year or less, and many of which don’t have tasting rooms of their own.
Cloak & Dagger: Reportedly starting his brand under the radar in 2010 when he had to lay low due to uncertain, unclear circumstances, Ray Schofield takes the secrecy motif deep with his wines, which come from as 15-acre Hidden Valley Vineyard in the Templeton Gap area south of Paso, where pinot noir does work. He also makes syrah, cab, and sangiovese, among other varietals, and is appropriately mum on which wines may show up this weekend.