The 5th annual Santa Barbara County "Women Winemakers Celebration," returns to an in-person event format on Sunday March 6, 2022.
The event is an outdoor, afternoon wine tasting reception in Santa Ynez, in honor of International Women's Day, but being held a couple of days prior.
It aims to showcase the talents of Santa Barbara County's female winemakers, said Karen Steinwachs - a winemaker and the event’s co-founder.
"We have a higher percentage of women wine makers in Santa Barbara County than just about anywhere else in the world that we can confirm. So we thought - why not? It's International Women's Day and all about working women," she said.
The fifth, in-person installment of the annual celebration is a daytime alfresco wine tasting reception with elevated hors d’oeuvres.
The three-hour wine tasting – and snacking – reception (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM) features around 20 Santa Barbara County women winemakers who will be on-hand to pour tastes of their wines and talk with event guests, as passed and stationary appetizers are offered by one dozen female counterparts in the Santa Barbara County food world.
In March of 2020, the fourth annual Women Winemakers Celebration was one of the last in-person wine events of its kind to occur – just days before the initial COVID-induced shutdowns.
March of 2021 brought a virtual fundraising event hosted by the women behind the annual Women Winemakers Celebration.
“Our being able to safely gather in-person, once again, is so symbolic of the triumph over what we’ve endured during the past two years,” said Steinwachs.
“We’re looking forward to an engaging and welcoming afternoon with our event guests, and we’re so excited to have them taste the fruits of our collective labors…with us,” she added.
Men are welcome at the ticketed event at Roblar Farm in Santa Ynez on Sunday.
Proceeds from the event at Roblar Farm will be donated to Community Health Centers of the Central Coast (CHC), through Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation, with funds earmarked specifically for women’s health needs in medically underserved families of Northern Santa Barbara County.
