The Simply Wine Festival in March

The Simply Wine Festival

I met with Martha Peretz and Jeanette Jimenez at the Stonehaus in Westlake Village.  We talked about the Simply Wine Festival that's happening on Friday, March 14th.  Martha is one of the founders of the festival and Great Festivals Incorporated, a nonprofit organization.

The event is a fund raiser for the Make-A-Wish® Tri-Counties and it will be held in the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village. The goal of the festival is to make at least one wish happen for Make-A-Wish® Tri-Counties. The Four Seasons was selected for its mix of amenities to host an event of this type.

Jeanette Jimenez, in charge of operations at Simply Wine Festival, mentioned that the 300 VIP tickets were sold out a few weeks ago and that due to occupancy restrictions, the remaining general admission tickets were limited to 1,000 and would be sold out very soon as well.  The VIP perks are an engraved wine glass, private seating, a gift bag, tasting of higher-end libations and valet parking.

The wine, spirits, beer and food were all selected to include what's trending and to round out the tasting experience with something for everyone. It turns out that different generations of wine drinkers, like Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials are interested in different types of wine and related branding. In an article on FOXBusiness.com, Melissa Saunders, owner of wine importer Communal Brands, talks about the Millennial generation (born mostly in the 1980s & 1990s). She says that “Historically, wine has been marketed to older generations and came with a huge pretense, but this generation is blowing all of that out of the water. They don’t care about the pretentiousness of a wine, they want something that is authentic and speaks to them."  

More wine marketing approaches are taking into account that 62 million Millennials are of legal drinking age in the US and that they have purchased 25.7% of the wine sold in the U.S. (by volume) last year.  So with Millennials representing about 30% of the wine market and referred to as “foodies” who don't care about conventional wine-pairing rules this festival should have some interesting wine and food targeted at the youngest wine-drinking generation.  And, if you see Kay, tell her to check out the wines at Vintage Point. They market luxury and specialty wines from boutique wineries like, Hogwash, Cherry Pie and Layer Cake.

Foodies, wine lovers, tequila and beer connoisseurs can expect to taste samples from more than 30 wineries, 5 tequila brands, 5 breweries, and local restaurants while listening to a string quartet, a DJ from Santa Monica, and pop music from The Ruse (not all at once though). Additionally, this will be an opportunity to network and enjoy an evening with a some local personalities.

The beverage list from the website includes these vendors so far:

Wine

• Alma Sol Winery
• Antigal Winery & Estates
• Casa Barranca
• Cinque Stelle Winery
• Colcanyon Estate Wines
• Don & Sons
• Dragonette Cellars
• Gauchezco Vineyard & Winery
• Grassini Family Vineyards
• Graveyard Vineyards
• Happy Canyon Vineyards
• Kaiken (Montes)
• Lange Twins Winery Family Winery & Vineyards
• Larner Winery
• LeSaffre Wine Company
• Magnifico Giornata
• Panaro Brothers Winery
• Pench Ranch
• Sagebrush Annie's
• San Vicente Cellars
• Silver Wines
• Simply Vino
• Southwest Wines
• Stein Family Wines
• Summerland Winery
• Sunland Vintage
• Toretti Family Vineyard
• Vina Montes
• Vinemark Cellars
• Vintage Point
• Westerly Wines
• Zotovich Cellars

Beer

• Ventura's Surf Brewery
• Wolf Creek Brewery

Blends/Spirits

• Ascendant Spirits
• Channel Islands Distillery
• Del Maguey Single Village
• Myx Fusions Moscato

 
More than wine and food...

Tesla Motors, the California-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars will be offering test drives and showcasing a vehicle in the center of the ballroom. Don't worry about driving though, the test drives will be with you in the passenger seat, where you can experiment with the high tech 17” touchscreen.

It all sounds good to me and it should be a splendid night.  See you there!

WHERE:
Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village‎
2 Dole Drive
Westlake Village, CA 91362
(818) 575-3000

WHEN:
Friday, March 14, 2014
7:00-11:00 pm




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