INDEPENDENT FOODIE AWARDS 2012
A Walk in the Woods Award
Santa Barbara Wine Festival™

It’s hard to pop a cork without hitting a wine festival on the Central Coast. Then there’s the Santa Barbara Wine Festival, which was Santa Barbara’s first and just celebrated its 25th vintage. Meridith Moore, events manager for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, has only made the event better in the past few years, to the point she actually turns wineries away to provide enough room underneath the oaks along Mission Creek. Of course, everyone from Alma Rosa to Zaca Mesa is there, often with the winemakers themselves pouring and pontificating, but food is no afterthought. Moore tries to place fitting pairings along the trail ​— ​that’s Cold Heaven viognier next to Ca’ Dario’s Foodie Award–winning sage-butter ravioli ​— ​and she keeps finding wonderful new purveyors, too, from DRY Soda (the cucumber is the perfect tonic sub for your next summery gin drink) to FreezerMonkeys, ice pops for adults with flavors like raspberry Thai chili. (Every June at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History; sbnature.org/winefestival.)

http://www.independent.com/news/2012/sep/27/2012-foodies/