From Good to Grape

Lately it seems that there are almost as many wine festivals as weekends, and their names start to blur to the point it’s like the naming of radical sects in Monty Python’s Life of Brian — it’s hard to keep them all straight. But then there’s the Santa Barbara Wine Festival, happening on Saturday, June 25, 2 to 5 p.m., which has the best name because it got there first (this is year 24!).

It’s so prestigious, in fact, that winemakers plead to be part of it. But the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s event manager Meridith Moore lets in only the best, though, so you’re sure to taste wonderful stuff (from 70 wineries from our county up to Paso) all through your winding walk in the bucolic Mission Canyon woods behind the museum.

And then the food matches the grapey-greatness, with nosh-ables from purveyors like Jessica Foster Confections, Coast at the Canary, C’est Cheese, Global Gardens, Renaud’s, Via Maestra 42 — a whole host of yumminess. All the money raised benefits Museum exhibits and education programs, and tickets are cheaper if you buy by Friday, June 24 at 5 pm.

For more info call 805-682-4711 x.443 or see sbnature.org/winefestival.