Santa Barbara’s most elevated wine and cheese pairing experience comes to the rooftop of the Canary Hotel on Wednesday, May 14, 6-8 p.m., where the 360-degree view of the city sets the scene to sip and savor alongside local winemakers, chefs, and cheese experts as they share their insights into how wine and cheese can enhance each other’s flavors.
Inspired by a very fun story I worked on with Michael Delgado last year, which included a memorable private event with some of Santa Barbara’s top winemakers, chefs, and cheese aficionados, due to popular request (as in “I wanna come” from everyone who heard about the festivities), this year, the Santa Barbara Independent and The Cheese Shop have collaborated to host two “Cheese the Day” pairing parties as part of the newspaper’s Wine Week 2025.
The first of the paired events takes place on May 7 (click here for tickets), and if you missed that one, you can still come on May 14, when we’ll gather eight cheeses, presented by The Cheese Shop’s co-owner Kathryn Graham; pair them with four specially selected wines introduced by their winemakers (classic S.B. varieties on night one; vanguard varieties on night two); and then invite two restaurant proprietors/chefs to discuss how each pairing worked.
The vanguard night, on May 14, features Little Dom’s chef/co-owner Brandon Boudet, Gala’s co-owner Tara Penke, and Finch & Fork’s chef John Vasquez as our food experts. My colleague, renowned wine and food journalist and raconteur Matt Kettmann, will moderate the evening with his trademark wit and expertise. And The Cheese Shop will pair Kunin’s chenin blanc with two goat cheeses, Shabby Shoe from Wisconsin and Chabrin from France; Lepiane’s malvasia bianca with Andante Crottin (a goat’s milk from California) and Pecorino Fioretto (raw sheep’s milk from Italy); Pali Wine’s gamay noir with two cow’s milk cheeses, Holey Cow from California and Prairie Breeze from Iowa; and Frequency’s graciano with two French cheeses, the sheep’s milk Ossau-Iraty and the double cream cow’s milk St. Felicien.
Enjoy the view as you indulge in this rare opportunity to taste a fabulous variety of wine and cheese pairings and learn directly from the masters themselves as they share tips, stories, and insights into crafting the perfect pairings.
For more information and tickets, see bit.ly/4kkBq9R.
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