Museum of Natural History Hosts Lovely Food & Wine Festival
Winemakers and Chefs Schmooze with Guests
On June 24, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History held its annual S.B. Food & Wine Festival, an event beloved by winemakers, chefs, and patrons. The sold-out crowd of 1,100 enjoyed wine from about 80 wineries and food from about 20 purveyors, all of whom donated their offerings. The event raised $250,000 for the museum’s nature and science education programs.
Santa Barbara pioneer winemakers and other esteemed winemakers and owners come back each year to personally pour their wines and chat with guests. Chefs from premier restaurants and catering companies serve their culinary creations and engage with patrons. All this happens on the idyllic, spacious, oak-shaded museum grounds.
Wine country pioneer Fred Brander, who has participated from the start in 1983, related how this is one of his favorite events. The event started when the S.B. wine industry was in its infancy, Brander remarked, and drew other pioneers as well, including Richard Sanford, Jim Clendenen, and Rick Longoria. Other festivals have come and gone, he noted, but this one remains, surviving the ups and downs of the times. The festival has been at the Museum of Natural History since 2006.
