garagiste north small producers wine festivals

Producers of the Garagiste North Small Producers Wine Festivals: Jennifer Schell & Terry Meyer Stone

photo credit Jon Adrian

What the heck is a Garagiste?

GARAGISTE – (gar-ah-jeest) noun, Fr. : The garagiste originally referred to a group of winemakers in the Bordeaux region of France, producing "vins de garage" or "garage wine". They were renegade small-lot winemakers, sometimes working in their garage, who refused to follow industry laws and protocol. synonyms: Rebels, pioneers, renegades, individualists, mavericks, driven by passion.

Inspired by the spirit of these French renegades, the Garagiste North Wine Festivals are a celebration of the under 2000 case producers in BC. The first of its kind in Canada, the festivals feature the artisan winemaker creating commercially produced small case lot wines. An eclectic gang, they are a blend of passion and experience, new and old, the cult and the boutique, the virtual and custom crush. The inaugural festival in 2014 held in Okanagan Falls captured the hearts of the wine-loving crowd who were delighted to taste these exclusive wines and have the opportunity to talk directly to the winemaker.

Following the success of the first festival, Jennifer and Terry took the Garagistes ‘on the road’ and held a rocking festival in Vancouver that received a lot of positive media attention and had twitter buzzing with the news. The Garagistes have become the rockstars of the wine world and the events have recaptured the true spirit of the winemaker celebrating the art and passion for the craft.

To prove the uniqueness of this event, on August 21st, 2015, the London Financial Times ran an article “Five of the best: wine festivals” featuring five festivals around the world including Garagiste North! 

To date, there have been seven festivals around the Okanagan and Vancouver and our fleet continues to grow. With 25+ members of our 'Garagiste Guild' winery members, each year brings new members to our passionate group. Check out our website for more information and to sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on festival news and highlights from wine country. Cheers! #Vivelesgaragiste

www.garagistenorth.com

The Garagiste Guild!