Women who brunch: Santa Barbara County’s women winemakers, chefs ready to serve
Behind every great man is a great woman. And behind every great woman winemaker, is a great female culinary crafter.
On International Women’s Day, Sunday, March 8, nearly 200 women and men will gather to toast Santa Barbara County’s women winemakers, and the lady chefs, bakers and other food creators who make the annual Women Winemakers Celebration a delicious success.
Now in its fourth year, the food and wine celebration which will for the first time take place at Roblar Farm in Santa Ynez, has also become an inaugural brunchtime event where a host of female culinary talent will pair their edible wares with the fruits of their winemaking colleagues’ labor.
Guests have two ticketing options: a tasting reception-only ticket, to include some serious appetizers, or the “Full Feast” ticket which includes both the tasting reception and a seated, four-course brunch, at which the women winemakers will join attendees under the arbor, in the middle of Roblar’s working farm.
The hearty pre-brunch nibbles menu will feature Santa Ynez Valley-style “chicken and waffles,” done up with a blood orange Sriracha glaze, orchestrated by the ladies from Buellton’s Pattibakes and Sass Catering. The duo will also offer blini skewers with Nutella and farm-fresh strawberries.
A handful of additional passed appetizers will be served, including beet-pickled Deviled Eggs with smoked trout, all circling a stationary appetizer spread to include braided challah from Leyla Williams of Solvang’s Good Seed Coffee Boutique. Williams will also feature her fanciful Yemenite Kubana bread with smoked and aged, clarified fenugreek butter. Theo Stephan, owner of Los Olivos’ Global Gardens will join the party with patatas bravas, accented by her orange olive oil and smoked paprika.
Event guests who also opt for the seated brunch will encounter four courses of spring-hinting, mid-day cuisine, each paired with two different wines. Pouring during the brunch portion of the event, will be Clarissa Nagy, C. Nagy Wines; Brooke Carhartt, Carhartt Vineyard and Winery; Sandra Newman, Cebada Wine; McKenna Giardine, E11even Wines; Gretchen Voelcker, Luna Hart Wines; Jessica Gasca, Story of Soil; Wynne Solomon, Peake Ranch Winery; and Karen Steinwachs, Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard.
The foodie line-up for the brunch, coordinated by executive chef of Gleason Family Vineyards Brooke Stockwell, will start with a course by The Lucky Hen Larder’s Cynthia Miranda and Alicia Valencia. The chef pair’s version of ham and eggs entails air-dried ham and free-range egg gribiche, among other components like black kale and local, pickled vegetables. Chef Robin Reynolds, of the Santa Ynez Valley’s Dunn School, will offer a basted egg dish for course number “two”, with fennel butter, gruyere, and levain from baker Amy Dixon of The Baker’s Table.
Course “three” takes a decidedly exotic departure, in Persian oxtail stew with chickpeas, potatoes and Persian flatbread, à la chef Golzar Barrera’s All Purpose Flower. Chef Brooke follows with course “four”, bacon-wrapped pork belly balanced by a blackberry-thyme gastrique and pea tendrils, straight from the surrounding farm.
Seasonal sweets will be represented in the form of two desserts: Meyer lemon cream puffs from Lompoc’s Sweet Baking Co. – which will also provide a more savory appetizer during the wine tasting reception – and heirloom carrot cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, a sentimental pastry option by Chef Brooke, who added with a wink, “In these California wine country parts, behind every great woman chef is a great free-range egg gribiche.”
The celebration runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, at Roblar Farm in Santa Ynez. Tickets are on sale at womenwinemakers2020.eventbrite.com. Proceeds from the charitable event will benefit the Women’s Fund of Northern Santa Barbara County.
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By Anna Ferguson-Sparks, Santa Ynez Valley News
