During the Santa Barbara Vintners Spring Weekend this April, the Wine Seminar topic was “Zaca Mesa University”.  Inspired by a Spring 2013 article in Edible Santa Barbara Magazine, this seminar featured winemakers who have played a part in the history of Zaca Mesa and indeed the entire Santa Barbara region.

Zaca Mesa has turned out a plethora of amazing wine makers and Sommelier Christopher Sawyer led us through a discussion with 4 of the best.  Ken Brown of Ken Brown Wines was the first paid winemaker at Zaca Mesa.  Ken went on to found Byron.  While at Zaca Mesa he hired both Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat) and Bob Lindquist (Qupe).  We enjoyed the stories of how each had come to Zaca Mesa; Ken coming in after helping to choose the equipment for the winery, Jim escaping a future in law to become the premiere bottling line employee in the valley and Bob getting fired from his wine shop job for going to a Kinks concert and being hired the same day by the wine shop owners father, who happened to be the owner at Zaca Mesa.  Eric Mohseni, the current winemaker at Zaca Mesa shares how being part of this legacy has influenced him.

This is the highlight reel.  We will start releasing the full seminar in segments for you to enjoy on May 20th on our From Dirt To Glass Video Page.  This will include the tasting with wine from each of these amazing winemakers.