Wine lovers assemble! Join us for a decadent day of wine tasting and get up close and personal with Marin County’s full bounty of flavors. Experience over 30 hand-crafted wines from 16 of Marin’s top artisan winemakers. Discover new wines and pair them with a dizzying variety of fresh gourmet appetizers like artisan breads, cheeses, olive oils and charcuterie. Come and enjoy an afternoon of fun and a feast for the senses! All proceeds will benefit the Throckmorton Theatre’s Educational Programs.
Featured varietals include: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay, Viognier, Sparkling wine (methode Champenoise) and more – all from vineyards in Marin County!
Presenting wineries include: Kendric, Pey Marin, Bailiwick, Dutton-Goldfield, Brooks Note, Pacheco, Pt. Reyes, Deloach, Burning Bench, McEvoy, Thackrey, Couloir, Ernest Bloom, Skywalker, Easkoot, Terrien.
A delicious variety of wine-worthy gourmet morsels will be paired and offered by some of Marin’s top growers. Get to know more about Marin’s wine history through featured Q&As hosted by top Marin winemakers and special guests and have the chance to bid on an array of luxurious Marin-grown & made wines. Tickets include a commemorative festival wine glass.
History: Grape vines were likely planted in Marin County when the San Rafael Mission was built in 1817. It seems that these vines were torn out and at least some moved to General Mariano Vallejo’s rancho in Sonoma Valley in the 1830s. Ignacio Pacheco, one of California’s early pioneers, settled in what is now eastern Marin County in 1840, when he is believed to have planted one of the first vineyards in that area. In the late 1880s, Hermann Zopf from Germany planted vines and built Zopf Gardens, a winery, saloon, and restaurant in San Rafael. In the 1890s, Frenchman Jean Escalle planted 23 acres of winegrapes on his property in Larkspur and built a winery there, which still stands today, although it is no longer a working winery. As with other parts of Northern California, landowners planted their own vineyards and made wine until Prohibition wiped out Marin’s small wine industry.
The more recent viticultural history of Marin includes the Quail Hill Vineyard, planted to cabernet in 1969 in Terra Linda. Pacheco Ranch’s 7 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon were planted in 1970 in Novato, and the Pacheco Ranch Winery was the first bonded winery in Marin since Prohibition, with a tasting room started in September 1979. Mark Pasternak’s pioneering West Marin Devil’s Gulch Vineyard, was planted to chardonnay and pinot noir in 1980 in Nicasio. The Doughty family pushed even farther west, planting their first Point Reyes Vineyard in 1989 and opening their winery and tasting room in 1996. Since then, Marin has grown to roughly 175 total acres of vineyard, the bulk of which is planted to pinot noir.
