In a tough time when most wine festivals are either reinventing themselves or just shutting down, the Natural Coast Wine Festival is finding sell-out success through the most basic of stand-around-and-taste formulas. The draw is the curated list of wineries in attendance, all of which align in some fashion with the “natural” style of winemaking.
That’s been a controversial word in the wine industry for years. But, for the sake of this festival, being “natural” simply means that the wineries source fruit from sustainable vineyards and then use a light touch in the cellar, letting fresh fruit — rather than, say, the oak barrels or heavy extraction — do the talking.
This has long been a common path in Santa Barbara County, which is why you’ll recognize a lot of wineries pouring on April 25, such as Sandhi, Whitcraft, and The Ojai Vineyard. But the Natural Coast fest is also a prime place to meet some of the freshest faces in California winemaking. Here are four of those producers that are quite new to us.
Boucher Wines
When he was 20 years old, Connecticut-raised Ray Boucher landed in Ventura County, first pursuing a career in acting and comedy. But in 2009, he and his wife-to-be — who made wine in her closet when they met — followed their passion for wine to Napa, where he became a sommelier at top restaurants and launched Boucher Wines in 2015…