The beginning of a beautiful tradition: Futures Wine Dinner at Les Marchands

The night before the Santa Barbara County Futures Tasting on Saturday, Eric Railsback and Brian McClintic of Les Marchands Wine Bar & Merchant held their first Futures Wine Dinner in a private room at the back of the Anacapa Street shop in Santa Barbara’s “Funk Zone.”

They’d invited some of the winemakers who would be pouring their wines the next night and anybody else who wanted to join them for the set menu ($85) -- and bring a bottle (or two) of Santa Barbara County wine. Railsback said the inspiration had been the joyful harvest dinners he’d attended in Burgundy, and with this event, the two hoped to capture that same spirit in Santa Barbara.

Two long tables unfurled down the rustic, blackened-brick room once used to store ice and fish. As guests walked in at 6 p.m., Railsback and McClintic were quick to pour a glass of wine (their own 2012 Vallin Grenache rosé) and introduce guests to winemakers and vice versa. Some of these wine events can be slow to get going. Not this one. No wallflowers in evidence as guests joined in, moving from group to group, sharing wine and stories.

As we all squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder, winemakers were distributed evenly along the two tables. Many of them had brought magnums of their own wines to share.

I sat at a table with Adam Tolmach of the Ojai Vineyard and Bill and Cindy Wenzlau of Wenzlau Vineyard. So many great wines ended up in my glass as the bottles flew around the table: Larner Reserve Syrah, the Ojai Vineyard 2012 50% Syrah-50% Grenache from John Sebastiano Vineyard, Sashi Moorman’s Piedra Sassi 2010 Rim Rock Syrah, Chanin Wine Co.’s 2012 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard, and Wenzlau 2011 Estate Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills and their Chardonnay from the same vintage.

The food from Les Marchands chef Weston Richards was simple, rustic, delicious. Long boards heaped with farmers market crudités with herbed goat cheese and a terrific romesco sauce for dipping were already set out on the tables when everyone sat down. Then came a lovely roasted cauliflower soup with chives and a homemade potato chip. And for the main course, big chunks of rosy grilled tri-tip with salsa verde, roasted rosemary potatoes and grilled broccolini served family style. Dessert was a lyrical lemon curd ice cream. These guys really know how to lay on a feast.

Some people left at 10:30 p.m., others much, much later. Railsback and McClintic? Even later: The wineglasses had to be washed and polished, ready for the tasting the next day at noon.

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