Bottlest is Buellton’s newest attraction to the wine scene, offering a unique chance to blend wines or just hang out, eat, and taste. But now, the new spot is adding “concert venue” to its title.
The restaurant and wine bar—owned by Terravant Wine Company—began a new concert series, titled Crafted, at the beginning of June. The response has been good, explained Dave Moser, Terravant’s vice president of direct to consumer, who organizes the concert series along with Bottlest’s general manager, Vlad Stojanov.
The decision to begin a concert series began with Bottlest’s vision to “provide a more late-night experience,” Moser explained. Shows start at 8 p.m. most nights, and go until at least 11 p.m., he said, and depending on the success of the series, it may go later.
Bottlest had featured live music before, but it was after the location got a liquor license, allowing for a full bar, that they decided to kick off the concert series.
“There are very few, at least in the valley, very few late-night options, most of the places close around 9 or 10, even on weekends,” Moser said.
Just featuring “the same artists, repeating a lot” worked for a while, but Moser and Stojanov wanted more.
That’s where the concert series came in. Instead of background music, they wanted the artist to be the “focal point” of the evening, Moser said. They reached out to concert promoters for artists, Moser explained, and screen each prospective performer.
“We want to vet all kinds of new artists, and specifically artists that don’t play in Santa Ynez Valley or even Santa Barbara County that much,” he said. “So we want them to be unique to this area and we want artists that have somewhat of a following.”
Moser said that artists are assessed by their sound, their social media presence, and the kind of interactions they have online with fans. It’s a “pretty good gauge” of how engaging an artist will be if invited to Bottlest, he said. Local artists are welcome to perform too, but just not the same artists that always perform in the Santa Ynez wine country.
Crafted doesn’t discriminate based on style Moser explained. There are Americana/country artists booked, along with a jazz trio, an indie/rock duo, and solo singer-songwriters.
This kind of outlook for a concert series mirrors Terravant and Bottlest’s style, which is “custom crafted: The food, the wine, and the music,” Moser said. Their cocktails (see cover story, page 17) are customized as well.
“The name that we gave to the live music series is ‘Crafted,’ to go along with the custom crafted theme,” he said. “The idea is, it’s not going to be the same type of artist every night, so it’s not going to be where all the artists are blues or country.
“We’re going to vary it, and it’s something for everyone,” he added. “It’s more unique to an individual, or in this particular case, the music genre is to your music taste, not just one genre.”
Managing Editor Joe Payne has a varied musical palate. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 8-15, 2017.