Women Winemakers & Culinarians Events Benefit Community, Celebrate Women
Babcock Winery winemaker Allyson Bycraft outside on a warm winter day. After decades spent in Ottawa, the opportunity to work outside helped lure her into winemaking. Laurie Jervis / Noozhawk photo
Santa Barbara County’s Women Winemakers & Culinarians Foundation will kick off two celebratory fundraisers with this Saturday’s Grand Tasting in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Saturday’s annual tasting and “Denim & Diamonds,” new this year on April 11, will spotlight the leadership of women in wine and culinary arts.
The tasting at 27 Vines in Santa Ynez at 11 a.m. Saturday will benefit SYV Community Outreach, a nonprofit organization that serves individuals and families throughout the Santa Ynez Valley. Tickets remain available but are likely to sell out.
More women winemakers call Santa Barbara County home than any other wine region, a distinction that reflects the region’s collaborative culture and commitment to mentorship and excellence, according to winemaker Karen Steinwachs, co-founder of the Women Winemakers & Culinarians Celebration and president of the WW&C Foundation.
Wines at the Grand Tasting will be paired and enhanced with culinary creations from the county’s leading women chefs, bakers, chocolatiers and specialty food purveyors.
“Our region leads the nation in women winemakers, and we are proud to pair that distinction with purpose,” Steinwachs said. “Supporting SYV Community Outreach allows our celebration of women to extend beyond the industry and into the heart of our community.”
I asked two longtime WW&CC grand tasting participants, Allyson Bycraft, longtime winemaker at Babcock Winery, and truffle-chocolatier extraordinaire, Jessica Foster of Jessica Foster Confections, why they treasure the annual event, now in its ninth year.
Foster, a Central Coast native who founded her truffle company 23 years ago, loves celebrating women.
“Food and wine are both very male-dominated industries, so it’s great to have this female-focused celebration … It feels very curated and like you really have the time and space to have face-time with everyone there.”
But the best part? The sheer talent!
“So many of the women who participate in this event are absolutely exceptional in their field,” she said. “Coming to this event means tasting some the best food and wine that the region has to offer.”
With events, Foster typically offers a year-round offering, such as her sea salt caramels, and a truffle with which she “can experiment with new flavors and seasonal ingredients,” as well as a wine-friendly offering.
Foster has watched the event grow each year and continue to do “so much good work in our community. (The tasting) is a critical event that helps fund its work. Lastly, it’s an opportunity for me to spend time with this rad bunch of women — many of which I am fortunate enough to call friends.”
Bycraft, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, and a longtime scholar of wine, has worked at Babcock Winery not once, but twice.
The first time, in 2010, she came to the United States on a “foreign media visa,” as a writer for a Canadian food and wine publication. “I wanted to spend a year at a California winery,” experiencing the industry she’d studied so thoroughly.
The winemaking bug quickly bit Bycraft: “Within two days at Babcock, I was hooked.” She loved working outside, as well as the artistic and creative side of making wine. “Every day was different.”
In 2010, Bycraft was 50, and had studied wine for years. She had earned her WSET Level 4 (DipSet) and taught students making their way through Level 3 of that program.
When her yearlong visa expired, she returned to Canada, and dove into winemaking, working three harvests in British Columbia’s wine region. Her heart, however, remained in California, as she previously had met a fellow who resided in Los Angeles. The two later married.
In 2013, Bycraft returned to Babcock and has been winemaker since. Come July, the Lompoc resident will retire, she said, but keep her hand in WW&CC, especially the nonprofit’s “newly-minted mentoring and scholarship committee.”
Through this committee, she said, women can utilize the WW&CC website to “buy and sell various winemaking supplies, and help one another out sharing resources.”
With owner/founder Bryan Babcock, Bycraft has leaned into production of “crazy grapes,” both reds and whites, blends and single varietals, turning a winery founded mostly on pinot noir and chardonnay into a candy store of lesser-known varietals, among them mencia, carignan, Bordeaux blends, clarette blanc, picpoul blanc and gruner veltliner, she said.
Bycraft calls herself very lucky: “I’m someone who still loves her job at retirement.”
Come April 11, “Denim & Diamonds” will feature the 2026 “Winds Beneath Our Wings” Initiative and highlight those who help behind the scenes, among them operations leaders, cellar teams, vineyard and hospitality managers — those experts whose often unsung talents lay foundations and make winemakers and chefs look so good.
Also to be honored in April is Judy Adams, a longtime grape hauler based in the Santa Ynez Valley who will receive the Cape & Crown Award. This honor recognizes a woman whose influence, dedication and leadership have created lasting opportunities for women in wine, Steinwachs said.
Proceeds from “Denim & Diamonds” will support the foundation’s scholarships, mentorship programs and professional development initiatives.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available on the website.
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