“This fall, the Academy Award-winning film, SIDEWAYS, will stream on Hulu in celebration of its 20th Anniversary. Hitching Post Wines has partnered with Searchlight Pictures to showcase Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir, the wine featured in the movie. The Highliner Pinot Noir is always one of the most consistent, highly regarded wines of Hitching Post, and the 2021 is one of the best vintages of the past two decades. This 2021 vintage has a special label to commemorate the film and the Anniversary.”
“In celebration of this partnership, Hitching Post 2 and Hitching Wines announce a series of special events, including three Hitching Post + Sideways Winemaker Dinners scheduled for September and October. Hitching Post Wines will also offer specially produced and limited edition SIDEWAYS Highliner Pinot Noir wine available for purchase at the Buellton restaurant, the adjacent Hitching Post tasting room and select retailers throughout California.”
Chef and Winemaker Frank Ostini and Winemaker Gray Hartley of Hitching Post Wines continue as our special guests uncorking all the series of commemorative events.
Hey there, it's Jet Tila, the emeritus host of the SoCal Restaurant Show and judge on Food Network's cutthroat kitchen with Alte Brown. You're listening to the very best in Food Forum one on AMA 30 K.L.A. And welcome back, it is the SoCal Restaurant Show and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon right here on AMA 30 K.L.A.A. The home of Angels Baseball 2024 and you can also catch us on the AMA 30 Angels Radio app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show, glad to have you out there. And we are presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. We are journeying back up to Beulton and joining in the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Sideways and who better to share the story is Chef, restaurateur and winemaker, Frank Costini and his business partner in Hitching Post Wines, Gray Hartley. Gentlemen, welcome back. As we were going out to break, Frank, you were mentioning that in all of these celebrations, Mr. Payne has suggested and you have agreed that there's some mare low that is on the menu. Just as a footnote to entertain our audience, as I remember it, the first wine that you and Gray made, I believe in your garage was a mare low. Am I remembering correctly? - Yep, Andy, that was a mare low from the Firestone Vineyard in St. S Valley. 1979 vintage, it's what got us both Frank and Gray bitten by the bug to make wine. And it was always my goal to make it for the restaurant. And there was a great PNOR made in saying this, near Lawpoke, Sanford and Bennett Vineyard in 1976. So we were always looking for PNOR grapes. We didn't find those until 1981. And that became the darling for us. Lawm before it was a really popular wine in California. And Lawm before, there was a lot of really good vineyards. It turns out our climate here is, there's cool climate vineyards in unit that with coastal influence for PNOR. And then there's, of course, every other climate to every other grape. So it turns out almost anything growth here in Santa Barbara, and there's wonderful wines for the whole spectrum, so much diversity. But PNOR became our, our go-to is what we wanted to have in the restaurant. And then of course, sideways happened and it went quite a bit farther and mare low, kinda terrible. Grape mare low will always be around and we're always on the search for it. We didn't bottle a commercial mare low until after the movie, the 2004 vintage. And so we always thought there's great mare low in California and even in Santa Barbara County, along with all our other grapes and especially PNOR. - Grape, before we move on and talk about some of these other events that you're involved in to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of sideways, could you have ever imagined 20 years ago that we would be doing this now? - Absolutely, no idea whatsoever. We were talking with a couple of the fellows that were one of those producing and then I was helping with the film and they looked at like, I said, "Are you boys ready for what's coming?" And we said, "What?" And they said, "Are you ready?" And we said, "Yeah, I'm all ready." And they said, "We have a feeling about this one, but it's going to be something iconic." So we said, "Yeah, okay, fine, that's great." And in our minds, we thought, at least five of it, I said, "Well, gee whiz, it's a little art film that only got $16 million in producing this thing." Hey, you know, it goes to get a little splash, fine. But 20 years later, it's still giving and every day of every week of every month and every year since that film was filmed at the hitching post, there has been some remembrance in a comment that it texts in an email about it. There's nothing like it that's ever happened in my entire life. Very, very exciting and very humbling to be a part of this celebration and all that's going on with sidelines. - Hi, and I want our audience to know, when you hear Frank and Gray speaking, these are both very accomplished but humble gentlemen, who I've had the pleasure of knowing for a lot of years and we don't really have time to talk about it, but they are very involved in their community and they are great ambassadors for the Santa Barbara County wine region. It's just not about hitching post wines, it's about all of their colleagues and they are constantly on the road promoting Santa Barbara County wines and California wines, which is important to all of us. And I wanted to mention we talked about that Sideways is going to be available streaming, starting now, it will be available on Hulu just for those of you that will miss one of the screenings that is connected with all of the anniversary festivities. Always best to see it on the big screen, but it also will be there on Hulu. Frank, I want to talk about some of the other dinners that are going to be available to our listening audience because I know they will be popular. I guess the next one that is coming up on September 29th is at the La Paloma Cafe in Santa Barbara. Can you tell us a little bit about that because I believe both you and Gray will be there along with that portfolio of hitching post wines? - Yeah Andy, the La Paloma dinner in Santa Barbara will be on September 24th. That is, yeah, I'm not sure what day of the week that is. September 24th, 29th, we're doing an event at a Food and Wine Festival for Visit Sammy Miss Valley at the Hitching Post, November 29th. - My apologies, but we do want to get the date right. - Why make dinner at La Paloma? Well, it will be La Paloma's food. They have a sort of local barbecue themed Santa Barbara historic cooking kind of themed restaurants. It's wonderful food that is being met to our wines. We'll have our Shannon Blanc four runner, which is 40 year old vines, some of the older vines in Santa Barbara that we do dry Shannon Blanc from. We're doing it and we'll serve the Hitching Post Highliners 2021 with, I'm not even, I think it's a duck dish. I can't remember now, there's so many dinners and things and then we'll be serving the Be in the Seetle Vineyard and over bottling from Be in the Seetle. Again, just featuring the wines that were in the movie with the food of these great restaurants that we get to go to. First, it's La Paloma, and in October, we go to jar restaurant, and you probably know the date. - I do that one again for our LA folks. Jar is Suzanne Trach's wonderful restaurant that actually I think opened before sideways was released, but does a great job there. That is Tuesday, October 29th, and Frank and Gray will also be a special guest. And a great menu, they're known for their steaks. So, but there's gonna be, I think a dual entree, Frank, I have it in front of me. So, grilled quail and New York strip, sounds pretty gosh darn good to me. - Yeah, there's a good chance we'll be driving our bar, barbecue pit down to jar, and actually doing the cooking ourselves, my long-time chef of 40 years, but I've got to promise to come along. So, it should be a wonderful party reunion, wonderful time. We have so many customers from Southern California. It's really our home base. - And, you know, we definitely appreciate that you're only a hop skip and a jump away from us. Now, in terms of some of the other celebrations that are going on, you mentioned some things that are, some festivals that are coming up in your area. There's something that's gonna be happening. I think there's a screening at the Slovang Festival Theater. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those other local activities before we talk about the other LA engagement that you have in terms of a dinner? - So, the September 29th visit, Taste of the Valley is called, and they over a 40 period go to every town and celebrate that town on Sunday, the 29th. The celebration of built-in will be a sideways food and wine festival at the Hitching Post taking room property, beautiful Riverbank Mountain View property, outdoor food and wine tasting, Pinotwars from the Santa Rita Hills and other wines from the region here too, along with five different restaurants coming on site to cook the taste of food, to go with the wine. Then after that, we'll be doing the screening of sideways at the Slovang Festival Theater and outdoor venue, and we'll have a panel that will have Virginia Mountain and myself for sure, talking about the movie, and it will be a fun gathering from celebration amongst all these events happening in the San Luis Valley that we can taste of the valley. And then, finally, in terms of Los Angeles, the night that you're after you're at JAR, for people that Culver City is a little bit more convenient for you and Gray are going to be at Akasha, and I believe it is an Alacart dinner, but it's inspired by your local ingredients and local produce, and then how are the wine pairings gonna work for that one? - You know, we haven't quite finalized all that. We'll be showing a selection of wines, and then people will be able to order what they want, so it's kind of a free-form casual situation. We'll be basically at that restaurant, at a table, pouring our wines as a tasting when people come in to dying, then they will go to their seat order what they want, so they won't force them to drink anything, but we will bring some more low. - Great, and so again, that dinner at Akasha in Culver City is Wednesday, October 30th, and that's all Alacart. So, a lot of different expressions to be able to get in on the sideways festivities, I'm happy to say. Gray and Frank, again, congratulations on Winemaker of the Year. That is a pretty prestigious honor, and then, as far as all the festivities with sideways, what fun, and 20 years ago, who could have imagined that we would be talking about this now? Kind of special. - Very special, yes, Andy. Thank you so much, Andy, and I gotta say, you are one of the best at what you do, and thank you for having me, that's worth no honor. - Guys, it's, you know, to know people like you and have those relationships over the years, and how philanthropic and charitably-minded you both are, it is a pleasure to give you a showcase on the show. Before we say goodbye, what is the best website to get more information about the Hitching Post wines that are involved in all of this, and the activities that you're directly involved with? - So, if you go to HitchingPost2, the number two.com, it will lead you, then you can go straight to the sideways Hitching Post collaboration page. It has all the events. So it's HitchingPost2.com. - Frank and Gray, thank you to be continued and all good wishes tomorrow evening. You are listening to The SoCal Restaurant Show. We're running a little over, but how can you say goodbye to Frank and Gray when we return? It is Stone Cat Cafe in Hector, New York. What a story of resilience. It is The SoCal Restaurant Show, we're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. Give us a minute, we'll be back.
