The Blog

Traditionally kicked off by the San Diego County Fair and a return to warmer weather (sigh) San Diego’s summer is in full swing!  Our annual holiday BBQ on July 2nd was a smash hit and Chef Russell Hawkins delivered!  Highlights included his fig bruschetta with honey ricotta, smoked Kurobuta pork shoulder, porchetta mac and cheese with Reggiano and Pecorino, grilled sweet potatoes with chimichurri, the giant blueberry crumble cookie from the Oceanside Cookie Company and our Syrah-Blackberry gelato!  Mark’s massive vintage 1944 American flag and the Heartstrings Band’s classic rock tunes contributed to the ambiance – it was a delightful day afternoon!

In the vineyard, all of our vines have been trained, thinned, tucked and fertilized thanks to a terrific crew and several of our vineyard consultants.  The tiny green grape clusters have formed and slowly growing.  We have our fingers crossed that we don’t have any significant summer heat spikes and we continue to benefit from maritime influences cooling the vineyards in the evening and into the morning.   El Nino is here however, and record temperatures have already been set in many parts of the United States.

In the cellar we are bottling 2021 Grenache and 2021 Syrah and Mark is beginning the process of working out quantities for blending our 2021 “GSMs”.   If you have visited the tasting room lately, you will notice that we have pulled our 2022 Viognier and 2020 Mourvèdre from sales and have set them aside for our fall wine club allocations.  Mourvèdre fans beware, our 2021 vintage was extremely light!

We also have an exciting announcement – our wine club is now 100% allocated and we have started a waiting list!   Good news is on the horizon as production will be increasing with our 2023 vintage as the past wet winter helped re-charge our groundwater and vines.  Additionally, we have several “4th leaf” blocks of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Clairette Blanche (a new white blending varietal) coming online. 

July Happenings  –

Friday July 21 – “Phil’s Trivia Night” 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Join us for a fun evening and test your pop culture acumen at Phil’s Trivia Night!  Phil is renowned for covering a broad range of topics that spans multiple decades and diverse topics.  Create your “uber” team and test your wits.  Bring an appetizer to share – seating indoors for 22 to 24 comfortably to view the screen.  $15 per person w/o tax

Trivia Night Ticket link:  Tickets Here

August Happenings –

Saturday August 26 – “Phil’s Trivia Night” 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. 

Bring an appetizer to share – seating indoors for 22 to 24 comfortably to view the screen.  $15 per person w/o tax

Trivia Night Ticket link: Tickets Here

Sunday August 27 Chef Carlos of Herb & Wood  – an intimate dinner in our Olive Grove from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Our second chef’s dinner will be featuring Chef Carlos Anthony of Herb & Wood Restaurant.  Join us as Chef Carlos takes us on a “family-style” alfresco dinning adventure.

Chef Carlos will be creating a “live fire” Mediterranean inspired four-course dinner highlighting the region’s bounty and paired with Domaine Artefact’s wines.  Courses will be sourced from the land and from the sea.  The menu will be artful and inspiring and there will be plenty of options for vegetarians.  Please note that one of the courses will be featuring lamb.

The menu will be artful and inspiring and there will be plenty of options for vegetarians.  Please note that one of the courses will be featuring lamb.

Please arrive early for parking and join us for appetizers.  Dinner will be served at 5:00 p.m. and will be limited to 60 guests.

Pricing is $210.00 per person with tax, wine and gratuity included and $175.00 per person without wine pairing.

Private Dining/Events –

Thinking about a private dinner at Domaine Artefact?  We have two AMAZING chefs – Russell Hawkins and Coral Strong that have expressed an interest in working with us and our wine club members to create a memorable wine/food pairing experience.  Your menus can be customized and we can accommodate parties of 10 to 24.  Please feel free to reach out to Stevie Himmelright at [email protected] to connect.

Upcoming – 

July is vacation time for many people and we will be resuming cooking classes in August/September. We are also working to offer WSET Level 2 course in the fall – it will be five (5), four (4) hour sessions.  Ideally, we need a minium of 10 people to register.  We are working out the details for this now.

Labor Day BBQ with Chef Russell Hawkins.  We are working with Chef Russell to develop a fall themed cook out for Labor Day – stay tuned for more information! 

Safe travels everyone!

Lynn, Mark, Caroll and the Domaine Artefact Team