Kelseyville >> When Chacewater bought 20 acres of land beside their winery and olive mill, the team had the future in mind.
On Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26, Chacewater is hosting a Music Festival and Black Label Wine Release. Four separate bands will play all weekend long as the public checks out four of the winery’s new reserve wines. Chacewater expects 500 to 600 people will attend. It’s the biggest event of its kind in the county in recent years. If Chacewater gets their way, the festival will only continue to grow as the winery brings in more bands and releases more wines annually. “We’d love for that to happen, for it to become a music venue,” said winemaker Mark Burch. “The 20 acres were all about expansion for us and to create enough space to actually have that kind of venue.”
In 2009, the closure of Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa hit the county hard. Without the large, outdoor venue, there was a sizable gap in the entertainment scene. But now, Chacewater hopes to fill that gap. Their goal is to “create a place where we can host 3,000 people,” Burch said. “That certainly is our intention that we grow this place where we really become a destination.”
Upon acquiring the chunk of land, Chacewater first installed a new parking lot. They already have a professional sound system, lighting and stage as well as a portable wine pavilion and convention booth. Their next order of business is aesthetics.
The winery hopes the event gives Lake County’s tourism industry a boost. Burch commented that he often hears complaints about how people don’t visit the area and there are few things to partake in when they do. “Well, is it the chicken or the egg? You’ve got to start somewhere. When you throw awesome events, people come,” he continued. “This is our commitment to the vision that we have for Lake County.”
Two cover bands will take to the stage on Saturday, the Unauthorized Rolling Stones and Duran Duran Duran, while two original groups perform Sunday, bluegrass band Paige Anderson and the Fearless Kin and Seattle-based country rockers Jones and Fischer. Chacewater made it a point to look outside the county for music acts. “We’ve got to draw entertainment that these folks don’t see all the time,” Burch said.
Though they didn’t advertise the music festival in the Bay Area, they see the event attracting out-of-towners in the future. A good portion of Chacewater’s wine club members are Bay Area residents with second homes in Lake County and the winery hopes these people will attend the festival and head home to tell their friends about it. “We do have a draw out of the Bay Area. We want to expand that draw because we are very successful with them,” Burch said.
But Chacewater is nothing if not realistic. Though they’re expecting a nearly 600 person turnout, it’s not enough to outweigh the costs of putting on such a large event. However, they’re not worried about it. The first year Napa held their annual BottleRock music festival, Burch said the event bombed. Just a few years down the line and over 100,000 people attended the festival this year. “We’ve observed and studied other venues that are very similar to ours. We know they’ve had many years of not great success,” Burch explained. “We know that even though we’re going to lose money this year, we’re going to put in effort to make sure everybody has a great experience.”
They’ve rented a shuttle bus which will carry people from Kelseyville High School to the winery and a limo and pedicabs will be on site to transport attendees to downtown Kelseyville. Between shows, people can hit Kelsey Creek Brewery or the other wineries, grab a coffee or a bite to eat and check out the local shops. Local vendors will also be set up at the event. “When you do multiple types of things it appeals to multiple types of people,” Burch said. The music festival isn’t only about fulfilling the need for a large entertainment venue. It’s also intended to pay homage to the Black Label wines, which have a little something more than the winery’s previous releases. “This is a big undertaking but on the other hand these wines we’re releasing, these aren’t just four more wines. We’ve got to do something and say this is special,” Burch said. “[The music festival] honors what we’re trying to do here … Take things to another level, create quality wines and create a quality venue for people to come in and enjoy.”
Chacewater has been working toward the Black Label wines since 2010. The grapes are more expensive, the oak wine barrels originate in France instead of America and they’ve aged the wine longer. Burch compared the process to skimming the cream from the milk and using that to make the reserve wines. While the milk is already good, the cream is even better. “Our reserve wine is our wine that you’ve actually put in a tremendous amount of extra effort. You’ve made the financial commitment to those barrels, to finding vineyards that are high and unique,” Burch explained. “That’s the type of commitment it takes to take your wine to the next level.”
The music festival celebrates that commitment. “We believe in ourselves, we believe in our wine,” Burch said. “These wines are really great wines. We want you to know we are proud of them and we feel we are going to be highly successful.”
Each year, Chacewater plans to release new reserve wines in conjunction with a music festival. They’d eventually like to bring in bigger names and larger crowds. “This is not about, let’s see how much money we can make. This isn’t a one hit wonder,” said Burch. “I hope the series outlives me.”
The Music Festival and Black Label Wine Release is this weekend, July 25-26 at Chacewater Winery and Olive Mill in Kelseyville. The event is from 3 -9 p.m. on Satuday and 12 -5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $45 for a two day pass and can be purchased online at chacewaterwine.com or by calling Chacewater at 707-279-2995.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
