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Sunny Doench Stricker is the actor-vintner behind the winery Future Perfect, as well as this weekend’s Corkscrew Comedy Festival (courtesy photo)

BY GABE SAGLIE   |   Montecito Journal

The mastermind behind the whimsical Future Perfect wine brand is also the driving force behind the inaugural Corkscrew Comedy Festival, slated for this weekend. It’ll be three days of stand-up comedy across multiple venues in the Santa Ynez Valley. Barrels of wine – and laughs – guaranteed.

“I’ve always loved producing,” says Doench Stricker, who’s been involved in dozens of film and TV projects, both behind and in front of the camera, since the mid-nineties. Regular trips to Santa Barbara’s wine country inspired a permanent move a few years ago, and a wine venture. But she soon realized, “That’s what the valley is missing – some comedy!”

The actor-turned-vintner launched the Corkscrew Comedy Festival with four friends who, themselves, tout impressive entertainment and comedy chops: the wife-and-husband teams of Dianne and Dan Dominguez, and Anna Vocino and Loren Tarquinio. The latter duo will be taking the stage this weekend, too, along with 15 other jokers, a lineup that was chosen from dozens of video submissions. “It was like doing casting for acting, which is challenging,” says Doench Stricker. “Some were brilliant, others you could tell they were new, some were hard to watch! But comedy is difficult, so those who didn’t make the cut, we encouraged them to keep at it, and to apply again next year.”

Among the wisecrackers who did make the cut: Liz Greenwood, who’s taken the stage at the Laugh Factory and appeared on HBO’s Women in Comedy Fest; Mav Viola, who’s done improv at Second City and opened for performers like Margaret Cho and Whitney Cummings; and Matt Payton, a former editor for the Doonesbury, Cathy, and Ziggy comic strips who’s done standup at The Laugh Factory in L.A.

Proceeds from this weekend’s laugh fest are earmarked for the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society / DAWG (Dog Adoption & Welfare Group). The amusement will be presented across three special Santa Ynez Valley locations. Each night is $25.

Friday’s opening night laughs will take place at the legendary Maverick Saloon in the historic township of Santa Ynez. Six cutups will take the stage, starting at 6 pm, and guests will be able to order off the tavern’s lengthy list of wine, beer and cocktails. The comedy audience can stay for the music set scheduled for 9:30 pm (country crooner Jimi Nelson is on the marquee), with the $10 cover charge for that waived.

Fest co-creator Anna Vocino will take the stage along with her Eat Happy Kitchen providing gourmet lunch boxes during Sunday’s brunch (courtesy photo)

Saturday night brings the side-splitting experience to Brander Vineyard, the pioneer property in Los Olivos that, this year, is celebrating 50 years of winemaking greatness. Vintner Fred Brander will be popping corks on some of his Bordeaux-inspired best; he’s also hand-selected the evening’s food purveyors, which include El Tequila Taco Bar and Tubby Cravings. The 6 pm event will feature five standup acts.

And Sunday’s uproarious finale takes on a brunch vibe at the lovely 27 Vines. The sprawling venue, terraced and embraced by grapevines, will welcome guests from 11 am to 2 pm. Five zanies will provide laughs while a pack of pups – dogs available for adoption through the weekend’s beneficiary – provide the oohs and aahs. The wines will be Doench Stricker’s own, from her Future Perfect label.

“I make wines I love to drink,” she tells me. “That was my business plan – in case no one showed up, I’d at least have wine I like! Then again, your vibe attracts your tribe!” So, she makes sparkling wines “with tiny bubbles and high velocity,” sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, grenache, and Provence-style rosé. “Mine are Old World-style – bright, aromatic, well-balanced, sexy wines,” says the winemaker. “Lower in alcohol, too, so great food wine, great on their own!” Launched in 2019, Future Perfect, with an apropos sun-and-rainbow logo, launched in 2019 and produces just about 1,800 cases a year. Its Los Olivos tasting room is open daily from 11 am to 5 pm. Find out more at futureperfectwine.com.

As for food at Sunday’s closing event: Eat Happy Kitchen, a culinary side hustle for one of the comedy festival’s founders, Anna Vocino, will provide gourmet box lunches.

My favorite part of my recent chat with Sunny was her ruminating about the common thread between doing comedy and making wine. Both are art forms, I suggest, and performances in their own right, and success in both hinges on how a consumer, a complete stranger to you, responds to something produced via one’s blood, sweat and tears.

“Making wine is like auditioning every vintage, hoping people will like it,” she tells me. 

“It’s funny – my twin brother, who’s a filmmaker, once told me he found it fascinating that I spent an entire life in film and as a TV actor, then parlayed into winemaking, spend many months, even years, on a project, pour my heart and love into it – and then I put it out in front of people, and sit there, auditioning for them, wondering – will they like this?!

“But when you do something with all your heart and dreams and soul, I think it’s in there! I think you can taste it in the wine when it’s made with love and kindness and joy – and you can taste grumpy wine! Any praise I’ve ever received for what I’ve done on stage, it’s the same with my wine: I just hope people feel like I’m honestly giving it everything I have.”

And that’s no laughing matter.

Three days of comedy screams last-minute staycation in the Santa Ynez Valley. My friends at visitsyv.com have leads on last-minute stays. You can’t go wrong with the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos, The Genevieve Hotel in old-town Santa Ynez and The Landsby
in Solvang.

Dates for next year’s Corkscrew Comedy Festival are already set: June 19-21, 2026. Cheers to that!

For tickets, go to corkscrewcomedy.com

Three couples with comedy in their veins put their collective talents to work on the three-day event in the Santa Ynez Valley

What do six people, all immersed in the region’s wine and culinary industry, also have in common? Comedy!

The principals, who met one another after relocating to the Santa Ynez Valley, are winemaker Sunshine “Sunny” Doench Stricker of Future Perfect Wine and her husband, Nate Stricker; Anna Vocino, comedian and author of the “Eat Happy Kitchen” cookbook series, and her husband, writer and comedian Loren Tarquinio; and Dianne and Dan Dominguez, owners of the Santa Ynez vineyard and event venue 27 Vines. Dianne Dominguez is an alumni of The Second City Hollywood, and Dan Dominguez spent 30 years in the tech industry.

This hilarious pack of six friends invited me to 27 Vines earlier this month to share their hopes for the Corkscrew Comedy Festival, which will debut over three days — Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13. Over sparkling wine from Future Perfect and “cheese bites” (savory crackers) made by Vocino, they outlined their “passion project.”

The event will kick off that Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a show at the Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez. That Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the festival will move to Brander Vineyard in Los Olivos. On that Sunday, it will take place at 27 Vines, located on Refugio Road in Santa Ynez. Sunday’s show will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Since 27 Vines is the smallest venue and has limited parking, carpooling is recommended.

The site contains a three-acre vineyard planted to cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and vermentino. The Dominguezes produce some wine for themselves and friends, and sell grapes to another winemaker.

All money raised from the weekend will benefit the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society, organizers said. In addition, on Sunday at 27 Vines, the humane society will have about 20 adoptable dogs and cats on site, so be prepared to mingle with some furry friends.

Vocino, who has three “Eat Happy Kitchen” cookbooks — “Eat Happy,” “Eat Happy Two” and “Eat Happy Italian” — and a fourth in the works, also crafts a line of products such as cheese bites, sauces, dressing and spice mixes, all of which are sugar, carb and gluten free.

Billed as Corkscrew’s producers, Vocino and Tarquinio are 20-year entertainment industry veterans. Tarquinio is an Emmy-winning writer whose credits include “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Free Radio,” from Comedy Central. Vocino has voiced thousands of cartoons, video games, commercials, murder shows and promos for ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS.

“Comedy is my favorite art form,” she told me.

Since 2017, the couple have performed a dual act about marriage, and will be the opening act at Brander Vineyard.

All three couples noted that their “epic strengths and specific talents” made planning the festival relatively straightforward. Stricker enjoyed three decades in Hollywood acting and producing before opening her Future Perfect Wine tasting room in Los Olivos in 2021.

When the team, all residents of the Santa Ynez Valley, gathers to plan, “we just laugh, and we get so much done,” Stricker said. “We just enjoy each other so much. It’s fun.”

As a team, “we all have connections with comics across the United States,” and the Dominguezes have experience developing events. They purchased 27 Vines with hosting in mind, Stricker said.

“We’re all fully committed to this passion project and hope to spotlight the Santa Ynez Valley and its wines,” she said.

Dianne Dominguez and Vocino anticipate seeing “a more devoted and receptive audience in the Santa Ynez Valley.”

Besides, “we all really need this (good) energy right now.” Dianne Dominguez agreed: “Hearing an audience laugh is the best.”

Here’s the lineup, which Tarquinio noted could be subject to a few tweaks:

Friday at the Maverick: Mattio Martinez, John Liu, Brooklyn Jones, Fielding Edlow, Jon Dunn and Jessica Keenan.

Saturday will kick off with Vocino and Tarquinio, followed by Alan Snider, Liz Greenwood, Clara Altimas, Jay Hunter McNeal and Mav Viola.

Sunday will include Liz Pollock, Matt Payton, Rachel Forman, Lia Richardson and Sean Hamrin.

The team shared gratitude to Fred Brander, founder/owner of Brander Vineyard, for offering courtyard space and donating wines for the Saturday portion of the festival. Tubby Cravings and El Tequilo Taco Bar will be on site with food available for purchase.

Stricker’s Future Perfect Wine will be poured at Sunday’s event. Other sponsors include El Rancho Market, New Frontiers Natural Marketplace, Firestone Walker, Eat Happy Kitchen and the Maverick Saloon.

by Laurie Jervis, Noozhawk Columnist

BY GABE SAGLIE   |   MARCH 4, 2025

“Santa Barbara has always been more of a maverick type of region,” winemaker Karen Steinwachs tells me. “And that certainly has helped female talent to flourish.”

Steinwachs and I are discussing the remarkable number of women winemakers in the area, a cohort which has grown solidly over the decades. These days, female leadership drives some of Santa Barbara’s favorite brands like Carhartt, Zaca Mesa and Story of Soil, as well as many of the region’s newest viticultural endeavors, including Provignage, Pars Fortuna, and Mi Casa. It’s an impressive representation, especially when compared to the global wine industry of female winemakers accounting for about 10% of lead winemaker roles. 

Steinwachs herself has been an important player in the Santa Barbara wine scene for close to 25 years, at brands like Foley, Fiddlehead, and Buttonwood. She is currently producing about 500 cases of pinot noir, chardonnay, gewürztraminer, and pinot gris each year under her Seagrape Wine Co. label. When I tactfully ask if being female brings something special and unique to the wines she makes, she –  with comparable tact – reminds me that “Mother Nature is a girl!” and suggests that a feminine approach is about “less brawn, more brain.”

She adds: “We tend to be detail-oriented people, we pay so much attention to each wine! And we’re also such a community! We just reach out to each other when we need help – no ‘mine is bigger than yours’ kind of thing!”

This love and appreciation for all things female will be on full display during the Women Winemakers and Culinarians Celebration taking place across the Santa Ynez Valley March 6^th through the 9^th. Four days, four unique events, with the festival’s “Grand Tasting” ($149) – a three-hour early afternoon fête at 27 Vines Vineyard that’ll star more than 35 women winemakers – coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8^th. The worldwide observance was launched in 1909 to spotlight working women’s achievements.

This annual celebration launched several years ago, but it’s on firmer footing now, thanks to the recent formation of a nonprofit 501(c)3 foundation to spearhead it. Steinwachs serves as president, with actor-turned-vintner Sunny Doench Stricker pulling VP duties. Her wine brand, Future Perfect, with an eclectic tasting room in downtown Los Olivos, is inspired by “a culture of love, inclusion and bliss,” says the winemaker.

When I ask about her own inspirations as a female entrepreneur in Santa Barbara wine country, Doench Stricker points to several “epic male winemakers who’ve been so encouraging and who still champion how I make wine!” She gives a super enthusiastic nod to the way her mother raised her, though. “She always encouraged me to razzle dazzle, and to make sure everybody else is also shining, and to celebrate every day!” says Doench Stricker.

That ethos of support and recognition inspire the festival’s “Sips and She-Nanigans – a Sassy Soirée” event ($99) on Friday, March 7^th, complete with a red-carpet welcome at the Fess Parker Winery estate. “We’re going to honor gals we call ‘the wind beneath our wings,’” says Doench Stricker. “These are women who work in the food and wine industries but that we wouldn’t naturally hear about,” like behind-the-scenes line cooks and enologists. “These are women we depend on and who work tirelessly – passion is their power!”

The flashy food-and-wine party will also feature performances by two stand-up comediennes. 

The festival’s opening night affair will honor a Santa Barbara County legend, Lane Tanner, widely known as a pioneer. Her career launched in the early 1980s and has included stints with Firestone, Hitching Post Wines and, most recently, Lumen. Tanner has announced retirement from winemaking, moving on to consulting roles now. The “Lane Tanner Tribute Dinner (& Stories)” event ($125), slated for 5:30 pm on Thursday, March 6^th, will take place at the historic Zaca Creek property in Buellton.

The female feasting comes to an effervescent finale with the “Bubbly Bash” ($135) on Sunday, March 9th, from 9:30 am to noon, at Vega Vineyard & Farm. A variety of what some are dubbing ‘breakfast wines’ – lots of sparklers – by labels like Loubud, Camins 2 Dreams, Amber Rose, Seagrape and Future Perfect will be poured, with gourmet brunch fare by Vega Vineyard’s chef, Louise Smith.

The festival features a charitable angle, too. Last year, it raised $20,000 for She Raised Her Hand, which benefits women veterans. This year will see two Santa Barbara County-based beneficiaries: the NatureTrack Foundation, which provides accessibility to nature and travel for people in wheelchairs, and Mo’s To-Go, offering kitchen skills training and work opportunities for people with disabilities.

Two local winemakers who recently passed away, Kris Curran and Angela Soleno, will be recognized in memoriam.

And among Steinwachs’ closing remarks, a resolute invitation for the rest of us: “Men are more than welcome, of course!” See you there!  

For your tickets, go to www.sbwomenwinemakers.com