Sunday, March 20, 2011

Wine and Snow

Take 9 friends, add a 60th birthday celebration, and transport the party into the California foothills for a wine and food tasting, and you have an event that promises to be fun. Oh, add snow. SNOW??? Wait, that wasn't on the dance-card. All the rain that Northern California has been getting translated into snow in the high-country vineyards.  The limo was a bit of a let-down, more on that later.

The rows of vines, bare and stark against the new snow was breath-taking.  Or, maybe it was the temperature...crisp and cold-cold-cold!  We all looked like steam engines walking from one building to another.  I happily discovered that new snow makes snowballs that burst apart when coming in contact with winter coats and hats. No fair hiding behind your wife when you are a target, someone else will get you! 



While waiting in line for the ladies room, (a good place for social interactions...) I started talking with Holly, (The Holly of Holly's Hill Winery) and asked if there would be any objection to my coming back to paint when the weather was more conducive to being out doors, and she was delighted at the idea. Artists and wine are a natural pairing, almost as good as Abalone and Viognier! Here the vines nestle among pines and oaks of the foothills, instead of the lower elevation vinyards of Napa and Sonoma.  The differences in the grapes caused by varying soils and growing conditions could take a lifetime to learn. 

Meanwhile, the story of the limo may have to wait for another posting. The new "improved" editor won't let me add any more photos, so I think I will back away, and return to post another day, to paraphrase a long lost quote.  Taaa Taaa