Thursday, February 19, 2009

Wine Tasting

 Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 12 x 10''
Created January 17 - February 19, 2009, # 155

It has been a while since my last posting. After the Christmas Holiday, I did a complete make-over of our basement, which also included my studio. I am extremely pleased with the outcome. So after a one month hiatus from my brushes, this type of imagery is always intimidating when I am not painting on a daily basis. It's a process of defining, redefining and what seems like an endless series of tiny details.

In this windowsill still life, we find three completely different wines. Aufkellereien, is the German white wine as previously painted in Cheers. An Australian Shiraz, also known as Syrah. A dark skin variety of grape is used in this blend with a bouquet of ripe cherries, strawberries, spice and vanilla oak aroma. Yellow Tail Wines is bottled by Casella Wines . Completing the trio is a Gewürztraminer Ice wine. Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape variety that performs best in cooler climates. This 2005 vintage was bottled by Sumac Ridge, a winery near Summerland, in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. 2005 was a very hot year with high brix levels resulting in an abundant fruit character. The grapes were picked at less than minus 8 degrees Celsius and underwent a slow cold fermentation for 45 days. The word Brix is used in the food industry for measuring the approximate amount of sugars in fruits, vegetables, juices, wine, soft drinks and in the sugar manufacturing industry.

We did a road trip of BC and Alberta in 2007 and drove through the beautiful Okanagan Valley where we visited the Burrowed Owl Estate Winery in Oliver. The wine was great, and the scenery was breathtaking.
-SOLD