My wine blog is my wine journal as a wine publicist. I don’t always write about the wine business, in the process. I’m a stream of consciousness kinda gal. As random as my blog appears to be, there’s one constant thread… My love of writing. And since I write about wine all day, sometimes I write about my other passions. This is one of those stories. And, if I were in your shoes, I’d grab a favorite glass of wine and join in the festivities.
Facebook has delivered some very intriguing people to my computer screen. Some in wine, some old friends and we’ve reconnected, and some just new to my life via Facebook…
I want to share Liudas Guzas with you. I can’t even remember who friended whom, but we’re now connected. Everyday, Liudas posts images he’s taken. Most are in black and white, some have hints of a color, but they’re purposefully not colorful. They’re shades of gray, and his work has really caught my eye. I mostly feel compelled to comment, perhaps with only one word… Recently, instead of commenting on what I was seeing, I asked, “When is your exhibit?” He replied, “2016.” I knew it… It’s been building and I would like to be in the building when it launches; except that will be far, far away. He lives in Kaunas, Lithuania.
I’m going to share just a few with you. If you’d like to see more, check Liudas out on Facebook. He is definitely and artist to watch. I’m also going to pair wines that are already handy in our wine storage.
Art to enjoy with wine, by Liudas Guzas
Liudas Guzas added a comment, “Merry Christmas!!!!!” I called it, ” Beautiful! Imagine the unimaginable…” I’d enjoy this one with a 2014 Delectus Petite Sirah Rosé. While any rosé wine is much lighter in character, one that begins from the Petite Sirah grape is going to be much more complex that any other variety. Petite (the misnomer of grapes) is bigger and bolder than any of the other varieties. It’s also very well rounded, that spherical Christmas decorations that finds its way onto every Christmas tree. A rose with guts and glory, like the freezing coldness of snow, and yet delicate as these slightly off-rose colored leaves.
All I could write was “wonderful.” But, it evoked memories of snow storms like this: light, fluffy, and slightly hanging on to a branch… puffs of snow that you could let fall onto your mitten (not your hand, because it would melt straight away with any warmth). On a mitten, you might even glimpse a single snow flake, a unique DNA structure ~ diagram-of-a-chromosome-in-a-cell. This photo I could look at for a long time, while sipping winemaker Jeff Herinckx’s Oak Knoll Willamette Valley Pinot Gris. It’s light, refreshing, and yet complex from the local terroir’s influences.
Liudas doesn’t give us names for his work. The Christmas one above was his Christmas card on Facebook. This one prompted me to ask, “So, when is the exhibit?” By now, I was deeply into his daily dose of nature’s structural architecture. This wine is definitely a Pinot Noir sipper. It’s complex in its structure; a break from it’s original form and morphing into its own complexity. I’d give this one to a favorite winemaking duo, Joe Freeman and Ed Morris; Joe is the base half of this one as the initial winemaker, and Ed is the upper half as a longtime cooper, who’s now also a winemaker. The two separates make a whole that is very distinguished. Their 2012 Ron Rubin Green Valley of Russian River Valley is this complex; an inaugural wine for the Rubin Family of Wines, it now has eight gold medals to its credit in one year. It’s a serious wine, as this is a seriously complex image… of, “you had to be there.”
I loved this one. I asked, “A kitty feather?” Liudas replied, “seagulls.” Hum, I thought. I countered with, “Sea gull with a kitty reflection…” So many layers here, but the thought of kitty brought me right to a Sauvignon Blanc… Oak Grove makes a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc. When any of my friends want to know which wine to buy for a large group, I can only say, Oak Grove Wines. I intimately know these wines. I know the backstory of how these wines came into being. They’re great house wines. I recommend them for any celebration, but primarily for weddings, because a quality $9 bottle of wine is hard to beat, when you’re feeding the masses. (They also get great reviews as “Best Buy” wines, as well as gold medals for their price category.) The Sauvignon Blanc has the right amount of the kitty factor… Not too much, not too little. Grapes from these wines come from the Central Coast and are sustainably farmed. In my world, what’s not to love?
My final one for you… This one reminded me of the images that I’ve taken, when returning to SFO at night by jets. I love the frenetic lights that squiggle across the pictures that I’ve taken, due to the plane’s motions. This image reminded me of those landings. The dark against the blue… Complex. This one would be one that I’d enjoy with our new client John Kane’s Moonset. John is the owner/winemaker of JCK Wines. He’s hand crafting big, bold, artisan wines, which are really juicy. His Moonset is a blend that’s Zinfandel-based, with Petite Sirah, and Alicante Bouschet from three distinct vineyards in Sonoma County. We recently enjoyed Moonset: the skeletal structure, like this image, comes from the Petite Sirah; the grey matter is the Zinfandel (being the primary ingredient). And the hints of blueberries that are squiggly and drippingly tasty are reminiscent of the Alicante Bouschet’s character, with movement all going in one primary direction. This has been John’s life since his early years; working hard and delivering the goods of qualtiy and style.
Recent Comments