Tasting Notes For PAWA

http://www.saviahcellars.com/

This year Plein Air Washington's paint-out-theme for 2017 is Valleys to Vineyards.  May 19-20 Laura Gables and I will be hosting an event in Eastern Washington that will take in several of our lovely wineries with their vineyard views. In addition to all the info for painting at the event I am providing some wine tasting notes for the wineries that will be hosting us.  Our first day will be spent in Walla Walla Washington.  

Tasting Notes for Walla Walla

Saviah Cellars
  Saviah in the past has been one of my favorite wineries in Walla Walla.  The people are great and I would join their club if I lived there. The Jack labels are a great price point for your everyday table wine.  In the past their Cabs have been high on my list for a great bottle to share over a hearty beef stew with my hubby.  
  

2014 Cabernet Sauvignon: Light upfront with a peppery spicy finish and a zesty citrus bite.  Mild oak and tannin's.  

2013 Syrah Reserve: 93 pt. Wine Enthusiast   Gold Great NW Wine competition.  Very spicy with hints of ginger and a long smooth finish.  Slightly sweet with big flavors of black and red fruit.This Syrah was the stand out wine in the line up this year.  

2012 Hunt and Gather Red Blend: 92pts. Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. Aromas of huckleberry, plum and black olives.  Smooth cashmere mouth feel and vibrant flavors of blue fruits and dark coffee.
2011 Petit Verdot: This single varietal is usually used for blending but recently is being sold as a standalone wine.  The color alone intrigued me.  Dark inky marionberry red. The flavor was a big bold blast in your mouth and ended in a dry earthy note.

There are some pretty views from this winery with a nice patio to enjoy your lunch or take a nice break on.  I could easily paint from here with a glass of wine at my side!

Amavi Cellars

This winery sits pretty high up on a hill overlooking vineyards and the distant Blue Mountains.    They have a gazebo off to the side which will provide some shade if needed and some great vistas. This wine I did get a chance to taste!  They were so very gracious and I was indeed very pleased with the wine tasting and the ambiance of their tasting room.

2015 Semillon: This was a light easy to drink white wine with a great balance of acidity and sweetness.  Think pineapple and citrus grove, with a bright finish.

2014 Syrah: This was a medium spicy Syrah with a strong hit of tannin's on the finish.  If you are a Syrah fan this will please you and your company.

2014: Cabernet Sauvignon: This cab has a medium boldness with some hints of mineral flavors.  Most Walla Walla Cabs are not as heavily bodied as Yakima Valley and Red Mt. AVA’s can deliver. I found it to have some black fruit overtones with a bit of spice mid palat.

2014 Ceres Red (Tempranillo):  Now my husband would be drinking this with a cigar on the back porch.  Classic leathery taste with some cedar and fudge flavors. Pretty smooth with a hint of berries.

Northstar Winery and Pepper Bridge are going to be your classic Walla Walla wines with that Walla Walla price point.  I did not taste their wines.  They did have some of the best views for vineyards and distance.

Castillo De Feliciana Vineyards on the other hand is one of my favorite spots to land at the end of the day.  The wine and the surrounding vista at sunset is pure sweetness.  The Spanish styled wines are also my favorite!!!  The Tempranillo, Garnacha, and the white Albariño are not to be missed!

Walla Walla Vintners

If you decide to make it over to paint some of their rolling hill views you must buy a bottle of their Sangiovese.  It was my favorite Sangiovese for the last couple of years both for the flavor and price point. 

2015 Columbia Valley Sangiovese: This is a highly drinkable wine for you and your guests to accompany a hearty Italian meal. It is medium bodied and has that distinguishing Chianti flavor with some wild fruit and spice going on. I want more!

This week I will be re visiting my favorite Washington Wine AVA "Red Mountain" and will be giving you some up to the minute tasting notes here on this blog before you head over!  YUM

http://pleinairwashington.blogspot.com/

Mission Statement:  To promote plein air painting in the State of Washington by providing painting, learning, and exhibiting opportunities.

Your Invited to come away with me...

                                                           The good life

...on my dream trip to Italy!  Yes finally after 2 weddings two new grandbabies, a few new businesses and two grueling hip surgeries for my husband we are finally on our way.  We are not going Rick Steve style, we are not going with a tour, but we are setting out to explore and discover on our own what Bella vita (the good life) is all about in Italy.  I have spent weeks of my life planning this trip.  Now I know why travel agents earn their money!  In all that planning I have just grown my appetite for more.  So this is trip #1.  I can't possibly do it all or even part of it in one 24 day jaunt.  The itinerary will be Florence, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast and Rome.  Yes I am leaving out several must see cities, but I promise you I will be back.  I like to take in the moment, the happening and the experience more then a check list of every site to see, although my husband is already freaking out that I am trying to squeese in too much.  His idea of vacation is Dolce Far Niente (the sweetness of doing nothing)  That really works out for us as he loves to sit and drink a glass of wine on a side walk café as I get engrossed in a plein air sketch or painting in between all the sites I will be dragging him too!  He is a great sport and a wonderful man to join me in this adventure.  We are both a bit giddy.  

There is so much more I want to share, but for now I leave with some of my favorite pic's of what I hope to experience.  

Arriverdverci,

Cindy

okay maybe no other pic's today.  Blogger from an Ipad is going to be a bit tricky...but I promise I will get this figured out in time.  Any advise out there would be appreciated :)

Seven Years

 Seven years in the making, my garden at sunset tonight.  I can't believe we have only lived here seven years.  A lot of life has gone on in this home.  Since we have been here we have seen 2 college graduations, 2 weddings, and 3 grand children.  My cup runneth over.

  I enjoy my garden first thing in the morning then off and on through out the day.  When the sun starts setting I must have another peek.  So come along and join me for a sunset posy walk!  

 My Monet arch is finally getting some rose coverage.

 I wish I really knew how to take photo's like my daughters. They are all kinds of wonderful at it. Meg & Jenna's latest work.
 I planted this rose over six years ago when Miss Eden was born. The rose is named Eden :)

 Tess of the D'urbervilles I just love the name of this rose and her outrageous color!

 This rose was one of my last to be planted, she was hard to come by and perhaps my favorite.  Lady of the Mist...maybe I just love her name too ;)

 The view from inside my garden shed door.  This summer I hope to finally decorate my garden shed like miss Lovejoy's SPRIG

Good night garden!  See you in the morning!

42nd World Wide SketchCrawl

Pasco, WA public Library my most recent sketch

Last fall I finally got a chance to join a local sketching group that I had my eye on for a couple of years.  I found their blog on facebook and really wanted to just have the time to do some sketching and learn how.  These guys were so good!!! Urban Sketchers:Tri Cities

It turns out this is a craze going on around the planet.  Oh yeah how fun is that! Four times a year this group sketches all day around their city and posts their results along with cities like Paris, Tokyo, Barcelona...you get the idea.  It is so fascinating to me to see local culture on the same day through the eyes of artists all over the world. Urban Sketchers

My very first day happened to be one of these WW SketchCrawls and our local group was joining up with a children's art school. So I grabbed Miss Eden and off we went.

Of coarse we grabbed our coffee's from The Local (Jenna & Michael's new coffee shop)

Sketchers spread out all over Leslie Grove Park

 Leslie Grove is a local park on the Columbia River...oh what a glorious fall day!

 The children all gathered when they were done and looked at each other's work.

The children were instructed to sketch the play structure...see the swirly slide on the right ;)  She did a good job on the tic tac toe board!

 It was so cute because after Eden did the playground she turned around and copied the scene I was doing.

Following are some of my recent sketches from around the Tri Cities, WA.

 The Local Coffee Shop

We tend to sketch inside during cold weather

Roaster's Coffee Shop

The Blank Canvas

If you get a chance, check out this link to find the results of the 42nd World Wide SketchCrawl, or better yet join one! This link is for their blogsite, but the other one is worth getting into to see all the action.  Only a few folks have access to post on the blog. Urban Sketchers Blog

Following is their Mission Statement:
Urban Sketchers started online as a flickr group in 2007 and later became a nonprofit organization. Our mission as a nonprofit is to raise the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel. We aim to show the world, one drawing at a time.

Art A Day Challenge and a Walk up Badger

It was a lovely day in the 50's.  So I grabbed Eden to go for a hike with me on Badger Mt.  On our way down she tells me " Nana my legs are walking by themselves."  Mind you she was dragging them all the way UP the mountain. 

 A mindless doodle done while watching Project Runway.  I have joined an ART A DAY blog to help me stay focused on doing some kind of art each day for the month of January. 

Exhausting day putting all the Christmas decoration away. My least favorite moment of Christmas ;(   At least it is all done and put away for next year! Now on to those New Year 2014 goals.

Glorious Chaos & a Happy New Year!

 My beautiful girls Christmas Eve @ Megs

Happy New Years to all !!!! I am presently comatose after 10 glorious days with ALL my family here. Everyone left this morning and as always there is physical relief and emotional grief. I am missing them all sooooo much already, but my body is on strike for at least today and will be in a mostly horizontal position. 

Meg and her girls

Grands preforming jingle bells at hyper speed

 Papa Danny and the rumble

 Michael and Jenna all dressed up

Christmas morning. 

With Meg's help I made linen covered photo journal books of their weddings. The newly weds loved them.

Glorious chaos! 

New Years Eve

I bearly got a decent photo.  I just kept shooting random candid shots as the days and events flew by.

So much fun and joy, bonding and laughter. All our usually family antic's with three fairly new additions with Olivia, Michael and baby Cora starting to understand our hoopla and joining in on all the lovely chaos. 

I have in my minds eye at least a week to focus on some quiet reflection and goal setting with God's direction for 2014. I know there are quite a few things brewing inside me...

For now I wanted to pass on this terrific gift from...Beth Moore!!!  FREE KINDLE BOOKS FROM BETH MOORE! I found them on Amazon...click for more info

Holiday Project

 My good friend Alida came back from Italy boosting about the Limoncello from Positano.  Well it didn't take her long to make her own and share :)

  

We quickly discovered that served over ice with a fresh lemon wedge and even a mint leaf ratchets this delightful after dinner liquor up to a whole new level. 

Inspired I made my own batches and hand painted some tags with a little watercolor.

 

Now the only thing left is to decide who to gift them too =)