Sunday, February 26, 2012

Winter Wining at Rapahannock



My winter wine destination for "Wine Saturday" was Rapahannock Cellars, a winery near Front Royal, Virginia. It was a longer journey than I usually do for a wine day, but it was worth it. Every one of the wines on their tasting list had something good about it, and there were no clunkers in the bunch. I was on a quest for Chardonnay and I found what I was looking for. Their Chardonnay is missing the usual sourness and it has a nice sequence of flavors including plenty of soft and mellow oak. I bought a bottle to go with my next chicken dish or crockpot concoction. The tasting staff was very friendly and cheerful especially my humorous host "Andy."

After tasting I sat at their doorway and drew this scene looking through their windows, on my iPad. Many customers had never seen an iPad used for sketching and I got a lot of attention. Rapahannock has a beautiful hilly view of vines and trees and rocks from wherever you stand, and has a nicely done event and dining room as well with spacious windows. It looks good even in the winter and I want to come back when it is all leafy and viney and green.

My picture shows the leafless winter vines in their rows in front of the hillsides in afternoon light. Winter isn't really over; it was a cold and blustery day with sailing clouds and a stray snowflake or two.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, about an hour or so. Trees and twigs touched up in Photoshop after downloading to my main system. February 25, 2012.

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