Daniel Brunier Of LA ROQUETE Southern Rhone Wines Of Chateauneuf-Du-Pape @ Proof Luncheon In Washington D.C. On A Lovely Friday, January 15th, 2010

This was a great serendipitous luncheon and first meeting of Daniel Brunier that along with his brother Frederic are owners of LE VIEUX TELEGRAPHE and LA ROQUETE, LES PALLIERES and I believe partners with MASSAYA (the Lebanese winery that we sell as well ). A couple of years ago the owner came to the store and tasted his wines with me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. That was a real treat and I enjoyed the experience as well as the wines very much. I have already blogged about that here so just use the search engine to read that blog if you would like. I also liked the owner's hat very much from MASSAYA and it is pictured in some of the pictures.




This, however is my blog about art and as well as the art in wine-making and wine drinking there are also my four out of eight quick portrait sketches that I did of Daniel at this luncheon at Proof restaurant with Daniel Brunier, Eric Platt and Xavier of Washington Wholesalers, Andrew and Moez, too. Go to : chatwine.blogspot.com for more on all of that.




I am an artist and so along with being a father and having a full-time job I do not have a whole lot of spare time for me art. However, having said this I do realize that five minutes here, ten minutes there, and fifteen somewhere else and I have accomplished some things as long as I stay focused and work steadily at the time.




Here you see some of the sketches and some of the poetry. I wrote the poems before arriving at this luncheon at Proof. It was a glorious day on this past Friday and the sun was out and warming me as well as the blue baby skies inspiring me.




I had to park by the National Portrait Gallery and that was easy enough though I did not have enough quarters and so had to go to the restaurant in search of some and to announce that I had arrived. This is when I took this photograph of Daniel just after meeting him and waiting for some quarters. I think I surprised him as I flashed these first two pictures of him but he was a good sport about it.




That is why these sketches exist and why I also have these various blog sites of mine. They are often worked on in small segments of time until I may finally post them. As long as get them posted I do not mind all that much that I have to do it this way. In fact I may bring new things to the table as I do it this way as I have time in between the times I work on them to arrive at new ideas/inspirations / deductions and conclusions : all good things.




I have pictures here of four out of the five quick portrait sketches that I did here in blue ink of Daniel across the table at Proof restaurant from me. It was an intimate gathering : only six of us. I spoke French with Daniel and with Moez later when he arrived. That was a thrill for me as well. Our meal had not arrived yet and so while we sampled the wines and Daniel spoke of them I took my two sheets of paper out and started to sketch quickly never looking down at the paper or what I was doing and just watching him and his movements and facial expressions all the while. Often I am sure that as he moved and turned his head I would draw over whet I had already done. No matter : adds for me to the sense of the fluidity of motion and the animation of the luncheon and of Daniel, too. I like all of this of course because I really like recording some of these moments of ours with both poems ( go to : chatpoetry.blogspot.com ), sketches , photos and signed menus and sheets of paper that mark and record the events. I'm a bit crazy about all of this but it does help to " fill-in " the exact moment and place and all that were present as well as what was eaten and served for wine.




There are only four of the eight sketches here because I gave four of them to Daniel. I would have given them all to him if my Kodak camera had been working well because all I wanted was for him to hold them in front of him and I could have taken the photos of him with them and then they would have all been his. As it was my camera was just not cooperating at that moment and so I asked him to pick one of the two pages ( I did the pages folded in two and front and back ) and he picked one. I will now give him this set if I ever see him again and he would like to have it. That's a promise Daniel.




The portrait sketches have become my new " quick art form " as I can do them easily as people talk and move around and then I can give them to them as a " thank you " and as an appreciation of mine for the moment that we just have shared together. I may keep some, too. But as long as I have photos of the sketches with the people that inspired them then I am happy. It's something that I may do for them and of course I hope thet enjoy them.




I was rushed for time and had forgotten to bring one of my sketch books and so I rummaged around in my trunk and found two pieces of white paper and determined that if the moment arose that I would make some quick portrait sketches of Daniel. Fortunately for me there was time and I took full advantage of it.




I think that they came out okay. I think that they capture some of him : the inner man perhaps? I don't mean them to be sad or too serious,I just draw quickly what I see as it moves and both expressions and lighting and all the rest change and pass quickly before my eyes.




In the attempt not to miss anything I do not look at what I am doing and only at my subject. I want to see as much as I can see and all the smiles and grimaces and wrinkling of the nose and the lines of the face as they appear and as quickly disappear. It's quite an enjoyable thing to do : like being along for a ride and being able to observe/serve fully the moment.

I know that this surprises many as this is not an usual occurrence and so it must be a bit shocking and maybe even off-putting. I do not mean to offend anyone and so I di it as silently and unobtrusively as I possibly can as I want the moment to progress with the least bit of disruption as possible. After all, the event is not simply about me if about me at all.




I do like capturing the moment and it pleases me that I can like this. It's nice to have something to look back on and to help trigger memories as they fade with time. I enjoyed myself immensely and it was great to meet you Daniel and to try the LA ROQUETE white Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2008 as well as the four red LA ROQUETE Chateauneuf-Du-Papes : 2007, 2005, 2006 and the " L'Accent de ROQUETE 2006.

Cheers and Happy New Year to one and to all. Stay-tuned for more of these sketches and if you want to see more just scroll down this site at : chatart.blogspot for more, including the ones I just did in the last week of October, 2009 in Tuscany, Italy with my daughter. TONY

Window Glass / Glasses Of Wine - Our Wine Reps & Our Customers - Facial And The Rest 2006-9

It's always so much fun for me to see what exactly I have once that I have taken these pictures - sometimes many and quickly. Often I do not get a chance to look at them until later and that is a treat for me as I take many pictures and at the time I take them rarely have the time to truly appreciate them.




In these first two pictures I have used a wine glass in each case. In the upper one the glass is cut and belongs to my mother. I really like the effect of the background and of my hand holding the glass at the stem and base of the bowl. I took a picture of a large hairy spider at the National Zoo with my wife at a Zoofari event and it reminds me of some of the same effects. I will have to find that picture and add it here really soon for a comparison.

The picture below is of Olivia one of the two owners of VOILA Imports that brings us so much excellent French country wines. That's a winning smile Olivia if ever I did see one!




The picture above is of Linda one of our sales reps that used to work for Bacchus Imports and then some of the smaller local D.C. metropolitan area importers. Linda's love and specialty has always been Italian and here she was talking with Mike Martin that worked for 13 years at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Mike has left to join his family and many of his childhood memories up in Rochester, New York.

The picture below is of Miriam Caporali, one of the owners of TENUTA VALDIPIATTA in Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy. She and her father own VALDIPIATTA and make some excellent wines together. You have to enlarge this picture here to see her radiant/brilliant smile to full effect. The picture was taken in 2008 I believe.




The picture below is of Bill one of our favorite wine customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I manage the wine department with Mike Martin. Boy did we all have some grand times there. Bill is also an extra virgin olive oil specialist and has taught us more than a thing or two about the best olive oils made in the world. Thanks Bill. You look pretty dapper through this wine glass I do believe!




I love to take pictures of the wine bottles to remember the labels, the names and the vintages. In this picture above I was tasking with Gustavo the excellent Brazilian wine rep for Vinifera Imports. I think Gustavo had ten wines here for me to taste which included two from PELISSERO in the Piemonte region of northwest Italy and one from ZENI. I have carried them both as well as some of these others.

However, because I chose to make this a rather artsy photo with lots of distortions I cannot make out so easily the labels any more and so some will just have to be there for color and form and contrast and leave the ensemble something of an intrigue and a mystery. I am okay with that here. Thanks Gustavo and " good-luck " to you wherever you land now that you have left Vinifera imports.




Below is a picture that I took through our sliding glass doors from our dining room looking out onto our deck and part of our garden out back in northern Virginia. I like this picture for the glare of the flash as well as the way the glass acts as a filter of kinds and makes everything outside look like it is laminated? It's an interesting picture also for the play of light and dark.

I will add more as I have time but this is enough for tonight as I want to post it now for all to see. It's 10:41 PM here at home in northern Virginia on January 6th, 2010. I'm excited about these past years and really excited to see what I may accomplish in 2010 ...

Landscape Art With Grape Vines & More In And Out Of Cape Town, South Africa With John Morrison Driving & Me Snapping Pictures In March, 2009

These views driving through South Africa in search of the various wineries that John Morrison represents was really a dream-come-true for me as John drove and I quickly snapped away here through the glass of my car window often.




This is Nature's art that I was able to snap and capture in minute split/fractions-of-seconds and have here now to share with you all.




I knew that there was beauty and majesty and art expressions all around me and yet I simply on my own could not absorb it all/ digest it all and appreciate it all so quickly.




These pictures really do help to bring these precious moments back to me. They were mine and John's to appreciate as best as we could. It's so much easier now to look at each one and really focus on them individually.




The amazing thing - the art here - is that this is constantly happening all the time and we need to take more time to enjoy and reflect on it as it will nourish and inspire and add meanings that are positive by and large to them. Cheers and enjoy, TONY

Hills - Sunsets In March, 2009 Outside Of Cape Town, South Africa / John Morrison Drove & I Snapped The Pictures Quickly With My Trusty Canon Camera

There's so much natural art and beauty all around that it is almost painful and certainly too much to ever appreciate or observe or serve or deserve or absorb with just our senses at play that simply/just cannot handle it all by themselves without help.




Thank the men and women that invented and perfected the cameras like this Canon that has enabled me to capture just a very few of these incredible and wonderful/dazzling split-second images of the sunsets that I enjoyed in the week that I was in South Africa ( in and outside of Cape Town ) with my extraordinary guide and South African wine importer John Morrison.




John was nice enough to take me to South Africa and to drive me around the various areas in and outside of Cape Town. We saw some of the wonderful wine vineyards, too on this trip as well as places like Table Mountain.




While John drove me around explaining so many various things about the South Africa that he loves so much I had the time of my life taking many of these pictures.




My hands snapped away ever so quickly as there was just too much for me to absorb so quickly.




These pictures in fact help me to better appreciate all that was occurring naturally around as we drove through this astoundingly beautiful countryside in and outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Thank you John and Theresa Morrison for all of this.


Enjoy these photos. Cheers, TONY

Pictures That Speak To Me Of Art/ Anton Beukes & John Morrison / Out Of Focus / South Africa , March , 2009

I like how the blurring of these pictures that I took of mostly John Morrison and Anton Beukes in Franschoek, South Africa at our dinner in town in mid March, 2009 take on a certain air and mystery/charm and other-worldliness that both attracts the eye as well as repels it pretty much all at the same time.




It's a bit like all the blurs ans squiggles of light, reflection, contrasts of light and dark, colors or reds and pinks and grays all take on a language of their own when combined like this by accident mostly.




It all creates and art all unto itself that either works for one or does not. I rather enjoyed the process of framing a picture and quickly snapping before it changes within a fraction of a second right before my eyes.




The only question that was a constant for me was which split second would I be catching here on film and how would all the components work within the space of the picture?!?




I love this bit of throwing myself into the moment and seeing/letting the chips fall where they may?!? I was trying to harness a split fraction of the moments but I was never in control.




I only borrowed them : never owned them. I may be the artist here and have an artist's eyes but I can just piggy-back off these moments that I am witness to / and a part of.




The capturing with my Canon camera of these moments gives me the rare joy of being able to see those that I would never have really noticed before as the speed in which they occur and in their infinite numbers and shades and expressions is simply WAY TOO MUCH for any one person to ever note or absorb. Thank you Canon camera of mine.




I hope that you enjoy these and can read into them your own artistic interpretation and mood/feelings and cold-steel or hot-flames whatever you may wish into and or upon them.




Cheers and enjoy the journey I hope as much as I do. Lets' get together sometime later and compare our notes. TONY