Guest Writer: Brittney Perreault
Northwest Wine Night TV Senior Producer

It’s not just wine labels that can possess some unique and amazing art, it’s the wine shops and tasting rooms that sell them. Wine and art got married, and no one is standing up in objection at these weddings.

I’ve hung my art in bars, banks, restaurants, and chiropractor offices, but there was something euphoric about when I exhibited my work in a wine shop. The sea of wine bottles at West Seattle Wine Cellar surrounding my work was like a match made in heaven. The art of wine making in each individual bottle, with the art of my acrylic canvases, the marriage of wine and art. Plus, they had free wine tasting the day of the Artwalk, so there’s that too.

Wine and art marriages are popping up all over town. I’ve seen the great works that grace the walls of Pondera Winery in Woodinville. It wasn’t until I spoke with owner Dan Howard that I learned they are from their gallery! Yes, they own an art gallery too! Dan’s son is the wine maker at Pondera and he and his wife run Howard/Mandville Gallery in Kirkland. They rotate the art in their tasting room with pieces from their gallery. With over 4,000 square feet of gallery space, Howard/Mandville Gallery offers one of the largest collections of fine art in the greater Puget Sound area. Dan so perfectly calls it, family supporting “art of two kinds.”

I was intrigued when I stumbled upon a new wine and art relationship on Instagram, wine foil art. Artist, Amelia Sherritt found her “ah ha” moment when she was bartending at an Italian restaurant after opening and discarding foil after foil. She creates these amazing mosaic pieces using the foils of wine bottles that would otherwise be thrown away. Some colors can be hard to come by as many wineries use reds, blacks, and metallics, so she said it’s exciting when a unique color such as hot pink finds its way in her hands.

But where does one get their hands on enough foils to continue fulfilling what she calls her “childhood pipedream”? Friends, restaurants, and local wineries (Woodinville’s Mark Ryan, Gooseridge, Gorman, and Northstar in Walla Walla to name a few) save the foils for her after they open the wine and she makes these masterpieces! What an impressive recycling system! With every wine bottle you open from here on out, if you’re like me, you’ll never look at a wine foil the same again. I encourage you to check out Amelia’s work up close and personal the month of August at Gooseridge in Woodinville before it moves to their tasting room in Leavenworth.

Next time you find yourself sipping wine in a tasting room with art on the walls, pick a seat not a side, you’re loved by the both the groom and the bride. Cheers!