Operating something far more complex than a simple storefront and tasting bar, Bion Rice, director of winemaking at Artiste Winery, showcases his craft amid the happy activity of artistic pursuits. He believes that blending wine and putting brush to canvas involve similar creative impulses, and celebrates all manner of expression in his innovative tasting room.
Rice’s business, sometimes grandly referred to as Artiste Impressionist Winery and Tasting Studio, recently re-opened to the public after a protracted move from its original location in Santa Ynez. Now situated on a busy corner in Los Olivos, the studio offers wine tasting, special events, and the chance to create a masterpiece while sampling the wares.
“This was one of the most challenging years of our lives,” Rice admitted. “We would not be here without the faith of our club members, patience of our customers, fortitude of our partners, lenders, grape growers, and vendors, and
support of Los Olivos, a community we now call home.”
Established in 2002, Artiste specializes in blended wines that Rice crafts in small lots and views as a personal artistic expression. He and his staff pour the wines in a working art studio, where guests can swirl and sip, while painting on easels set up throughout the space.
As he did in Santa Ynez, Rice plans to host gatherings and activities that “merge wine, art, food, cinema, and music,” and to feature a different artist each week.
“It’s a place where people can come together,” Rice said, “to express themselves and interpret what they see, hear, smell, and taste.”
Naturally, Artiste’s wines feature eye-catching labels adorned with original paintings done by a variety of artists. Current releases include Inflorescence, a Spanish Navarra-style blend of Grenache and Tempranillo bearing a label of amber irises painted by California artist Carlos Raul Perez.
Eyes Wide Shut, a Spanish Rioja-inspired blend of 47 percent Tempranillo, 37 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and 16 percent Merlot, is sure to please those who love rich, red wine. Rice again tapped Perez for the label art, which depicts a woman’s face, her eyes closed in dreamy contemplation.
A lush red blend, One Love combines 49 percent Syrah, 24 percent Merlot, and nearly equal parts Tempranillo and Cabernet Franc. For this release, Christina LoCascio touched red wine to paper to create an evocative painting of two sweethearts meeting in an embrace.
Vanessa, a Franco-Italian-style white, brings together Malvasia Bianca, Orange Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Chardonnay to form a citrus- and fruit-laden beauty. Art by Aldo Luongo, the official artist of the 2010 Winter Olympics, shows an alfresco afternoon scene of an ingénue in quiet reflection over a glass of wine.
According to Rice, the focus at Artiste is “assemblage” winemaking, based upon his observation that the world’s best wines are blends. He believes that blends “can be structured to have more layered complexity and balance than single-varietal, single-vineyard, single-appellation, and even single-vintage wines.
“Specializing in the art of blending,” he explained, “allows us to marry the unique geographic, vintage, and varietal qualities of any vineyard according to its contribution to a final, harmonious blend.”
On May 15, Artiste Tasting Studio will host its Grand Cuvée Party, and Rice invites everyone to come and explore the new facility, while enjoying repeated rounds of appetizers prepared to complement current releases. In addition to still wines, staffers will pour Effervescence, the winery’s first-ever sparkling wine, a blanc de blanc made in the traditional, labor intensive Méthode Champenoise.
A 2007-08 vintage blend sourced from a single vineyard in Oregon, Effervescence bears a whimsical label showing a pastel-dappled mermaid painted by James-Paul Brown. Guests who pay a little more for their ticket to the party will receive a bottle of Effervescence—signed by participating artists: the winemaker and the painter—to take home.
Rice, a second-generation, Santa Ynez Valley vintner, helped his family plant Sunstone Vineyards in 1989. Since Thanksgiving Day 1992, when he and his father sipped their first batch of “kitchen sink” Viognier, Rice has been enchanted by the alchemy and art of winemaking.
Oenophiles who’d like to learn more about Rice’s methods and the wonders of viniculture can sign up for Artiste’s private blending seminars. These on-site workshops—priced according to time and group size—include staff, wine tasting, blending, blending supplies, easel, canvas, and paints, so participants can give free reign to a variety of creative impulses.
An ancient and noble elixir, wine has long been associated with food and family, as well as with the finer things in life. At Artiste Tasting Studio, it dances hand-in-hand with the Muses, cheerfully welcoming budding and accomplished artists alike to join the happy activity of artistic pursuits.
As Rice succinctly explained it, “Wine isn’t necessarily about the points you got in Wine Spectator; it’s about lifestyle.”
K. Reka Badger gets points for her lifestyle. Send comments to rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Apr 22-29, 2010.
