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JULY 2019:
SHADES OF SUMMER
In This Issue:
1. New to the Scene – Food Truck
2. Staff Spotlight – Brooks Painter (the Painter!)
3. Mission Education
4. Top Three Reason to Visit V. Sattui Winery
NEW TO THE SCENE – FOOD TRUCK
At V. Sattui Winery, we’re well known for our Artisan Deli, Italian Marketplace, and famous weekend BBQ – and this year, we’re thrilled to introduce the newest hub of V. Sattui’s culinary program – our Mangiamo Tutti Food Truck! The search for the perfect vehicle began last fall, and once we found an old Grumman truck with plenty of provenance behind it, we knew the wait was over…
“The Grumman Company built WW2 fighter jets, moon landing modules and these trucks for a short period of time. It’s cool that we have this old truck with amazing history behind it and we’ve made it modern with the kitchen as well as our paint and design.” – Joe Schneider, Culinary Director & Marketplace Manager
Our new food truck will allow us to diversify our menu, bring more guests outside to enjoy our lush picnic grounds, and, in the future, give us exciting opportunities to host member events at Hibbard Ranch – our beautiful estate vineyard in Carneros.
Getting hungry yet? Debuted the first weekend of July, visitors can expect to see our newly refurbished food truck serving up a full menu of classic BBQ favorites along with delicious new additions influenced by Michelin Star Chef Stefano Masanti, such as piping hot arancini, juicy Porchetta sandwiches and refreshing seasonal fare like summer-perfect strawberry-spinach salad with crumbled feta and pecans – the ideal item to pair with an equally refreshing, chilled glass of our newest wine – Rosato di Pinot Noir!
Our truck will be open weekends, holidays and at select V. Sattui winery events.
ART BEFORE THE VINE – BROOKS PAINTER – THE PAINTER!
“I started college as a double major with both Biology and Art. I wasn’t sure if I would become a commercial artist, but I knew it was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to learn more. In my Sophomore year I decided to pursue medicine and changed the Art Major to Chemistry. At the end of my Junior year I decided to pursue winemaking, blending all my personal interests and college classes.“
The only thing we love more than discovering the colorful layers that make up key members of our team is sharing their stories with you. Discover the creative path of our Director of Winemaking Brooks Painter in this inspirational Q&A interview.
Q: How long have you been a painter?
Well, aside from my last name which is after all Painter, I started doodling and drawing at an early age. Even in grade school my teachers recognized that I had an eye and a hand for drawing imaginatively in accurately what I saw in the world.
Q: Who did you paint for? For yourself? For a certain audience?
Like most budding artists you do it both for your own enjoyment and for praise from others especially adults. Some of my earliest recollections were doing pastel and charcoal drawings for a local neighborhood artist – a family friend who took me under her wing. Eventually I moved on to oil pants sculpture and carving and took several individual classes from some really talented artists who taught me about perspective, realism, and the use of color.
Q: What is your favorite medium?
Over the years I’ve used many media, including charcoal watercolor, Tempura and casein pigments, oil paints and more recently serigraphy or silk screen printing.
Q: Do you have a favorite artist, someone who inspires you?
Originally it was the old masters from the age of enlightenment and the use of natural oil pigments to make masterpieces in realism that inspired me. As I developed my craft, I became a fan of impressionism, modern expressionist art, the Bauhaus painters, Dali surrealism and Picasso.
Q: How did you transition from being an Art major to a Chemistry and Biology major? What stimulated you to make the change?
In the University setting I came to believe that the biological sciences were my real calling. With my background in art I came to believe Scientific illustration would be a worthwhile endeavor. As I learned more about biochemistry and physical chemistry, I became impassioned with understanding the real world at a molecular level, at which point I started to pursue training as pre-med.
FUN FACT:
Brooks’ college art teacher, Bruce Freeman, was inspired by Brooks’ path into winemaking that he too followed the same pursuit and became a winemaker of Clos des Amis in Southern California!
Q: Why did you decide to go into winemaking?
Winemaking appealed to me because it was the mix of all the disciplines that I was passionate for. Art, science, literature, biology and creativity wrapped up in agriculture and an understanding of the seasonal changes that occur as you’re farming.
Q: Do you feel being a winemaker feeds your creative side?
Absolutely. There are so many choices to make so many forks to choose from and so many decisions as you move through creating a living product like wine.
Q: When you make wine – do you craft your blends with a certain audience in mind?
I always want to please my own palate first, but I also realize that what is important is having a consistent quality and flavor impression with the wines even as the seasons and vintages changed dramatically.
Q: Would you liken grapes and barrels to paints and canvas?
I do believe that growing grapes, harvesting time, fermentation skills, use of barrels, blending in the marriage of multiple varieties into a single wine is akin to what a master chef might do in the kitchen. The goal is to bring a myriad of flavors, spices and textures to a truly enjoyable experience for the consumer.
Q: Would you describe wine as art?
I believe a winemaker can certainly be artistic or have an artistic approach to winemaking. Starting with the raw materials, assembling the flavors colors pigments textures onto a final canvas where in the bottle it shows the dedication to the craft, expression of the winemaker and all the fresh fruit materials at the same time.
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MISSION EDUCATION
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
– Malcom X
To foster awareness in the hospitality and wine industries, V. Sattui Winery participated in an innovative program called NEXT – Napa Educator Externships. Co-sponsored by NapaLearns, Napa County of Education, and the Workforce Alliance of the North Bay, this program placed Napa County teachers into intensive three-day job shadowing experiences.
NapaLearns: Summer Teacher Externship
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“NEXT (Napa Educator Externship Program) provides the unique opportunity for Napa County middle and high school teachers to immerse themselves into some of the Valley’s most vital industries and professions. Our goal is to equip teachers with authentic experiences that bring real-world, career-based learning opportunities into their classrooms and inspire the future workforce of the Napa Valley.” – Peg Maddocks
About the program:
Preparing students for the future workforce is a tremendous responsibility being placed upon our teachers. As the importance of career readiness becomes a topic of national importance, teachers need to increase the use of authentic learning experiences for students in the classroom. The NEXT program helps teachers connect classroom content with students’ future career interests and helps students develop both the critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and technical skills required in the workplace. The participating businesses benefit from the externships, too. Through the teachers, they are reaching hundreds of students and contributing to the preparation of their future workforce as the teachers pass along their acquired knowledge in their classrooms.
In partnership with NapaLearns and their affiliated NEXT Program, V. Sattui Winery was visited last month by eight elementary and middle school teachers from St. Helena, Napa, and American Canyon. Their mission? To better understand the career paths associated with the wine industry so to inspire their students to pursue the necessary education, training and occupations that support the wine industry.
V. Sattui Winery executives and departmental managers created a curriculum of five sessions covering the importance of Ag & The Wine Industry in our Community, Understanding The Napa Visitor Experience, Communications and Marketing for a Direct-to-Consumer business, Grapegrowing & Winemaking, and finally The Economics of Growing Grapes & Making Wine. Teachers spent six hours a day over the course of three days diving into the diverse world of operating an iconic winery and its vineyards. They broke out into sessions, toured the property, hospitality venues, the Estate vineyard, and production areas.
We want students to understand what matters and what doesn’t as early as possible so they graduate from high school more prepared and competitive. We also want to instill a sense of pride in this valley and have our students be proud of what is uniquely theirs. This is a multi-faceted industry in a very special place.
We also believe participation in this program is a matter of community. We have a responsibility to give back and to keep the spirit of the Valley alive. We have hosted Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School eighth graders since 2006 as part of the Adopt-a-School program and we see the NEXT program as a way to reach even more students.
We look forward to having the teachers and students present back to us with their results next spring and to an ongoing partnership with our local public schools.” – Tom Davies, President
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TOP THREE REASONS TO VISIT V. SATTUI WINERY
“There is always something going on at V. Sattui Winery.”
We hear it all the time and it’s true! Just when you think you’ve experienced everything we have to offer, we change it up and add new experiences. Read our most recent blog to discover- the Top Three Reasons to Visit V. Sattui Winery this season, including Tour & Terrace Tastings, Wine & Food Pairings, and of course – the new Food Truck! Read blog >