Napa Museum Presents Portrait of Wine Community

Tammy Deckman
Posted: January 15, 1999

The year-old Napa Valley Museum will open its latest exhibit this weekend: "Napa Valley: Portrait of a Community, The Stags' Leap Winery Collection." The series features a cross-section of Napa Valley's residents--from winemakers to radio personalities--in an attempt to capture the spirit of the wine community through images and words.

Santa Fe painter Patrick McFarlin teamed up with poet Theresa Whitehill and prose writer Rod Smith for six weeks of "salon" sessions filled with painting, interviewing and writing. The artists and writers were commissioned by Stag's Leap Winery, part of Beringer Wine Estates. They have produced an exhibit of 71 portraits (12 of which are Beringer employees and their relatives), which are accompanied by prose and poetry acting as miniature biographies and oral histories.

Among the featured paintings are portraits of Robert Mondavi, chairman of Robert Mondavi Winery; Wine Spectator senior editor Jim Laube; Dawnine Dyer, winemaker for Domaine Chandon; and Alice Waters, chef and owner of Chez Panisse.

Museum visitors will be able to see the three artists in action during the opening events this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The exhibit will be on display through April 18. Adult admission is $4.50.

For more information:
Napa Valley Museum
55 Presidents Circle
Yountville, Calif.
(707) 944-0500