Winey Tasting Notes: Sketching with Scratchpad Cellars’ Sauvignon Blanc

I know that I’ve talked about fun wine labels before, but as I wandered the wine aisles recently, I spied a really different type of wine bottle label. It was blank. And it had a little tag around the neck of the bottle, with a little pencil attached to it. The instructions on the tag read: Sketch. Post. Sip.
How cool was that?

Upon closer inspection, the wine was called Scratchpad and it was a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (2013, 13.8%, Central Coast California). And the idea was to grab that little black pencil and personalize that wine label to really make the vino your own.  How fun! A customized wine label on the spot.

The only real problem with this is that I cannot draw. Seriously. I am no artist. In any way shape or form. I can write, I can play piano, I can scrapbook and make cards…..but I cannot draw. Well, I cannot draw past a stick figure, first grade level. And I mean no disrespect to any first graders out there, who are probably better than me anyway. And if you are a first grader reading this, cut it out. You’re underage. Show it to your parents and go back to your crayons.

My lack of artistic ability did not manifest itself in my offspring. In fact, I can tell you for sure that The Winey Daughter has quite the artistic bent. She draws and paints and has amazing fashion and decor sense. She is great at photography (she just won a photo contest during her summer studying abroad). She gets it from her dad, The Winey Hubby, who has a wonderful eye for color and form and seriously can decorate better than I can. He gets it from his mother, who is actually an artist – and we have the paintings to prove it. So there was nothing to do but to drink the wine and hand the bottle over to The Winey Artistic Daughter.

As it happened, we opened this wine on the evening that The Winey Daughter arrived home from her 6 weeks of study abroad. She had taken classes in England and then did a little touring around the continent with a buddy. And she was finally home (along with the brand new camera she won in that contest). At her request, we dined on the patio, since it was a lovely summer night.

My pretty flower.

Scratchpad Sauvignon Blanc fit right in with the grilled chicken and salad and strawberries. It started out with aromas of kiwi, starfruit and melon. The flavors were full of lemon, white grapefruit, kiwi and it finished off with some sour citrus rind. The tart lingered, but the fruit flavors did not. This was a very crisp, dry wine and it was wonderful on that patio.

If you like a white wine that’s full of tart fruit flavors without a hint of any sweetness anywhere you’ll love this.

I duly handed the bottle over to The Winey Daughter. She drew a pretty little dogwood flower for me on the label. The bottle now has a place of honor on the bookshelf next to my computer. So I got to sip some great wine, got The Winey Daughter back from Europe AND I got a cool little memory of the night she came home. And I didn’t have to draw any stick figures and prove to everyone that I am not now and never will be an artist. Phew!

Cheers!