Art Club Recognition – pastel artist Gretchen Olberdins

Sherri Heitz

Congratulations, Gretchen, for having your pastel painting of the Trinchero Winery in the Napa Valley purchased and now sitting in the Sutter Home Winery collection. Sutter Home Winery is one of 30 wineries in the valley who has formed a partnership and Trinchero Winery is one of the 30 wineries.

It all started with a PebbleCreek Wine Club evening and a speaker named Barry Wiss who was representing Trencher Wines at the Wine Club. The Olberding’s friends won a trip to the Napa Valley and they were invited to go with them.

One evening while having dinner at the winery’s special dining room normally reserved for those “in the trade” and while enjoying a gourmet meal, Gretchen noticed a half-filled wine glass sitting outside the restaurant on a wall and, like most of us, immediately realized she needed to paint it so she took out her iPhone and went to take the photo.

The host, Barry Wiss, inquired as to what she was doing and he disappeared for a few minutes and, upon his return, handed her a bottle of Trinchero wine with the initials BRV saying it represented the owners’ initials and said that if she painted that picture, he would buy it—which he did. And, it all started with a bottle of wine and the PebbleCreek Wine Club.

Neat story; kudos to Gretchen, one of our many talented pastel artists in PebbleCreek. If you have not seen their work, please plan to come to our Art Walk and enjoy the many talented artists in our community.