Phil McKenny and Todd Brooks, come on down!

Oak Crest Winery label, compliments of Phil McKenney

Wandering around wineries is way better than wandering around Wal-Mart. 

At wineries…Wine. Interesting people. The chemical reaction to mixing wine and interesting people: infatuation.

At Wal-Mart…Shopping carts. People on cell phones. The predictable outcome: murder and mayhem. 

A million grazies to Doukenie Winery (NoVa) and Vault Field Vineyards (Chesapeake Bay) for introducing us to our latest infatuations (or perhaps I’ll just say MY latest…Rick may have picked up some completely different crushes on our travels…).

Todd Brooks, man of mystery, played guitar and sang like a cross between Bruce Springsteen and Darius Rucker at Doukenie a couple of Friday nights ago.  Don’t you just love stumbling onto massive talent (FREE!), on a warm night in the vineyards as the stars turn on. Just you, your honey and your friends, your bucket o’ Popeye’s, and your vino. 

Todd’s without a web site – so it’s hard to track him – but he told us he’d be playing at Notaviva on August 21 (2-5PM) and he’s back at Doukenie on August 27 (6-9).  Give him a listen – he’s a good ‘un.

Phil McKenny, you’re next!  We met Phil behind the bar at Vault Field Vineyards.  He had us from hello, or rather from “Make sure you catch my technique.”  That was his totally cool response to Rick’s focusing his camera on Phil’s unsuspecting hand during the pour.

We had a great chat, Phil told us that he’s a sketch artist and that he’s appearing at a couple of festivals coming up. That was cool.  Then we moved on to Oak Crest, where the tasting mistress, Sharon,  poured us a taste of Hot Jazz, a fun and spicy speciality wine they whip up from Symphony grapes. We admired the wild label, and she told us it was drawn by – you guessed it – Phil McKenney! 

It’s a small, wild, musical world out there. 

Here’s where you can see Phil (or go to his web site).  Tell him we said hi.  Or maybe we’ll see you there.

Doing live sketches at Friends of the Rappahannock River Festival in King George County Sat. Sept. 18.

Doing sketches at The Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail Festival at Stratford Hall, Montross, Va. on Sat. and Sun., September 25 and 26 from 11 to 2. Come by and get your free sketch done!

Call 804 493 9030 or email philmckenney@verizon.net to inquire about booking him for your event. He does weddings, parties, the usual – but he really excels at pouring.