Excavation & Expression:

**Inside The Fire & Ice Collection at Artiste**

Some art reveals itself slowly — not in the first glance, but in the layers beneath.

That’s the soul of The Fire & Ice Collection, our new series of wines inspired by five of Sarita Reynolds’ mixed-media paintings. Each piece explores contrasts: heat and stillness, erosion and emergence, cooling stone and glowing ember — all tied together by a single idea:

Excavation.

What lies beneath.
What rises when the surface breaks open.

At Artiste Winery, we’ve always believed that wine and art share this truth — both evolve under pressure, both carry memory, and both reward those willing to look deeper. This collection brings those worlds into one conversation.

“I believe these wines represent the greatest expression of my winemaking career. Craft, intuition, terroir, and artistic partnership aligned more precisely here than ever before — the kind of alignment you wait years for. If I were to put any wines to the test, it would be these five.” – Bion Rice, Winemaker

THE ARTIST:

SARITA REYNOLDS

Click here to read Short Bio on Sarita Reynolds
Contemporary Abstract Artist — Santa Barbara, CA

Sarita’s work revolves around time, texture, and memory. She builds her paintings through cycles of layering and removal — scraping, sanding, excavating — revealing the stories embedded beneath the surface. Her paintings feel geological, emotional, and alive. This tension between destruction and repair, fire and frost, permanence and impermanence, is exactly what shaped The Fire & Ice Collection.

A SOUND PAIRING:

ROBERT RICH

Ambient Composer & Sound Designer
Music: https://robertrich.bandcamp.com/music
Official Website: http://robertrich.com

Few musicians sculpt atmosphere the way Robert Rich does. Across five decades, he has defined long-form ambient sound with albums and performances that move between warmth and stillness — perfectly echoing the fire-and-ice tension in Sarita’s artwork. Each wine is paired with a recommended Robert Rich piece, extending its emotional tone into sound. Click links below to Taste & Listen!…

BURN — Syrah / Lagrein / Mourvèdre

The glow after collapse.
Fire.

Dark fruit, smoke, spice, and mineral tension drawn from Sarita’s scorched reds and shadowed charcoals.

Pairings:
• Boeuf Bourguignon
• Robert Rich — Electric Ladder
• Book: The Call of the Wild
• Film: Wild (2014)

EMBERS — Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah

Warmth that doesn’t fully fade.
Fire giving way to memory.

Blackberry, spiced plum, cocoa, and gently sweet warmth — the lingering glow in the painting.

Pairings:
• Braised short rib
• Robert Rich — Echo of Small Things
• Book: Chesapeake
• Film: Quest for Fire (1981)

REFLECTION — Pinot Noir / Syrah

Clarity carved from cold.
Ice.

Cool red fruit, polished tannins, and mineral backbone shaped by the painting’s icy cliff face.

Pairings:
• Duck with truffle
• Robert Rich — Soft Rains Fall
• Book: The Turn of the Screw
• Film: Synecdoche, New York

REVEALED — Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon

What rises when the veil lifts.
Ice cracking open.
Lifted Bordelaise structure framed by blackberry, sage, and graphite — inspired by winter light exposing motion beneath the surface.

Pairings:
• Roast chicken or pork loin
• Robert Rich — Language of Breezes
• Film: Parasite
• Book: – The Poisonwood Bible

STRATA — Chardonnay

Light where the earth divides.
Where fire meets frost.

Crisp lemon, green apple, and wet stone. Stainless-steel purity shaped by Sarita’s terraced, fog-lit landscapes.

Pairings:
• Fresh scallops or alpine cheeses
• Robert Rich — Night Sky Replies
• Book: Annals of the Former World
• Film: The Tree of Life

EXCAVATION AS THE COMMON LANGUAGE

Fire breaks the surface.
Ice preserves what lies beneath.
Sarita’s paintings move between these poles, and these wines follow.

The Fire & Ice Collection is built on excavation — revealing depth by removing what hides it. Sarita’s paintings don’t simply inspire the labels; they shape the wines’ structure and emotional dimension.

For me, this is the clearest expression of what Artiste Winery was founded to do:
merge canvas and terroir into a single story — layered, emotional, alive.