We Crawl v.2014

One of my favourite events in our neighbourhood is the East Side Culture Crawl - the annual visual arts festival that sees hundreds of artists on Vancouver's east side open their studios to the public over an extended weekend. This is the 17th year of the Crawl and over 450 artists are scheduled to participate over the weekend.

I always find that the Friday night is the best night to wander around the main venues - like Parker Place and ARC - because Saturday and Sunday can get downright overwhelming with the crowds (which has to be seen as a good thing), but Boo had to work. Over the years, Mr. D. has been a regular partner but he wasn't available either this year. Luckily, Elzee was free and was game. Turns out that she'd never attended the Crawl before; so, introducing her to the fun was going to be a neat way to take in the event this year.

Being an artist driven event, the Crawl certainly boasts a bohemian feel but even they can't pull off an occasion that allows you to buy a glass a wine and wander around the various studios with it. As such, we just had to bring our own to-go mug.

1803.  2011 Bodega Renacer - Punto Final Reserva Malbec (Mendoza - Argentina)

I figured an easy drinking, cocktail kind of wine would be the way to go and, since it was a dark and wet kind of night, I went with a bolder bottle. I was introduced to Renacer at the Vancouver International Wine Festival four or five years ago and I was quite glad to see them attend again this year as it allowed me to pick up their Reserve Malbec. Their regular Malbec is regularly found on our government liquor store shelves but the Reserva isn't seen so often.

This was a big mouthful of dark fruit and it was quite structured; so, it wasn't like Elzee and I were chugging it back - despite the size of our coffee mugs cum wine glasses. Chances are our glasses didn't offer up the best nuances that the nose might normally offer but it definitely helped with the flow of the evening.

Good thing that we only had the one bottle. Who knows what I might have been tempted to buy had the pursestrings been lubricated that little bit more. I quite liked the blue and black piece by @Carla_Tak in the bottom left of the collage above but it was a fairly large piece and Boo and I have run out of wall space. It was interesting that the wine photo was taken with another, smaller piece by Carla that I'd picked up a few years back on the Crawl.

Elzee quite enjoyed herself and said that she'd be more than willing to attend in the years to come - regardless of whether I bring the wine or not.