Living in Napa Valley, it is effortless to find beauty as it seemingly greets your eyes and senses at every turn.   The vineyards are lined with richly aromatic rose bushes, the sunlight dances upon the grape leaves and the air is perfumed with the scent of ripening grapes.     

Pablo Picasso once said, “I do not seek; I find.”   This statement is profound in the sense that if we do slow down and become more aware of that which proximately surrounds us, we will find enjoyment, beauty, opportunity and joy.   It is far too easy to seek a list of perhaps presently unattainable things or goals and encounter resulting frustration or failure.    However, if we choose to slow down and look at what is around us, we will find that there is beauty all around.    Regardless of circumstance or situation, there is a simple beauty present everywhere.   Perhaps it is as simple as sitting under a tree in your backyard in the evening while catching the final rays of the day’s sun.   Maybe it is the way that sunlight skips across the top of the ocean’s waves.   Perhaps it is the expression on your spouse’s, child’s, or dog’s face as you slow down and relax.   Maybe it is just as simple as the friendly considerate wave of a neighbor as you return home after a long day.     

The same philosophy is true with wine.    Every so often, I find that I encounter a wine that has a simple beauty or elegance such that it can just be enjoyed in the simplest and most casual of settings.   Elyse Winery, located on Hoffman Lane just outside of Yountville, makes a white wine that is elegant, balanced  and delicate in its style called “La Peche”.      “La Peche” in French means “peach”.     On the nose, La Peche greets you with soft aromas of peach, nectarine and most notably, honeysuckle.  La Peche could be considered a dessert wine, however, its light style easily suffices as a delightful summer afternoon aperitif.  Typically dessert wines are recognized for their sweetness and most commonly are labeled for being overly sugary or sweet.    Frequently the syrupy flavor that connoisseurs experience is due to a certain style of winemaking using Muscat grapes.    Such a sugary overly sweet factor is not found at all with La Peche because Elyse has elected to use a balance of Chenin Blanc, Viognier, and Malvania Blanca grapes to create this wine.   Include thoughtful winemaking in this mix and you have the beautiful, lightly sweet and well-balanced white wine known as La Peche.    As La Peche gently glides across your palate there is only a tease of sugar.     I liken it to picking that first seemingly ripe white nectarine from the tree in the backyard:    the fruit’s flavor is sweet but not fully ripe yet and presenting a hint of sweetness of summer ripe fruit to come.

It is a wine like La Peche that I invite to accompany me out into the backyard, to enjoy the final rays of the setting sun on a summer evening.   Often, in order to enjoy La Peche, I only need to bring along some sliced ripe white nectarine, a handful of macadamia nuts, and semi-soft mild creamy table cheese.  

The sky painted with warm sunset hues, a delicately semi-sweet wine on the palate and a comfortable evening summer breeze creates a breathless sense of beauty in which perhaps just in that moment, time does stand still. 

Presently, the white nectarine tree in my backyard is producing a bounty of ripe fruit.    Given that I believe in using fruits and vegetables that are seasonal, and coupled with the fact that using what I have promotes sustainability, these summer afternoons and evenings beg for La Peche.    In the last week I have been busily making white nectarine jam, white nectarine salsa and even pulled rhubarb from the garden to create a White Nectarine and Rhubarb Pie.   

However, after spending many hours cooking in the kitchen this past week, this weekend merited slowing down and appreciating the beauty that surrounds me.     Whether served as a cocktail at a summer backyard croquet match, as a dessert wine after dinner with a slice of white nectarine and rhubarb pie, or as a part of a White Nectarine Bellini, “La Peche” is simple, sweet and blissful.   For I, like Pablo Picasso, do not seek, but find.