Perhaps you have a favorite “in town” wine-tasting room? Perhaps you’re visiting and curious. There are many to choose from and they come in different flavors—punny.
There is BloodRoot, with a hip, young vibe and edgy music; Marine Layer’s mid-century modern luxe wannabe living room; Williamson’s educationally focused food pairings; Rockpile on the Roundabout touting gold medals alongside a giant red Adirondack chair for Instagrammers—marketing hat tip Wilson; Selby’s quiet conversations; and then the locals’ local, Longboard Vineyards, where tastings are in the barrel room along with fermentation tanks and vintage surfboards where anyone in flip-flops and shorts can plunk down on worn-in leather chairs to get a Jimmy Buffet vibe with wine instead of margaritas.
Nearly all of these are open for the monthly Art Nite in Healdsburg, next coming up Nov. 5, including my favorite: THG. The Harris Gallery combines art and wine tasting with a sidewalk café-like streeterie parklet. Its vibe is Euro-sophisticated comfortable. Sit in the arched colonnade and watch Plaza passersby.
Owners and artists M.C. (Marc Cabell) Harris and A3L3XAND3R (Alexander) Harris along with their wives Peggy and Leah, are consummate hosts. They demonstrated this recently at a weekend-release event featuring Chef Mateo Granados’ extraordinary farm-to-table bites, including a pink-potato frittata with sriracha aioli and kimchee. The vibe, the food and the wine were divine.
FUN FACTS: THG, located at 320 Healdsburg Ave. in the Plaza Arts Building, was built in 1909 with a colonnade of Corinthian columns and pilasters. Pilasters are not round or free-standing; to remember the difference, think of them as plastered to the wall.
The Harris Gallery was founded about 20 years ago; the wine program launched in 2022. Bottles are labeled with copies of father and son’s artwork. Different works for each wine, including different labels on the same vintage. No release is the same, so collecting their wine collects their art. On the card is Ballet for a Rhino. The bottle features Cloud Dreaming.
M.C. Harris’ father was a jazz impresario and surrealist painter; his mother a writer and couturier. M.C. Harris combined their skills as a painter and textile designer. His work is widely collected and referenced in over 50 books.
Alexander is classically trained at the Florence Academy of Art and Russia’s Repin Academy in St. Petersburg, the gold-standard for realism. Those stopping in might consider asking Alex about his name’s unique spelling. He may begin with: “It’s a long story …” over a splash.
The gallery is a lovely walkabout. So, when walking about, go around the corner to 101-A Plaza St. and see the cutest little gallery ever, featuring Bradford Brenner’s work among the 20-plus galleries that take part in the monthly Art Nite.
theharrisgallery.com
artnitehealdsburg.com
