Pacific City, Picnic Lunch

The last package we offer at The Craftsman B&B is our Pacific City, Picnic Lunch.  If you are staying 2 nights with us, for your grand day out we will pack up a picnic backpack filled with goodies.  We don't always make the a lunch the same, but to get an idea, we make 2 wraps, turkey and ham, a pasta or potato salad, water, cookies and the perfect item to pair with a bottle of our Bin #50, Basket Case Syrah, Fritos!  A perfect lunch for 2 for $30.00.  If you are here just one night, we include a mini insulated cooler for your feast.

Why do we like Basket Case wines?  Apart from the winemakers live across the street, this is a great everyday drinking wine.  Employing a screw cap, this is perfect for the beach or trail.  Open it up, pour it out, close the bottle and enjoy, until your next stop when you can do it all over again.  This wine is made for the crazy in all of us.

So syrah, not an Oregon grape you say.  Well its not where you are, its what you can get.  Even though Basket Case is an Oregon winery, they source the fruit form where it grows best, Washington.  The colder winters and hotter summers yield perfect growing conditions, known as terroir, for this jammy grape.  Advantage, boutique winery!  Not stuck with the fruit they grow like estate wineries, they purchase fruit from where they choose and bring it back to their facility and make the wine they want to.

Syrah is a grape that originated in the northern Rhône Valley of France.  It is used in another of our favorite wines, Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  We can't figure out what we like best, saying it or drinking it.  Anyway,  Syrah came to America in the 1970s, where it was planted by a group of "Rhône rangers."  The vines made their way North to Washington in 1985.  Aussie's, Oy,Oy,Oy, as they say, call it by a different name.  Anybody?  Shiraz, today it is Australia's most popular red grape.

OK, why is Pacific City included with all those other great cities, towns and villages in the work with significant Arts and Crafts architecture?  Well, it has gone through a kind of revival after the fine restoration of The Craftsman B&B.  As one of the oldest houses in the area and built in the time the movement was going strong, it has been a great example to the local builders and designers.  Most of the new construction in the area are Craftsman style houses.  Yes, we do have our share of beach cottages, grand houses and salt boxes, incorporating the ideals of Maybeck and New England shingle style.  We'd like to take the credit.  We have shown how to highlight the details of a house.  Before we restored our house, it was covered in peach and green aluminum siding.  All the trim was brown.  The details were there, they just needed to be shown off.  We stripped the siding to find cedar shingles.  They were removed and we started over.  The main part of the house is covered in lap siding.  All the bump out parts of the house are in shingles.  It is painted in historic, period colors; Gray-green for the body, dark green for the trim, white windows and red accents.  Wow, it only took a few months for other buildings in the area to follow our lead.  We even have had people up on the front porch with paint chips to match.  Mike will give you the paint codes, but asks that if they live in the area, he will help them choose different colors.  Mike is a color expert.

So come visit me.  See our Craftsman style house for yourself.  Walk around the town and you will see, the style is just about everywhere now.  The real estate market is ripe now, but it is cheaper for you to stay with us at The Craftsman B&B.  Don't forget to stop by Twist and taste all the wines from Basket Case and their sister labels; Shy Chenin and Reversal.