Pairing Charleston with Napa Valley

Mural unveils plans for Mira Winery’s Napa Valley Education Center and Tasting Room in Charleston.

A distinctively Charleston landmark was unveiled today, an 18 x 29-foot mural marking the location of a future destination for wine lovers. Mira Winery’s Napa Valley Education Center and Tasting Room, the first of its kind, will bring the world-renowned Napa Valley, California, experience to Charleston. When it opens this fall, the center will take visitors through the winemaking process, from bud to bottle, and provide a better understanding of the geo-environment of one of the premier grape growing regions in the world — the Napa Valley.

“The mural, which some have referred to as Charleston’s version of Mt. Rushmore, celebrates the relationship between food and wine and recognizes some of the people who helped establish Charleston’s culinary scene, but it is dedicated to all those who make Charleston a culinary destination,” says Mira President and Co-founder Jim “Bear” Dyke, Jr. “Charleston and Napa Valley are a perfect pairing.”

The mural on the west side wall of the Education Center was just completed by famed artist David Boatwright and has been named “Renoir Redux: Exceptional Pairings.” It is a Charlestonized version of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” which pairs the historic painting with the likenesses of 14 members of the Charleston food scene. Local personalities Nathalie Dupree and Matt Lee of The Lee Bros. are included.

A South Carolina native, Boatwright’s iconic murals add beauty to more than 20 restaurants and other spaces throughout the Lowcountry. “Exceptional Pairings” is Boatwright’s first time re-interpreting a classic painting. “The challenge of this piece is keeping the balance between the feel of the original and creating a fresh work that speaks to our time and our place,” he says. “Every face and detail is different yet it still should recall the good life represented by that epoch.”