With the Help of a Young Artist, a Spring Branch Winery Uncorks the Perfect Holiday Gift

SPRING BRANCH’S NICE Winery has stepped up for the holidays with a new 2021 Zinfandel called “Survivor Monkey,” featuring an eye-catching label designed by 12-year-old Payton Angelle, a pediatric cancer patient at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Angelle’s rendition of an extremely cute monkey with pink cheeks and a purple bow, wearing a sash of colorful letters that spell the word “SURVIVOR,” is an earnest and poignant tribute to the resilience of children in the face of cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Angelle is a participant in the Periwinkle Arts in Medicine’s program Making A Mark, which exhibits art and creative writing by children touched by cancer and blood disorders at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center. (Last year, we spoke to multidisciplinary artist Matt Manalo about his experience as a Making A Mark guest artist.) Thirty percent of proceeds from the sale of each $60 bottle of “Survivor Monkey” will go toward The Periwinkle Foundation to help fund its programs, including Making A Mark, as well as summer camps and long-term survivor programs for children and their families.

Nice Winery is owned by certified sommeliers Ryan Levy and Ian Eastveld, both Le Cordon Bleu-trained chefs, and both committed to supporting the charitable mission of The Periwinkle Foundation. Survivor Monkey is a 100 percent Zinfandel from fruit sourced from a sustainably farmed, family-owned estate in the Sonoma Valley. Its scent is described by Nice Winery as “Christmas spice, cardamom, cinnamon, and cedar,” and its flavor a combination of “vibrant blackberry notes are layered with plums, violets, and roses.”

“I hope ‘Survivor Monkey’ will be on holiday lists for all of the many wine lovers in the Houston area,” said Doug Suggitt, executive director for The Periwinkle Foundation. “Not only is it a perfect wine for the winter holidays, it keeps on giving by helping to fund our programs.”

Ian Eastveld, Ryan Levy and Payton with framed artwork

Payton with Survivor Monkey Wine