Fine Wine & Art Lovers: December 2013

Sunday 29 December 2013

# 6 - Champagne Pommery and Art

Pommery celebrated in november 2013, the 30th anniversary of FRAC Champagne - Ardenne (Regional Contemporary Art Fund) in the cellars of Champagne Pommery.

The owners, Paul François Vranken and his wife Nathalie, created the Pommery Experience (the 11th this year) and invite each year several artists, with different styles, to show their artworks.

This year, 30 masterpieces will be exposed, in the manificient and wonderful cellars built in the late 19th century , based on the ancient Gallo-Roman chalk pits.

The exhibition runs from the 15th November through June 2014.

Sunday 22 December 2013

# 5 - Wine Cellar Design

We all love wine, we all love art, if there is a place, where we can perfectly combine these two elements together, that will be the most wonderful and exciting place for us: a dream land.

A well designed Wine cellar, a Wine bar, a Wine shop… Today, we will bring you tons of beautiful photos, and show you in maximum those charming places. We believe that, once you enter the space, you will never want to leave, just take a glass of wine, enjoy the beauty of wine and the atmosphere. Maybe you will get drunk, but isn’t it amazing to get drunk in a wonder land?

Max Bordeaux

l'Intendant Bordeaux

No matter where they are: under ground, under-sea, or even in the desert, nothing can stop those genius wine cellar designers to create a dream cellar for the wine lovers.

No matter which style they are: modern, classical, simple, european feel, asian feel, fashionate, exotic, luxury, advanced, fantastical, impressionistic, science fiction feel, and so on. Any insparation can be used to design a wine cellar.

One thing is for sure: when we are deciding how we want our wine cellar to look, we know we want it to be unique. Racking, cellar flooring, cellar doors, cellar art, and the lighting, every detail is important to create this uniqueness. Pieces of art can really bring the personality and the soul to the cellar, and the lighting gives the life. It can be as dramatic or as drama-free as we wonder.

Christmas season is coming, hope you all enjoy the photos, and Wish You All Merry Christmas !

L'Intendant Bordeaux Christmas Decoration

Friday 13 December 2013

# 4 - Château Mouton Rothschild and artists wine labels

If you ask us, which Château has always connected closely to the art, we will say Mouton Rothschild without hesitation!

In 1945, Baron Philippe de Rothschild conceived the original idea of crowning the Mouton label with a work of art. Each year, a renowned artist is commissioned to do the artwork for that vintage, in exchange for ten cases of wine.

When those amazing paintings become wine labels...

(1) Picasso

(2) Jeff Koons

(3) Guiseppe Penone

(4) Anish Kapoor

(5) The Prince of Wales

(6) Bernar Venet

For us, wine is a piece of art, elegant, sensitive, passionate, and somehow unforgettable. Artists’ painting on the bottle of the wine gives me more attraction and mystery for the wine.

The video below shows us those beautiful labels from 1918 to 2008:

Chinese Artist Xu Lei has designed the label for the 2008 vintage of Chateau Mouton Rothschild:

The fact of choosing Chinese famous artist’s painting is a sign of the growing importance of the Chinese wine market. And the market responded immediately, the price upwards from the starting base of £1800 per case to £2200, and now prices are at least £6,000 per case.

But above the business motivation, we would like to focus on the artist and his painting. Lei is artistic director of Beijing’s Today Art Museum, one of the most famous painter in China.

His style is a mixture of tradition and innovation. His artist conception of his painting is advanced and mysterious. Every painting is telling a story, a suspenseful story about time, dream, and unexpected ending in an illusory space.

马笼 - 1997

风月 - 2011

守夜者 - 2011

飘

茫-2003

Sunday 8 December 2013

# 3 - Château Lynch Bages - Pauillac

Jean-Michel Cazes (the Château Lynch Bages' owner) is a good example of a contemporary art lover. He invites every year since 1989, a renowned international artist to exhibit his work at the Château Lynch-Bages.

The cellar

We visited this Château in October, and we were glad to discover artworks in the old vat, from the artist who was exhibiting, Paul Rebeyrolle or "the rebel".

He was passionate about wine and nature, and free in his life. A painter and a sculptor who wanted to accuse the violence in the world, through his work and to denounce society (politics, power and injustice).

Source: Château Lynch Bages

Sunday 1 December 2013

# 2 - Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte - Grand Cru Classe de Graves, Bordeaux

Last week we talked about Champagne... this week, we are going to talk about WINE... one of the Grands Crus Classés de Graves (Pessac Léognan), which is one of the Appellation d'Origine Protégée from the Bordeaux vineyard.

1) The Ornemental Rock

1) The Ornemental Rock by Zhan Wang. This is sacred rock and a singular parallel between the sacred and the material, rock and earth, to emphasize the importance of the soil which was born the vine.

2) Le Puit sans fond (the bottomless pit): by Chul HYAN AHN. Beautiful symbol of unfailing energy deployed by the entire team of Château Smith Haut Lafitte for almost two decades.

3) Hospitality by Barry Flanagan. Hare is friendly icon who watches over the old vines of Cabernet Franc Castle. The legend says that the true hares come to dance at her feet moonlit nights.

4) Confessions de vignes (Confessions of the vines) by Jean François Briant. This huge leaf means the echoing nature.

5) Nouaison (initial phase of the formation of the fruit. This is when the wine is growing and when the berries are creating) by Chuck HOBERMAN.

6) Caduto a ragione (fall) by Mimmo PALADINO. Birds perched on the body of the sculpture can remind starlings that eat grapes.

7) SHL (Smith Haut Lafitte) by Julien Paul. SHL is a living sculpture: a steel grid plots representing one piece of the vineyard of Château which spring from the vines from different grape varieties used in the winemaking of SHL.

Source: Château Smith Haut Lafitte