Ornellaia unveils latest ‘Vendemmia d’Artista’ design

Ernesto Neto is the latest artist to provide a design for Super Tuscan Ornellaia’s ‘Vendemmia d’Artista’ collection to accompany the 2014 vintage.

Dubbed ‘L’Essenza’ this year’s ‘interpretation’ of the 2014 vintage was supplied by the Brazilian artist Neto whose recent work has reportedly drawn heavily upon the life and society of the Huni Kuin tribe; their art, their shamans and their bond with the rainforest around them.

Ornellaia expressed the resultant work in a statement as seeking, “to convey the concept of natural balance as it is exemplified in our modern societies. He [Neto] encapsulated 111 large-format bottles with an interwoven mesh, specifically 100 3-litre double magnums, 10 6-litre imperials, and a single 9-litre Salmanazar, which together represent a social hierarchy with a single King, 10 nobles, and a populace of 100 subjects, and in so doing illustrates the equilibrium that should reign in every community, with a hierarchy that is necessary so that all can live in harmony within the group and in uniformity with Mother Nature.”

In addition, Neto designed a special label for the 2014 vintage and one 750ml bottle bearing that design will be included in each six-bottle case.

This April in New York, nine lots featuring the 2014 Ornellaia with Neto’s designs will be sold at a charity auction to benefit the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum and Foundation.

Since its inception in 2009, a limited number of large format lots featuring the work of the artists commissioned by Ornellaia for the latest vintage have been sold to benefit charities around the world, raising over €1 million in the process.

Speaking of the 2014 vintage itself, Ornellaia’s director and winemaker, Axel Heinz, said: “When one is confronted with a challenging growing season, in order to make a great wine, one has to focus on simply extracting that year’s very essence. And, in fact, the 2014 year unexpectedly turned into a pleasant surprise, since the heavy rains and low temperatures during the ripening stages were followed by a September and October which brought us exemplary weather conditions; the final result was a somewhat later harvest, which delivered optimally vibrant fruit with crisp acidities. We complemented that result with meticulous hand-picking, whose objective was to select only the most sound, healthy clusters.

“What one notices immediately about the 2014 vintage is the high quality of the tannins: elegant and silk-smooth, with no rough edges at all. 2014 will be remembered in Tuscany for the summer that never was and as one of the most unusual. A warm and rainy winter was followed by a mild and dry spring, a distinctively average July and a cold and rainy August.

“All of this created difficult conditions for the ripening of the grapes. September and October, however, brought perfect conditions, with mostly sunny and dry weather, offering excellent conditions for ripening, particularly for Merlot.

“While we had an incredible amount of extra work to do in the vineyard, the combination of the Estate’s varied subsoils, the varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot and our own detailed knowledge of the terroir all played distinctively in our favour.”