When you uncork a bottle of wine, you open a passage into a living story. The tale unfolds from the vineyards, imbuing each drop with legacies of vine-covered lands, weather conditions in micro-parcels of earth and hands that vinified the grapes.
At Ornellaia, a winery in the Bolgheri area of Tuscany that sits on rolling hillsides kissed by Mediterranean breezes, the team leans deep into the artistry of each bottle. Since 2006, the producer has collaborated with international artists to design limited-edition bottles for each vintage of their renowned Super Tuscans through the Vendemmia d’Artista series. Each year, the estate’s director designates a word reflecting the character of the harvest. From celebration to sun to equilibrium, the word becomes the title for the vintage.
Only 111 large-format (3-liter, 6-liter, 9-liter) bottles are produced annually, and each artist creates a corresponding installation for the winery’s permanent art collection scattered across the 300-acre property. Liset Zelaya, director of wine and spirits at seafood powerhouse Sea Salt in Naples, is honored to have several Vendemmia d’Artista editions in the restaurant’s cachet. “Bottles like this give us a sense of connection. They are true works of art,” Liset says. “It transcends place. And it gives us a magical reminder that every drop matters.” The two 3-liter bottles at Sea Salt, a 2010 (La Celebrazione) and 2011 (L’Infinito) aren’t even meant to sell—they’re priced at $35,000 each.
The 2010 bottle marks Ornellaia’s 25th anniversary, celebrating tradition and innovation. Michelangelo Pistoletto, an Italian artist known worldwide for his sculptures and mirrored paintings that include the viewer in the work, designed the bottle to feature a reflective spiral that twists around the double magnum like an embedded sculpture.
L’Infinito, the 2011 vintage, includes fragments of an ode to the infinite possibilities of creation by late Canadian artist Rodney Graham, who was best known for using a broad scope of mediums (photography, painting, music, writing) to analyze social systems and philosophy. Each of that year’s bottles contains verses of the greater piece so that, together, the full poem is realized.
Liset understands the power of stories like those Ornellaia weaves. When she describes wines to her guests, she intuitively presents bottles like characters in a novel. “What other food item do you consume decades later that’s going to be as ethereal and magical as wine?” she posits. “[The Ornellaia team] saw the correlation of art and nature and people working in harmony, and the resulting artist bottlings reinforce that each vintage is unique.”
Serious collectors can get their hands on a bottle through the annual auction held by Sotheby’s. Even the auction process underlines the winery’s commitment to art. Proceeds from the auction go to benefit the Mind’s Eye program of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. To date, Ornellaia bottles at auction have generated $1.2 million for the museum’s educational arm, which focuses on making art accessible for blind and low-vision people through verbal description and sensory experiences of works in the museum’s permanent collections worldwide.
With all the fanfare, it’s only natural to wonder about the contents within the bottle. Fret not—Liset also stocks the restaurant’s list with 750ml and magnum-sized versions of the same vintages, which start at $470. Liset notes Bolgheri is like the Rodeo Drive of Tuscan wines, housing many famed Italian wine houses. Ornellia is like the thoroughfare’s House of Bijan, helping cement the region’s reputation and turning out many of Bolgheri’s most prestigious wines.
Every bottle of Ornellaia 2010 La Celebrazione features a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot. “The 2010 is one of the most elegant expressions that Ornellaia has ever made,” she says. “It’s a deep ruby color with dark, wild berry and smooth tobacco notes. You taste it now and can see it has so much wine left in it. This is a wine that has decades left to go.” Meanwhile, Liset notes the 2011 vintage shows the magic that happens in the hands of a skilled winemaker. It was a particularly hot, dry year, and the producer was forced to harvest early. And yet, this bottle delivers “overall crispness with notes of balsamic and toastiness, with delicious pungency and massive, glossy tannins.” Possibilities, actualized.
These are legacy wines—una vera opera d’arte—exemplifying the beauty created when producers juxtapose their craft and imaginations. Since art is meant to be experienced, consider Sea Salt your gallery and Liset your docent. Step in and appreciate the work.
