Wine, art and design: heritage and storytelling
Wine, art and design:
heritage and storytelling
When the beautiful and the good come together, exceptional works of art emerge thanks to a crossover of different worlds that speak common languages. Partnerships with designers, artists and architects have created spaces where aesthetics, design, innovation, technology and functionality converge. Combining the world of wine with the cultural environment allows a perfect merge between terroir and storytelling. Being the caretaker of such a vast and immense heritage, the wineries have understood the importance of properly enhancing the relationship between terroir, corporate heritage, and expertise.
Wineries are witnesses of traditions and promoters of art and culture, starting from the aesthetic aspect of the cellar up to the care of the vineyards. Talented architects and designers are engaged in shaping amazing space, that can contribute to give a specific character to the place.
Cellars and vineyards are no longer considered spaces strictly dedicated to the cultivation of vines and the production of wine, but spaces in constant change. Training places for courses, tastings and multisensory experiences but also an expression of the link between architecture, land and culture.
Here we have selected 5 unique Italian examples whose aesthetics is a perfect combination of design, art and culture:
© tenutelunelli.it
The partnership between the Lunelli family and the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation gave life to the Bevagna cellar-sculpture where Montefalco Sagrantino is born.
A carapace in the heart of the Umbrian countryside, a shell capable of enclosing art, nature and wine. An extraordinary work that looks like a large dome covered with copper, engraved with a net that recalls the furrows of the earth that embraces it. “The shape recalls the turtle, a symbol of stability and longevity” as Pomodoro himself said.
Welcoming, minimalist and pure. Immersed in 78 hectares of vineyards planted with spurred cordon, guyot and sapling, the surface of the building looks like a tapestry that recalls the stylized motifs of Sardinian carpets, the same found in the labeling of the bottles. The term Mesa in Sardinian means “table” and represents the idea of a convivial, simple and authentic place.
In the homeland of Gewürztraminer, architect Werner Tscholl designed a metal, glass and concrete structure inspired by the vine branches and characteristic pergolas of Trentino-Alto Adige. The result was a play of light between transparency and darkness that host the wine shop and the tasting room.
© Fabio Gambina
The dry-stone walls and the sapling vines are the space in which this winery built by the Milanese architect Gabriella Giuntoli stands. Architectural design is not the only one connected to this reality. In 2021, the partnership with Dolce & Gabbana gave birth to “Rosa”, a new line of rosé wines, an ambassador of Made in Italy excellence. On the one hand Donnafugata has created an unprecedented blend of two Sicilian vines able to best express the elegance, fragrance and minerality of Sicily, on the other D&G has managed the coordinated image by describing this wine through a labeling project that took inspiration from the iconic Sicilian cart which best represents Sicilian craftsmanship, culture and tradition.
In 2001 the fiefs of San Gregorio became one of the first author cellars in Italy exhibited twice at the Venice Biennale thanks to the precious contribution of Hikaru Mori. Essential lines, neutral colors and simplicity express the philosophy of the Japanese architect who paid attention to both the external and internal gardens, furnished by Massimo and Lella Vignelli, representatives of Italian design. In 2011 an artistic project was born thanks to the support of the gallery owner Beatrice Bertini with the aim of creating a permanent collection in the cellar thanks to the projects created by the artists during the workshops in the cellar.
