From the 29th of August to the 13th of September, 11 valuable lots of Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2016 “La Tensione” will go under the auctioneer’s hammer online, with the profits being donated to expand the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s “Mind’s Eye” program.
New York, NY, August 29, 2019 –The online auction of the valuable bottles of Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista 2016 designed by the famous artist, Shirin Neshat, begins on Thursday, the 29th of August, 2019, at 10am Eastern Time.
To mark the eleventh edition of Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista, the American artist of Iranian origin, Shirin Neshat, has interpreted the vintage character of Ornellaia 2016 – “La Tensione”; with her destabilizing and poetic visual language, the photographer, video artist and director alludes to the strength and dynamism of this vintage using the verses of the illustrious 11th century Persian poet, Omar Khayyām. These works of art will be auctioned off online at Sotheby’s from the 29th of August to the 13th of September, 2019. Collectors from all over the world can seek to take home a work of art and a wine of exceptional value, while displaying a gesture of outstanding generosity. The profits from the auction will be donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to support the innovative “Mind’s Eye” program.
“Over the past ten years,” explains Ornellaia’s CEO, Giovanni Geddes da Filicaja, “Ornellaia has donated over two million dollars to different institutions in the art world: from the Whitney Museum in New York to the Neue National Galerie in Berlin, from the Fondation Beyeler in Basel to the Royal Opera House in London and the H2 Foundation in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Beginning in 2019, we wanted to contribute to the development of artistic perception for the blind or low vision people, and therefore we decided to become a supporter of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s Mind’s Eye program.”
This sponsorship and the end of the auction will be celebrated with an exclusive cocktail event taking place at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in the spectacular Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice.
The international auction is open to the public and anyone can place a bid by simply registering at www.sothebys.com/ornellaia. The profits from the online auction will be announced at 8pm on the 13th of September at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
“Sotheby’s Wine is proud to participate in the eleventh edition of Ornellaia’s superb Vendemmia d’Artista art program. We have enjoyed incredibly special events in New York (2010 & 2017), Hong Kong (2012), London (2013 & 2018), Toronto (2014), Basel (2015) and Los Angeles (2016), each of which was wholly unique and exciting, in the same way that every vintage has its own distinct character. These unique large-format bottles will find homes in new cellars and will always remind their new owners of the joys of bringing wine, food, art and friendship together.” Jamie Ritchie,Worldwide Head, Sotheby’s Wine
The “Mind’s Eye” program, created by the Guggenheim education department, helps blind and low vision people experience art by using all the senses. This encourages the development of creative expression, emotional connections and memories, the perception of which lasts over time. As in art, the appreciation of great wines also requires the involvement of all the senses. It is precisely this idea that prompted Ornellaia to support the growth of this particular program.
The donations collected through Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista will allow the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to further develop the activities of the “Mind’s Eye” program with the aim of extending the model to other art institutions, ensuring its excellence in favor of blind and low vision people all over the world.
About Ornellaia – www.ornellaia.com
Ornellaia’s philosophy considers the birth of the wines to be the truest expression of their terroir. The grapes for Ornellaia are selected by hand, and picked in the estate’s vineyards in Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast. The varying natures of the estate’s terroirs, marine, alluvial and volcanic, are ideal for the cultivation of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The Estate extends over 115 hectares along the Tuscan coast, just a short distance from the medieval hamlet of Bolgheri and the famed cypress-lined avenue ‘Viale dei Cipressi’. The constant work of the Ornellaia team and the ideal microclimatic and geological characteristics have brought the wines great international success since the first vintage of Ornellaia in 1985. In 2001, the 1998 Ornellaia was declared Wine of the Year by the American journal Wine Spectator. In 2011 the German publication Der Feinschmecker awarded Ornellaia its most sought-after award, the ‘Weinlegende’. Ornellaia has received considerable recognition in the national and international press, and is consistently ranked among the top estates by Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, James Suckling, Antonio Galloni, Bruce Sanderson and the Italian Wine Guides: Gambero Rosso, Espresso, and Veronelli.
About Vendemmia d’Artista
Vendemmia d’Artista celebrates the exclusive character of each vintage of Ornellaia. Since the initial release of Ornellaia 2006, Ornellaia has commissioned an internationally-famous contemporary artist to create a work of art for the estate and a series of limited-edition labels, inspired by the character identified by the Winemaker and Estate Director, Axel Heinz, to describe the particular characteristics of the new vintage. 111 large formats, of which 100 3-liter Double Magnums, 10 six-liter Imperials and a nine-liter Salmanazar, are sold or auctioned off by Sotheby’s Wine for charity.
For the 11th edition of the Ornellaia Vendemmia d’Artista project, Ornellaia commissioned American artist Shirin Neshat to interpret the character of the Ornellaia 2016 wine “La Tensione” (Tension); with her disruptive and poetic visual language, the photographer, filmmaker and video-artist alludes to this vintage’s dynamism and strength through the words of the illustrious 11th– century Persian poet, Omar Khayyām. The artist created a site-specific art installation for the Estate, customized a limited series of 111 large format bottles, and designed a special label that, a single example of which, will be found in each Ornellaia case containing 6 750ml bottles.
