Ornellaia, the maker of Super Tuscan wines near the medieval town of Bolgheri, has revealed the designs it has commissioned performance artist Marina Abramović to make for its 2023 vintages.
Part of the vintner’s Vendemmia d’Artista project, Abramović has created designs for the standard 750ml bottle, as well as its larger 3L, 6L, and 9L bottles. While the 750 ml have a much larger production, Ornellaia only makes 100 bottles in the 3L size, 10 in the 6L, and one in the 9L.
Several of these limited-edition bottles with be auctioned in June at Bonhams, with proceeds benefitting the Guggenheim Museum’s upcoming exhibition “Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now,” opening in June.
Each size has a different work, with the 750ml and the 3L bottles having self-portrait drawings and the 6L a self-portrait photograph. The 9L bottle, however, provides a more conceptual approach, with the label reading: “Marina Abramović Instructions: Slowly drink wine with eyes closed and listen to the music.”
In a video about the collaboration, Abramović, who is currently the subject of a traveling survey that will soon open at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice during the Biennale, described the commission as “a big task for me. I needed to do something that comes from my heart and also is interactive in many ways. Interactive is everything for me. I am [a] performance artist after all.”
Noting wine’s long historical connection to social gatherings, Abramović said she wanted to go to the root of wine, the grape, which she then incorporated into the three self-portraits she made. As she began adding grapes to cover her face, a Medusa-like image started to appear.
Marina Abramović with her design for Ornellaia’s 9L bottle.
Photo Marco Anelli
The “music” Abramović references in the 9L bottle design is Nino Rota’s iconic theme song for the 1960 film La Dolce Vita. “I listen [to] Nino Rota every time when I’m sad and I have immediately good mood,” she says in the video. “This is the music of happiness. What can be better than listening while drinking the wine [to] the music of Nino Rota?”
Ornellaia’s technical director Marco Balsimelli described the 2023 vintage as having “benefitted from the benevolence of nature,” which included a mild winter with high temperatures, a rainy spring, and a hot summer. “Late August rain and cool September nights favoured the development of aromatic complexity and preserved acidity in the bunches, ensuring a balance between power and elegance,” he added.
