Art and Wine: Médoc 2022

Owned by the same family since 1935, Marquis de Terme underwent a major renovation in 2009. Director Ludovic David came on board that same year, determined to make the most of these updated facilities. His goal: to improve the quality of the wine and to develop the estate’s international image through a dynamic wine tourism program.

Marquis de Terme now offers visits that cater to nearly every interest, from chocolate and wine pairings to vineyard bike tours to behind-the-scenes looks at the winemaking process. There is also a full calendar of concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events.

This spring, visitors will discover the vividly colored works of Victoria Stagni, a Brazilian artist now living in Bordeaux. Inspired by magical realism, her paintings are fantastical scenes where animals, nature and man coexist—sometimes peacefully, sometimes not. The artist points out that several of her works are warnings about pollution and environmental destruction.

Marquis de Terme always seeks out artists who share the estate’s values and philosophy, and Stagni fits the bill: multicultural and dynamic, she illustrates the central role that man must play in preserving nature.

The environment and climate change are serious concerns throughout Bordeaux, but nowhere more so than at Cantenac Brown. Owner Tristan Le Lous has taken the unprecedented initiative of building a carbon-neutral winery using thousand-year-old techniques to compress locally sourced clay and sand into building blocks. The design also uses wood—all of it from Aquitaine. It will have a vaulted ceiling, the largest of its kind in Europe and one of only three in the world. What’s more, the building’s thermal qualities will eliminate the need for air conditioning, providing the ideal temperature and humidity for aging wine.

To convey the importance and originality of this enterprise, Le Lous has called upon David Popa, an artist whose philosophy and values resonate strongly with the project. Popa uses a combination of earth, natural pigments and water to paint monumental land frescoes, all of which are biodegradable. Depending on the weather, some frescoes last a few months, others vanish within a few days.

This spring, Popa will spend several days at Cantenac Brown creating a work entitled “The Power of the Earth.” The artist plans to incorporate soil from the estate in recognition of the importance of terroir and sustainability. Like his other land art, it will be preserved through photography, videos captured by drones and an NFT sold through cryptocurrency. Cantenac Brown’s proceeds from the sale will go to a French national trust that buys land along the coast to preserve it from development.

Nathalie Perrodo took over Marquis d’Alesme in 2006, just two years after the death of her father, who had purchased the property shortly beforehand. After revamping the vineyards, she turned her attention to the buildings, hiring Bordeaux architect Fabien Pedelaborde to embark on a three-year renovation that would pay tribute to her dual French-Chinese heritage.

Pedelaborde deftly blended classic French architecture with moon gates and other Chinese design elements. Most dramatic is the long balcony that wends through the vat room—it is decorated with no fewer than 2,000 lead “dragon scales.”

The visual arts are few but noteworthy and can be seen in the 18^th-century Pavillon, which is reserved for private events. Formerly located on a nearby property, the building was dismantled stone by stone, then reconstructed at Marquis d’Alesme.

Printmaker François Houtin added an irresistable charm to the Pavillon, using India ink to hand draw a fantasy landscape of trees and plants that wrap around the large arched windows. The fresco, entitled “The Marquis’s Picturesque Gardens,” took months to complete.

The Pavillon also boasts a ceramic hare by Paul Gourdon, whose intricately detailed sculptures of plants and animals have made him a favorite with Chef Alain Ducasse and collectors throughout the world.

Philippe Raoux is not your typical Bordeaux winemaker, and Château d’Arsac is not your typical Bordeaux estate. For four generations, Raoux’s family lived in Algeria, then in 1962 returned to France after the country gained independence. When Raoux bought Arsac in 1986, he was able to imagine its potential with an outsider’s eye.

And potential was pretty much all there was. The buildings were in ruins, and there were no cultivated vineyards. Bit by bit he renovated the place, guided more by instinct than tradition. The old vat room and cellars, for example, bore traces of a faded electric blue color—the curious result of a previous owner having made the frugal choice to paint it with the copper sulfate left over from treating the vines. The story amused Raoux, so he repainted it the same vibrant color. As for the crumbling château, Raoux entirely rebuilt the dome—replacing traditional slate with some 8,000 translucent tiles.

These unconventional buildings are now the backdrop for a collection of sculptures by a Who’s Who of the contemporary art world. Its origins go back to 1988, when the director of a foundation that lent art to factories and other workplaces asked Raoux if he would host an exhibition at Arsac. There was a lot of empty space in the cellars since winemaking was just getting started, so he agreed.

He admits that at the time, he wasn’t really that interested in art but realized how “soulless” the estate felt once the exhibition was over. So he continued hosting annual shows. Little by little, his appreciation of art grew, and he discovered how much he enjoyed the company of artists. In 1994, he decided to make sculpture a permanent feature at Arsac.

True to form, Raoux came up with a unique financing scheme: Every year, each vine would “donate” one franc to purchase art. Arsac had 600,000 vines, so that yielded an annual budget of about €100,000. There are now some 40 sculptures installed on the grounds along with paintings in the château and cellars. Raoux insists that each new work be intimately related to the estate.

A large bronze thumb by César and an oversized red flowerpot by Jean-Pierre Raynaud, for example, evoke the winegrower’s role as a “vineyard gardener.” Bernar Venet’s “Diagonal,” an eight-ton corten steel beam, is installed at an angle in front of the 17^th-century château, a bold declaration of Arsac’s rupture with the past. Then there’s Jan Fabre’s “The Man Who Measures the Clouds,” a bronze sculpture of a man holding a yardstick up to the sky. A favorite with visitors, it is a reminder of the essential role of weather in winemaking.

The collection, which now includes works by Mark di Suvero, Niki de Saint Phalle, Susumu Shingu, Jean-Michel Folon, Jim Dine and others, has gained such prestige that Raoux has been asked to lend two sculptures to the City of Bordeaux for its upcoming “Collector” exhibition in the Jardin Public (opens June 1, 2022).

Thomas Duroux, managing director of Château Palmer, earned his culture creds in 2009 when he and French-American jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson created “Hear Palmer,” a yearly event during which renowned jazz artists are invited to the château to interpret the latest vintage. The work is then performed in concert at the château during en primeur week.

In 2016, Duroux expanded into the visual arts, staging annual exhibitions featuring the work of some of the world most famous photographers. Jazz photographer Guy Le Querrec was a natural choice, as were other talents who turned their lenses on environmental subjects, most notably the famous Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. To date, 14 French and international photographers have participated, exploring such annual themes as “Instant,” “Garden” or “Labyrinth.”

The pandemic and the renovation of the historic Palmer village have temporarily interrupted these shows, but Palmer continues to explore new artistic ground: This year, Duroux launched an artist residency program in partnership with Leica Camera France. During their stay at the château, photographers will have free rein to interpret various aspects of wine and the wine-making process. The first exhibit of these works will take place at Paris’s new Leica Gallery in early 2023. The estate is also partnering with a major vinyl label to produce a number of jazz records over the coming years.

Like most Bordeaux winemakers, Claire Villars Lurton is extremely concerned about the environment and climate change. Armed with doctoral studies in physics applied to archeology along with viticulture and oenology degrees, she made sustainable viticulture a priority from the moment she took over Haut-Bages Libéral in 1992.

After adopting organic and biodynamic practices, she decided to push the envelope even further by pursuing agroforestry, which involves planting trees among the vines. The idea was to encourage biodiversity—birds and insects as well as the network of nutrients that takes shape in the soil when trees, vines and other plants grow in proximity. Lurton Villars believes that together, these elements create natural defenses for the vines.

In 2020, she unveiled the fruit of her efforts: a 100 percent merlot wine made from an eight-hectare plot using these techniques. What’s more, it was the first Pauillac grand cru that could claim to be a natural wine, entirely organic with no added sulphites.

How to communicate this disruptive milestone? First Villars Lurton named the wine CERES, after the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility. Next she wanted a label as distinctive as the wine itself, one that would convey the very concept of agroforestry.

She approached an artist whose work she had long admired: printmaker François Houtin. His exquisitely detailed renderings of romantic forests look like they could be inhabited by fairies and gnomes yet are informed by his extensive background in landscaping and garden design. These enchanting black-and-white scenes have been featured on Hermès scarves as well as in intimate notebooks and dramatic murals.

Houtin enthusiastically embraced the label project, imagining a joyful tangle of grape-laden vines climbing up a majestic ash tree along with a peek at their roots mingling underground. It resembles no other Bordeaux label—an eloquent tribute to Villars-Lurton’s viticultural vision and achievement.

Jean-Michel Cazes’s fascination with art began when he was 10 years old. “My father had just returned from the war. We had nothing, yet one of the first things he did was to buy a painting by a contemporary Belgian artist. I was dumbfounded.”

Cazes still has the painting, along with dozens more that he has acquired over the years, many of them purchased to support artists whose work he has showcased at Lynch-Bages. His son, Jean-Charles, who took over management of Cazes Family Estates in 2006, enthusiastically continues the family’s commitment to the arts.

Every year, Lynch-Bages partners with Galerie Lelong, a leading Paris art gallery, to stage exhibitions. The construction of the château’s new winery and the pandemic have interrupted that schedule, but paintings will be on view once again in 2022. As always, admission will be free.

“When we were drawing up the architectural plans for the new cellars, part of the brief was to include spaces specially designed for art exhibitions, with proper lighting and so on,” says Jean-Charles. “In the past, we hung paintings wherever we could, but that wasn’t always ideal.” The inaugural show will be devoted to the large-format, exuberantly colored canvases by German artist Yann Voss—a savvy choice for these expansive new spaces.

And after so many years of showing contemporary art in the château’s historic interiors, Jean-Charles is now flipping the script: He requisitioned the 19^th-century paintings that have long hung in his parents’ home for display in the entrance hall of the sleek new glass-and-stainless steel building.

“They are romantic landscapes by an artist named Julien Calvé. He was from Pauillac—in fact, he used to be the owner of Château Croizet-Bages,” says Jean-Charles. “My great-grandfather acquired them when he bought a nearby house so that he could use the furnishings in his new home here at Lynch-Bages. That was in the 1930s—there weren’t many furniture stores in the Médoc back then!”

Like grandfather and father, like son: Jean-Charles has become an avid collector of Calvé’s work, snapping up paintings whenever they come on the market.

Jean-Michel Wilmotte is one of a growing number of star architects who have lent their talents to Bordeaux estates. At Pédesclaux, he transformed an estate that had seen better days into a stunning contemporary interpretation of the Bordeaux château.

Once work was completed in 2015, owners Françoise and Jacky Lorenzetti set about personally choosing artwork to complement the space. In a nod to their concern for sustainable development, they selected renowned artist Fabrice Hyber to create eight large-scale canvases for permanent display. Hyber has been passionate about nature since childhood and was recently named the first ambassador of the National Office of Forests, which has a special endowment to fight climate change and loss of biodiversity.

For Pédesclaux, he created colourful and amusing tributes to various aspects of wine and winemaking through works that combine drawing, painting, text and collage. In one, a huge cluster of grapes made from painted soccer balls seems to grow out of the frame. Elsewhere, a pair of canvases are composed of dripping blue and red squares, evoking the pressed grape skins and the resulting juice.

The choice of the second artist was the result of a chance encounter in a nearby chocolate shop. As it turned out, the master chocolate maker, one of the most illustrious in France, was also a sculptor. Patrick Roger and the Lorenzettis became friends, and today his lyrical bronze sculptures evoking the resilience and fragility of grape vines grace the gardens. The artist strikes a very different tone in the barrel cellar, where his six “Vanitas” sculptures invite viewers to reflect on the transience of life.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild had the bold vision that made Château Mouton Rothschild a phenomenon in the worlds of art and wine, commissioning famous painters and sculptors to illustrate the labels for each vintage, beginning in 1945. But it was his daughter, Philippine de Rothschild, who ensured they became a legend.

A successful actress, Philippine entered the family wine business in the 1970s. She began selecting the artists for the labels in the 1980s, continuing her father’s recent initiative of inviting an increasingly international roster of talent.

In an essay she wrote in 1995, the Baroness noted that “our relationships with the artists have always been characterized by friendship, trust and reciprocal independence.” To this day they are given free rein to express themselves, and Mouton is free to turn down any submission. Payment is in the form of wine from different vintages, including the year they illustrate.

During her travels, the Baroness noticed that wine lovers would frequently detach Mouton labels from the bottles and frame them. If people like them so much, she wondered, why not display the originals at the château? So she had each piece of artwork mounted in a shadow box along with the label itself and other memorabilia, such as press clips, photos or objects belonging to the artist.

The result was the exhibition “Mouton Rothschild – l’Art et l’Etiquette,” which débuted in 1981 during the first Vinexpo. It was so successful that museums soon requested that it travel, and it did—to more than 40 countries.

“The Paintings for the Labels” now spends most of its time at Mouton, in a special gallery next to the vat room. Since the Baroness’s passing in 2014, her son Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild has taken responsibility for this artistic legacy. He is currently renovating the gallery, which is slated to re-open in April 2022.

On view will be the latest addition: the 2019 the label created by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Entitled “Solar Iris of Mouton,” it is an homage to the relationship between the sun and wine. In yet another first, this label features a cut-out circle, placing the wine itself at the center of a diagram of a year’s sunrises and sunsets. For the artist, the work suggests that wine, which is a product of the sun, earth and sky, “bears a trace of the celestial.”

What does the future hold for the labels? The château is mum, but one can only imagine the stratospheric sums that NFTs would fetch….

One of the most audacious chapters in the history of art and wine in Bordeaux was written at Château Beychevelle.

In 1990, the estate’s owner, Suntory, joined forces with insurance company GMS to found the International Contemporary Art Center. The majestic grandeur of this famous Saint-Julien estate, known as “the Versaille of the Médoc,” lent itself perfectly to this ambitious initiative. Each year, international artists of all disciplines were invited to reside at the château while creating works related to a designated theme.

Candidates were selected by the Académie de Beychevelle, a group of renowned intellectuals who asked the artists to explore concepts such as temperance, prudence, justice or courage. The lofty enterprise was short-lived, however, as unrelated issues led GMS to withdraw its support, resulting in the Center’s closing in 1994.

Beychevelle’s enthusiastic sponsorship of the arts continued however, initially in the form of the Equinoxe screenplay writing workshops chaired by award-winning actress Jeanne Moreau, which ran through 2004. Since then, the château has hosted exhibitions of paintings, sculptures and installations throughout its expansive grounds, cellar and tasting room.

Due to the pandemic, exhibitions were temporarily suspended following the showing of monumental paintings and other works by François Avril in 2019. Director Philippe Blanc, who has piloted the château’s artistic endeavors since 1995, says that they are currently restoring the château’s magnificent gardens and park, promising an even more dramatic setting for contemporary art when exhibitions start up again in 2023.

Malescasse may well have the coolest light fixture in any wine cellar. In the center of a large luminous flat ring, a cluster of extraterrestrials cavort around a suspended light bulb, as if they have just descended from the black hole above. The work of German industrial designer Ingo Maurer, it was originally designed in 2006 for the newly renovated Atomium in Brussels.

Château owners are keenly aware that contemporary art in a winery can remind visitors that this ancient beverage pushes the envelope with every new vintage, and Maurer’s futuristic fixture makes the point with drama and humor.

It is one of more than a dozen arresting works on view at the château. As visitors pass through the entrance gate, they encounter Bernar Venet’s monumental “223.5° ARC x 10,” one of the French artist’s gravity-defying corton steel sculptures. Other variations on this theme can be seen in some 30 museums and other locations throughout the world.

Indoors, they discover works of widely diverse origins and mediums. Set in Central Park, Peruvian Herman Braun-Vega’s take on Manet’s “Déjeuner sur l’Herbe” is an amusing yet serious reflection on the mixing of artistic and cultural traditions. Several of Alice Anderson’s monochromatic works made of woven copper thread are also on view, along with German artist Peter Klasen’s colorful collage-like Pop Art paintings.

These and other works were installed as part of the château’s massive five-year renovation, completed in 2019. The extensive overhaul was the work of Philippe Austruy, who acquired the property in 2012. Carrying on the work started by previous owner Guy Tesseron, who also owned Château Pontet Canet, he further improved the vineyards, built new winemaking facilities and meticulously restored the 19^th-century neoclassic château.

Now the owner of five wineries, Austruy typically seeks out properties with unrealized potential and invests heavily to improve the wine and turn the estates into jewels of wine tourism. True to form, Malescasse earned the distinction cru bourgeois exceptionnel in 2020 and now boasts a stunning tasting room and elegant guest rooms with modern furnishings and contemporary art set against a backdrop of old stone walls. Visitors may rent out the entire château, and concierge service is available 24/7.

Austruy purchased his first winery, Peyrassol in Provence, in 2001. He was 50 at the time, having built a highly successful career in the health sector and developed a passion for contemporary art. Today Peyrassol boasts some 100 museum-quality works and is known as one of the largest private open-air collections in Europe.

Since taking the helm at Chasse-Spleen in 2000, Céline et Jean-Pierre Foubet have continually looked for new ways to share their deep passion for wine and art. Their first gesture was to install a sculpture of a pair of gigantic green rubber boots by French artist Lilian Bourgeat at the château entrance. They hoped this playful, hyperrealistic nod to the muddy work of harvesters would make visitors smile when they arrived at the property, and it did—the boots have become a beloved symbol of Chasse-Spleen.

Today a dozen sculptures are scattered throughout the grounds and numerous other works are displayed in the château buildings. In the aging cellar, for example, Swiss artist Felice Varini has created a site-specific work called “Nine Dancing Triangles.” Viewed from one angle, it does indeed appear to be nine red triangles pirouetting among the barrels. Viewed from other angles, it deconstructs into a joyful explosion of geometric forms painted on the walls, columns and ceiling.

In 2018, the Foubets took their passion to another level when they hired architects to transform their 18^th-century chartreuse into a Centre d’Art where they could display pieces from their extensive collection and stage temporary shows, usually works by emerging artists. A highlight of these exhibitions are the catalogues; Céline and Jean-Pierre each write deeply informed and deeply personal comments about every piece on display.

From May 5 through September 30, 2022, the Centre d’Art will be turned over to works by François Morellet (1926 – 2016). Known as the pioneer of geometric abstraction and a precursor of minimalism, Morellet was celebrated in a major retrospective at the Pompidou Center in 2011 and is in the permanent collections of such museums as New York’s MOMA, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, London’s Tate Modern and Zurich’s Kunsthaus. The Foubets’ neon sculpture by the artist will be on view along with eight pieces from Paris’s Galerie Kamel Mennour, including two that are some 50 feet long.

The Foubets’ enthusiasm for contemporary art has now expanded from collecting to nurturing new talents. In 2019, they launched the Prix du Centre d’Art Chasse-Spleen, a competition open to graduates of Nouvelle Aquitaine art schools. A jury composed of international art experts selects the winner, whose work is featured in exhibitions at Chasse-Spleen as well as in galleries in Bordeaux and Paris. The award also provides financial support and professional guidance for a period of one year.

Visitors seduced by Chasse-Spleen’s enviable art de vivre can now live the Foubet life—at least for a few days. The château recently opened three guest rooms in the renovated chartreuse, each leading out to an expansive terrace with views of the vineyard. Works from the collection rotate frequently in the rooms, and guests have exclusive access to the Centre d’Art during the evenings. It’s difficult to imagine a more perfect embodiment of the château name, which means “chase away melancholy,” than strolling through these art galleries, a glass of wine in hand.

Château Siran, owned by the Miahle family, houses an interesting museum that comprises around 300 objects around wine and pottery that date from the 3rd century BC through to the 19th century. The objects are presented by theme, and showcase not only the passion for wine, but the art of tasting that surrounds it. Of particular interest is a series of terracotta amphoras from the 3rd century, numerous 18th century Toby jugs, and a series of gorgeous 19th century Vieillard plates.

Coming this year will be a new series of wine labels drawn by contemporary artists – a programme that Siran has done in the past, from 1980 to 2005, and is now relaunching.