Nittardi Launches International Art Contest for its 40th Anniversary Wine Label

Posted by Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 5/28/2022

Nittardi Launches International Art Contest for its 40th Anniversary Wine Label

Nittardi Wine Estate is a boutique winery situated in the heart of the Chianti Classico region with 40 hectares of vineyards divided between Castellina in Chianti and Maremma in Tuscany. It was originally a defensive tower known as early as 1183 by the name of “Nectar Dei” (The Nectar of the God) between Florence and Sienna. In the 16th-century, the estate was owned̀ by one of the most important Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, who would send wine from there to Rome as a present for Pope Paul III.

Art and creativity is in the DNA of the estate, as evidenced by the extraordinary park of contemporary sculptures and the exceptional artists who, every year since 1981, have created two works dedicated to the historic Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi at the invitation of the gallerist Peter Femfert, his wife historian Stefania Canali and their eldest son Léon, who has managed the estate since 2013.

Since 1981, the Canali-Femfert family has been celebrating the history of Casanuova di Nittardi by means of unique adornment. For each vintage, an artist has been invited to create two art pieces, one for the label and one for the wrapping paper.

Over the years, international artists such as Valerio Adami, Pierre Alechinsky, Corneille, Dario Fo, Karl Otto Götz, Günter Grass, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Yoko Ono, Mimmo Paladino, Fabrizio Plessi, Mikis Theodorakis and others have graced Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi with their artworks. All their works are now part of the Nittardi Collection, which also includes 45 sculptures and installations spread throughout the vineyards.

In order to celebrate the 2020 vintage, the Canali-Femfert family decided to choose not just one artist but six, through an international art contest: the Premio Nittardi. The idea is to offer passionate collectors of Nittardi a unique case of six bottles of Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi Vigna Doghessa 2020, each adorned with a different label and wrapping paper.

To select the artists of this 'collection within the collection', an international art competition has been launched. Artists can submit their proposals until the 3rd of July, 2022. "Nittardi," explains Léon Femfert, second generation on the property, "wants to celebrate its 40th anniversary by looking towards the future and opening the possibility of participation to artists from around the world, including emerging ones."

A jury composed of, among others, a museum director, a gallery owner, an artist and an art critic will convene to choose the winning labels and corresponding wrapping papers. The artwork of the six winners will be exhibited in Florence in an exhibition open to the public in the fall of 2022, and in Frankfurt (Germany) at DIE GALERIE in 2023, together with all the artworks of the labels and wrapping papers of the 39 previous vintages.

The Nittardi Collection

The artists who have created labels and wrapping papers to date are Bruno Bruni (1981), Maurilio Minuzzi (1982), Karl Korab (1983), Simon Dittrich (1984), Miguel Berrocal (1985), Alfred Hrdlicka (1986), Paul Wunderlich (1987), Rudolf Hausner (1988), Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1989), Horst Janssen (1990), Valerio Adami (1991), Corneille (1992), A.R. Penck (1993), Eduardo Arroyo (1994), Raymond E. Waydelich (1995), Luigi Veronesi (1996), Igor Mitoraj (1997), Elvira Bach (1998), Emilio Tadini (1999), Sandra Brandeis Crawford (2000), Volker Stelzmann (2001), Giuliano Ghelli (2002), Robert Combas (2003), Klaus Zylla (2004), Yoko Ono (2005), Mimmo Paladino (2006), Tomi Ungerer (2007), Günter Grass (2008), Pierre Alechinsky (2009), Dario Fo (2010), Kim Tschang Yeul (2011), Karl Otto Goetz (2012), Alain Clément (2013), Hsiao Chin (2014), Joe Tilson (2015), Allen Jones (2016), Mikis Theodorakis (2017) Johannes Heisig (2018) and Fabrizio Plessi (2019).

Competition Rules for Premio Nittardi
Each participant must submit a work for the label (dimensions 30 cm high x 39 cm wide or 40 cm x 52 cm or 50 cm x 65 cm) and a work for the tissue paper (dimensions 40 cm high x 57 cm wide or 50 cm x 71 cm or 60 cm x 85 cm) with which the bottle will be wrapped. The motif and the artistic technique (oil or acrylic on canvas, pastel, gouache, collage, colored pencil or watercolor on cardboard, photograph or other techniques) can be chosen by the artist. The selected artists, in addition to the honor of having their artwork on the wine, participating in the exhibitions and entering the Nittardi Collection, will win a week's stay for two people at Nittardi during the fall of 2022 as well as 24 bottles of Chianti Classico Casanuova di Nittardi 2020.

For more information, please see the "Conditions of Participation" at www.nittardi.com