Ornellaia celebrates the arts

A collection of special edition Ornellaia raised €202,700 for charity in an auction held in Switzerland last week.

Giovanni Geddes, John Armleder and Ferdinando Frescobaldi at the Ornellaia event.JPG

The nine lots were sold by Sotheby’s as part of a gala dinner to raise funds for the Fondation Beyeler in Basel. The event marked the seventh instalment of what is now an annual event for the Super Tuscan brand, which has so far raised over €1.5m for various artistic causes with its Vendemmia d’Artista series.

This year’s auction featured bottles designed by artist John Armleder, who presented his interpretation of the theme chosen for the 2012 vintage: “L’Incanto”, meaning “The Enchantment”.

In total Armeleder has created individually signed labels for 111 bottles, including 100 double magnums, 10 imperials and one Salmanazar. Nine of these bottles were sold at last week’s auction.

Previous artists involved with the series include Rodney Graham from Canada in 2014 and Italy’s Michelangelo Pistoletto in 2013.