Wine labels primary task is to inform us of the content, who the producer is, what grape and what year the wine was produced. But for a bottle to really pop, it needs more than its fine content. Here, we list ten times the art world has put its mark on wine labels.
1. Jean Carlu for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1924
The label for the 1924 Château Mouton-Rothschild shows traces of Carlu’s cubist and surrealistic tendencies, using red and earthy colours, geometrical shapes and sharp contrasts. The sheep, castle and the modern font is reminiscent of the loud style of ads at the time.
2. Salvador Dali for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1958
In 1958, the leading face of Surrealism, Salvador Dali created the label. The label depicts a little lamb next to one lonely flower. The background is austere and the lamb is surrounded by a golden cloud matching the text underneath.
3. César for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1967
On the wine label, César created a minimalistic artwork of geometrical shapes and sharp colour contrasts between red and black in the background.
4. Joan Miró for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1967
Miró’s work for the winemaker was the starting point for many high profile collaborations with successful artists such as Marc Chagall and Wassily Kandinsky.
5. Wassily Kandinsky for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1971.
6. Andy Warhol for Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1975.
7. Roy Lichtenstein for Taittinger Champagne, 1985
In this example, it is more than just a label. Lichtenstein covered the entire bottle and its box with his yellow, white and Yves Klein blue work of art.
8. Geluck for Domaine Mercier Vins, 1997
9. Yoko Ono for Chianti Nittardi Classico, 2005
In 2005, Yoko Ono put the words ‘Imagine You’ on the label as a tribute to her late husband John Lennon, with whom she co-wrote the song Imagine. Above the text you can see bottles and glasses drawn in small dotted lines.
10. David Hockney for Mouton-Rothschild, 2014
These are just a few of the many artist who have graced wine labels with their art. Today, the bottles are valuable collector’s items and many strive to collect all of Mouton-Rothschild special editions from 1945 until today. But so far, no one has succeeded.
Maybe some of them can be found under Barnebys Wine & Spirits category