Vin Gogh? Artist creates portraits using red wine

A New York artist has come up with a novel way of making the most of her leftover Cabernet Franc – using it to make portrait paintings. As reported on db.com, using a wax resist, 29-year-old Amelia Fais Harnas pours six to seven layers of red wine on top of white cotton in order to achieve the light and shade effects. To ensure the wine dries quickly, Harnas, an avid wine lover, has to work at around 27°C, rotating between four to six portraits at a time.

She discovered how to make the portraits by melting dead candle remnants in a coffee can over a propane grill and painting the wax resist on cotton bed sheets with an old paintbrush. “The idea of painting with wine developed slowly over a couple of years. I wondered if wine could be used as a pigment for my portraits and started experimenting with Cahors,” she told Solent News. “I'd love to be able to say it happened by accident, where I spilled wine and saw Jesus's face in it, but it really resulted from a series of what-ifs.

“I enjoy the challenge of trying to control the unpredictable nature of wine bleeding through fabric in order to channel the equally imprecise nature of a person’s character,” she added. Her portraits, many of which incorporate religious iconography, have been exhibited in New York galleries and Finger Lakes producer Damiani Wine Cellars, whose Cabernet Franc-based Vino Rosso is almost exclusively used in the portraits due to its deep colour and low residual sugar content.

"I’m intrigued by what effect wine quality will have on the works, and plan on experimenting with all sorts of grape varieties and regions to see how the colour, residual sugar and tannin content affect stain penetration, she told The Huffington Post. As to how long the portraits will last, Harnas is unable to give an accurate answer, though believes their ephemeral nature adds to the intrigue.

"I’m doing everything in my power to ensure they last as long as possible, but part of the excitement is how fragile the works are,” she said. Her works sell for up to £650, depending on their size, with a 20" by 16" portrait requiring just one glass of wine. Harnas plans to move to Paris to work on miniature portraits using French wine.

Moueix: I’ll slash my top wines by 50%

Christian Moueix has revealed he is willing to slash the price of his top Bordeaux 2011 wines, which include La Fleur-Pétrus and Trotanoy, by up to 50%. “Our cuts will have to be severe – between 30-50% – if we want to keep people interested,” the president of Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix told the drinks business in Bordeaux last week.

“We’ll have to come out early and drop our prices significantly this year. If you release too late people will hold out for the 2012 vintage,” Moueix warned, insisting growers wouldn’t dare release 2011 stock at the same price as 2010. He stated that the Chinese market has been instrumental in creating the Bordeaux bubble, but that many Asian investors will pull away with 2011. “They will be more discreet and selective this year as they hate to lose money,” he said.

Moueix also revealed that he has added to his portfolio with a 4.7-hectare property in Pomerol. “I’ve just bought a little estate called Château Guillot in an amazing location – facing Le Pin, I can’t believe how lucky I got, the blocks are perfect,” he said, admitting he is keen to rename the estate as the current name is “clearly not sexy.”

A new cellar is also under construction at Pétrus – which Moueix consults for – set to open next June. “We would have loved to have stayed as small as we were, but it was time to refresh things and improve our facilities,” Moueix admitted. He describes 2011 as a “difficult” vintage. “It’s like a dish where you have all the right ingredients but they’re all in the wrong proportions,” he said, adding, “The abnormal weather conditions lead to stressed wines.”

Moueix warned that those who indulged in over-extraction were playing a dangerous game: “In 2010 it created beautiful monsters, but those who over-extracted in 2011 will have awkward, angular wines,” he said, describing his own wines as having a floral, fresh character akin to 2001.

Meanwhile, Alexandre Thienpont of Vieux Château Certan is confident of the quality of his 2011 wines: “We’re back in the game this year – 2011 was an excellent year for Cabernet Franc; it shone. The wines are really energetic,” he said. “2011 was a year for the great terroirs of Bordeaux – Ausone, Figeac, Cheval Blanc; it was a good year for the Right Bank,” he added.

At Figeac, technical director Frédéric Faye (above) believes 2011 will go the distance: “These wines will keep until 2035 – they’re classic with great freshness and balance,” he said. “Coco Chanel once said the most important thing is style, not being in fashion, and we have our own style. I think a number of Right Bank châteaux like Angélus are coming back to the old style of elegance and classicism, having lost themselves to a more concentrated modern expression,” he added.

Faye plans to release Figeac 2011 at €80-100, despite the 2008 vintage, which 2011 is frequently being compared to, coming out at €40 and currently selling for €70. “The price rises are due to the Chinese market – we all want to make money at the end of the day and it’s good to make as much money as you can,” he said.

Wine of the Week: Ornellaia 2008

Welcome to a new section of Wine and the City – Wine of the Week, where each week I will taste and rate a different wine from around the world. While I’ll endeavour to make the majority affordable and accessible, I’m starting the section on a high note with a very special wine, Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore 2008.

One of the three so-called “Super Tuscans”, along with Sassicaia and Solaia, it’s easy to forget the estate of Tenuta dell’Ornellaia was founded a mere 31 years ago in 1981 by Lodovico Antinori, who chose an unspoilt patch in the hills near the medieval hamlet of Bolgheri, set in a triangle formed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, Bolgheri and the town of Castagneto Carducci. The ambition was to create fine wines to rival the best in the world. Since establishing the estate, Lodovico has passed the baton on to current owner, the Marchesi de Frescobaldi.

Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore is the estate’s flagship wine, produced since 1985 from select, hand picked parcels across the estate’s 97 hectares of limestone-rich calcerous soils. Made from a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and a 3% dash of Petit Verdot, while showing beautifully now, the 2008 vintage is one for lying down. The 2008 growing season was marked by a wet spring, which lead to low yields of high concentration. The summer was hot, but temperatures cooled at night, allowing for the development of colour, aromatics and phenolic ripeness in the Cabernet Sauvignon, resulting in a bold, structured wine built for ageing.

Crafted by German winemaker Axel Heinz, after the grapes are gently crushed, the wine is fermented in French oak barrels (70% new) then aged in small barriques for 18 months, followed by a year of bottle ageing. An intense deep purple, the nose is full of ripe blackberries and black cherries alongside tobacco, balsamic and herbal notes, and hints of dark chocolate, mocha, tar and spices. The Cabernet dominant palate is dense, concentrated, textured and giving. Fleshy, soft and opulent, with a sweetness to the fruit, it’s a Rubens of a wine, with velvety, fine-grained tannins and a lightening bolt of minerality running through it. Firm yet racy, with a liquorice finish and incredible length, it’s a clever balance of power and elegance made very much in the international style, which will go on happily for 20 years.

Wine and the City rating: 18/20.

Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore 2008 is available from Berry Bros & Rudd, Harper Wells and The Wine Society for £100-120 a bottle.

Cabernet a "cornerstone for Chile's future"

Australian winemaker and consultant Brian Croser has spoken out in praise of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, calling it “a cornerstone for the future of Chilean wine.” As reported on thedrinksbusiness.com, speaking at the inaugural South American Wine Workshop in London, organised by Santa Rita Estates, Croser said Chilean Cabernet was even more distinctive than Napa Cabernet.

“Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon is completely unique and can’t be replicated. Its unmistakable Cabernet nature is a real advantage for Chile, and a strength to build upon,” Croser said. “The best examples are subliminal, with grainy tannins that impart a savoury note on the finish,” he added, warning that the big challenge for Chilean vintners is to learn how to tame their tannins. “They’re a long way off at the moment,” he admitted.

Croser believes the uniqueness of Chilean Cabernet comes from the extreme differences between day and night temperatures, which gives the grapes longer to build up pyroxene and phenols, allowing for the steady build up of tannin. “Chile has recognised the challenge of the Cabernet varieties and the unusually high diurnal range of the terroirs and continues to refine the vineyard management, creating some of the world's most unique and distinctive Cabernets with subliminal briarines and evolved savoury tannins,” he said.

He referred to the Cabernet family of grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Carmenere as “Chile’s backbone”, calling Cabernet Franc the “mother grape” and imparter of the green gene. “Chile’s fine wine future lies in refining its traditional Cabernet offering from the Central Valley and at the same time exploring what the county’s other terroirs have to offer,” he said, citing Chile’s “matrix of terroir” as having great potential for other noble grape varieties, including Riesling, Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

He also name-checked Temuco as a region to watch, predicting it will become an important place for sparkling wine production. “The future of Chilean sparkling wine lies in the south, towards the mountains, in drier areas like Temuco. I’m certain there’s a future for Chilean sparkling wine down there, all we need is a producer brave enough to start planting,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chilean wine expert Peter Richards MW spoke out in defence of Carmenere, calling it “a first division grape" that speaks of its origins. “We have to remember how new it is. Quality will increase in time and lots of different kinds of Carmenere will emerge, as it’s a naturally varied variety,” Richards said. Tim Atkin MW also defended the grape: “I’m coming round to it, especially in blends. The problem with Carmenere is its green character, which needs to be addressed. The trick is being able to manage the tannin,” he said.

Derenoncourt California at Villa d'Este

Having motored past George Clooney's villa (he wasn't in), Wine and the City and James Lawrence of The Wine Remedy taste Derenoncourt California Cabernet Franc 2007 – Bordeaux go-to consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt's Napa Valley project, on a speedboat during the World Wine Symposium at Villa d'Este on Lake Como.