We often talk about the marriages of wine and food, as well as wine and music, but let’s not forget that other great vinous doubleheader: wine and art.
A number of wineries, such as The Hess Collection in the Napa Valley, have large permanent art galleries for visitors to enjoy. Others feature rotating exhibits by local artists.
In Sonoma County, the Medlock Ames winery has commissioned Douglas Gayeton to create four pieces of art, each depicting a season of the year on the winery’s Bell Mountain Ranch.
One already is completed, and can be viewed at the Medlock Ames tasting room in Healdsburg.
Gayeton is the author of “SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town.” He has created award-winning work at the boundaries of traditional and converging media for National Geographic, PBS, Warner Brothers and Sony.
Gayeton’s recent documentary projects include “Lost in Italy,” a series he created and directed for the Fine Living network, and “Molotov Alva” for HBO.
His images are held in museums and private collections around the world, and have been featured in numerous print and online media, including Time magazine.
Gayeton could be considered a “local artist” for the Medlock Ames project, as he lives a straight shot down the 101 highway in Petaluma, Calif.
A bit farther south, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a special wine-related exhibit is running through April 17. It’s called “How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine, 1976 to Now.”
The exhibit enables visitors to explore the rich visual culture of wine through historical artifacts, design objects, newly commissioned works of art and enticing installations, including a unique “smell wall.”
The exhibition, designed by renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, invites you to discover wine as you’ve never seen it before.
For further information on “How Wine Became Modern” and directions to the museum, visit: www.sfmoma.org
