Artistic blends
Whether making a visual statement, positioning themselves, or simply celebrating all that is beautiful, wine labels have become pieces of art in their own right.
Since Château Mouton Rothschild commissioned original artwork by poster artist Jean Carlu for its 1924 vintage, the practice of illustrating wine labels has become an art in itself, giving wine collections an added dimension: unique label art.
For almost a century, the renowned French producer has featured works by famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, and many more.
Fast forward 99 years, and the first Portuguese artist, Joana Vasconcelos, famous for her monumental, joyful, extra-large installations, is featured on the esteemed label of the 2023 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend (approx. €450) with her work Paraíso.
In Portugal, Esporão was the first producer to follow suit, featuring art on its labels since the brand was founded in 1985. Since then, the Alentejo winery has continued the tradition of inviting artists to design the labels for its Reserva range, transforming each vintage into an authentic collectable work of art.
Esporão Branco e Tinto
The most recent release of the red, the Reserva 2022 (€20), a blend of five red varieties, features a piece by Eduardo Aires, who beautifully combines the technology at his disposal with a revivalist technique from the 1980s, presenting a vibrant metallic gradient to create a visual dialogue with the decade in which the farm was founded.
Esporão
Leading by example, Esporão opened the door for producers to break the mould and the traditional ‘business card’ label style. In Portugal, wine is increasingly intersecting with design, illustration, photography, and even graffiti.
The result is bottles that catch the eye even before they are opened and that say a lot about those who produce them, with some betting on collaborations with contemporary artists to create limited, collectable editions.
For example, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Quanta Terra, in the Douro, invited Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, to manually intervene directly on the glass of 250 five-litre bottles of Íris 2019, a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, and Tinta Roriz, each sold for €1 695.
Quanta Terra VHils
Others are even making 3D statements, such as winemaker Carlos Raposo in the Dão region, who launched Defio x Carlos Raposo – Vinhas Velhas Branco 2023 (€48.90), a white field blend with a label made from sheep’s wool by the Burel factory in Serra da Estrela.
Defio x Carlos Raposo – Vinhas Velhas Branco 2023
For their part, Ermelinda Freitas worked with jeweller and biodesign artist Olga Noronha to create a 3D filigree label for their premium wine, Destemido (€850), a blend of Castelão, Syrah, Alicante Bouschet, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Destemido
In the Algarve, at Morgado do Quintão, colourful, abstract labels tell the story of an estate and its generations, and carry an intimate meaning. Heir to a long family legacy, Filipe Caldas de Vasconcelos decided to embellish his bottles with his mother Teresa’s art.
Morgado do Quintão Vinhas Velhas Branco 2022
A loving tribute to the late visual artist and professor, whose artistic vision profoundly shaped the identity of Morgado do Quintão.
In her honour, art and design became a permanent part of the estate’s DNA: each year, one of her works reappears as a wine label, keeping her legacy alive.
“Paying homage is less about honouring a figure and more about remembering her when we enjoy these wines. When I pick up a bottle of Clarete, I think of a piece by my mother.
Drinking it, I feel as if I’m tasting my mother’s wine. It’s a brief, intimate moment – an opportunity to relive her, remember what she left behind, and the space she occupied,” says the producer.
As part of his plan to open the estate to the world, Filipe not only created a flourishing wine tourism project but also established annual residencies, during which emerging artists contribute to the estate’s story by creating a piece to be featured on a bottle. “There is a certain intimacy with our labels,” he says.
Morgado do Quintão Residence
“On the one hand, my mother’s labels provide maximum intimacy, and there is also intimacy with these artists who spend time with us, become friends, and with whom we relate to the future. It’s not a painting we bought; it’s a relationship we built. And that’s very important to us.”
Eva Diez
The estate’s latest label, by Spanish photographer Eva Diaz, was inspired by stagnant waters. “The artist was creatively stagnant, and [the photograph] tells the story of arriving [at the farm] and finding a way to overcome the stagnation she was feeling,” explains Filipe.
This unique piece is featured on the Vinhas Velhas Branco 2022 (€50), made from old-vine Crato Branco, which was ranked among the 30 best Portuguese wines last year.
Some producers go beyond the label, building art galleries and museums on their estates. Take Joe Berardo, for instance, an infamous art collector who founded the Museum of Contemporary Art at Lisbon’s Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB).
The megalomaniac art collector, who has opened art galleries across the country, owns a portfolio of wine estates under the Bacalhôa umbrella, including Quinta do Carmo in Estremoz (Alentejo), Quinta da Bacalhôa in Setúbal, and Caves Aliança in the Bairrada region.
Although his labels feature classic images of the properties, the premises either house an art gallery or display extra-large, colourful pieces spread across the grounds.
Art edition Kasper Bosmans, Quinta do Quetzal
More discreetly, Quinta do Quetzal, a family-owned winery in the heart of the Alentejo, blends contemporary art with wine and gastronomy on a superb 52.5-hectare estate, of which 22.5 are vineyards.
Founded by Dutch couple Cees and Inge de Bruin-Heijn, collectors and patrons of contemporary art, Quinta do Quetzal is an almost out-of-place modern estate in the middle of the countryside.
Quetzal Art Centre
Here, art features on the labels of the Quetzal Arte range, a red (€19.60) – Alicante Bouschet, Alfrocheiro, Syrah – and a white (€19.60) – Antão Vaz, Verdelho, Arinto – that reflect the estate’s ongoing dialogue between wine and contemporary artistic creation, defining the identity of Quinta do Quetzal, and in their exquisite Art Centre.
Quetzal Art Centre
The colourful labels are inspired by pieces exhibited on the property. The first edition (2024) featured a label designed by Turkish artist Müge Yilmaz, inspired by her work Goddess of Harvest, a large, bright red statue now at the heart of the vineyard.
The second presents the work of Belgian artist Kasper Bosmans, inspired by the mural Under the Mountain, created specifically for Quinta do Quetzal, which can be seen on the restaurant and Art Centre’s gallery wall.
Below the restaurant, the 450sqm modern Quetzal Art Centre presents exhibitions curated by the couple’s daughter, Aveline de Bruin, featuring works by established and emerging international artists.
The exhibitions focus on building bridges across artistic generations and on stimulating curatorial experiences, always in close connection with the family’s notable art collection.
Howard’s Folly
By adding a charitable dimension to wine production, Howard’s Folly brings wine, gastronomy, art and charity under one roof in Estremoz. This urban winery, founded by English entrepreneur Howard Bilton, is part of a wider project that includes the Sovereign Art Foundation, which supports vulnerable children through art therapy.
Howard’s Folly
“The charity and the winery were roughly started at the same time and have always worked in tandem,” says Tom Bilton, Howard’s son and managing director of the winery and the eclectic visitor’s centre.
Tom explains that the art featured on every Howard’s Folly label is produced either by “kids [they] work with on the art therapy side (Sonhador labels), art prize students (Cristina labels), or finalists in the professional art prizes (Reservas labels)”.
The artwork, known as Ellipse, on the new White Reserva 22 (€26), a field blend from the Serra de São Mamede vineyards, is by a professional artist, Vasco Mural, a finalist in the 2022 Portuguese Art Prize.
There are also labels featuring work by world-famous artists, “who have either participated in therapy sessions with the kids, donated works for sale, or admired the charity’s work.
They also offered a piece of work for the labels, such as Michael Craig Martin’s corkscrews used for the single varietals”. And then there is the 2012 Reserva, by Howard Hodgkin, “who sadly died a few years ago; he’s sort of one of Britain’s greatest abstract painters”, concludes Tom.
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