William Kentridge is the protagonist of the tenth edition of Vendemmia d’Artista, the project organized by the Ornellaia wine estate, where wine and art are auctioned to support artistic foundations and museums all over the world. To celebrate the 2015 vintage, the South African artist has designed the wine labels done on pages from various old Italian cash books found in flea markets and second-hand shops in the Tuscan area. The limited edition had been presented by Sotheby’s in Milan, and will be auctioned by Christies at the Victoria & Albert museum on March 15th within the “Fine & Rare Wines” auction.

“Il Carisma” celebrates 30th Anniversary of the first vintage, from 1985 to 2015. For the occasion, created a site-specific piece for the Estate, customized a limited series of 111 large-format bottles, and designed a special label, an example of which will be found in each case containing six 750 ml bottles of Ornellaia. The images on the labels are essentially about the work of making wine, and mainly of the vendemmia, the grape harvest. “The secateurs come from a memory of the one occasion I took part in a Tuscan vendemmia, when with my family I spent six months in San Casciano outside Florence,” the artist explains. “This made me understand the human labour involved in making the wine; though what I remember most strongly is the pleasure of the lunch prepared in the vineyards by the local farmer’s wife.”