Fine art has graced the labels of premium wine many times over, but the latest local collaboration is designed to empower women and creativity in the art and wine worlds.
J Vineyards & Winery has teamed with grantLOVE, a project developed by artist and philanthropist Alexandra Grant, to produce a limited-release brut cuvée called LOVE Wine. The inaugural vintage was introduced in early February in the winery’s Healdsburg tasting room, with a label created by New York-based multidisciplinary artist Genevieve Gaignard.
As each new bottling of LOVE Wine is rolled out, it will feature a unique label made in partnership with a female-identified artist hand-picked by Grant. “This will turn every bottle into a canvas that celebrates artistic expression,” says Caroline Shaw, senior director of marketing, communications and partnerships at J Vineyards.
“This partnership seeks to amplify voices that are often marginalized, while also transforming the act of enjoying wine into an experience that connects culture, creativity and community. Supporting J and grantLOVE’s shared mission of empowering women and creativity in wine and the arts, the LOVE Wine project also invites guests to connect by engaging with wine.”
LOVE Wine is available exclusively from the winery, selling for $50 per bottle. The grapes were sourced from cool-climate vineyards across California, including the Russian River Valley and Monterey and Mendocino counties. About half of the 500 cases of the initial bottling were sold in the first 60 days after the launch. A portion of the sales is earmarked for the grantLOVE project.
“This is a bright, crisp sparkling wine created exclusively with internationally acclaimed artist Alexandra Grant and her grantLOVE project,” adds Shaw.
Finding a partner
According to her official biography, Grant spent many years of her childhood and adolescence living in France, Spain and Mexico. She earned a master of fine arts degree in 2000 from the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco. Now based in Los Angeles, she works in several media, including painting, drawing, sculpting, photography and film. She has collaborated extensively with other artists and writers, including actor Keanu Reeves, her partner. The two of them created at least one book together, Ode to Happiness, and they co-founded X Artists’ Books in 2017, a small publisher of artist-centered books. Grant’s artwork has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world.
Joe Bartolomei, proprietor of the Farmhouse Inn near Forestville, met Grant and Reeves several years ago while the couple was vacationing at the inn. “Alexandra and some of her girlfriends had been hiking at Armstrong Woods, and I picked them up. In the car on the ride back to the inn, we discovered she and I had a lot in common.”
At that time, Bartolomei was under contract to produce a Sonoma-focused book with Cameron + Company publishers based in Petaluma, he says, and Grant had just created a book for the publisher about her philanthropic project grantLOVE in support of women in art.
“She shared with me her dream of doing a wine project under her LOVE brand, and I told her I knew people that might be interested,” he says. “I knew that Gallo was a winery that had supported women and diversity through its Shifting the Lens and Issa Rae projects, so I helped connect her with Gallo. [Shifting the Lens showcases guest chefs from diverse backgrounds at J Vineyards, while renowned actress Rae—Barbie, American Fiction—is associated with Gallo’s Viarae Prosecco label.] Ultimately Alexandra was able to find a path forward for her project with J Vineyards.”
Right now, many wineries in Sonoma County are struggling to connect with a younger demographic, says Bartolomei. “So Alexandra’s LOVE Wine project seemed to be something that might attract a younger audience.”
Nicole Hitchcock, J Vineyards’ estate director and head winemaker, says the winery was thrilled to partner with Grant and the grantLOVE initiative on such a meaningful project. “Wine, like art, has the power to bring people together, spark conversation and inspire change.”
‘Perfect’ collaborators
Grant founded the grantLOVE initiative in 2008 to raise funds to support art, artists and nonprofit organizations through art and merchandise featuring Grant’s trademarked LOVE symbol. The initiative also uses the direct sales of LOVE artwork and merchandise to help pay for materials and production costs, and it supports collaborating artists directly through stipends. Grant has also personally donated more than $300,000 in artworks and funds to art projects and nonprofits since the initiative began.
The LOVE Wine project came together over several years, as Grant met with different wine producers for more than a decade to find the best partner. Shaw says Grant then met with her, winemaker Hitchcock and Stephanie Gallo [chief marketing officer for E&J Gallo Winery] and realized she had found her “perfect collaborators”—working with women, who still only represent a small margin of winemakers and individuals in the wine industry. “It was important to Alexandra to work with a family, and the Gallo family resonated with Alexandra.”
At the J Vineyards tasting room in February, a pop-up event was held in conjunction with the LOVE Wine launch, featuring special merchandise from grantLOVE and other collaborators. These included The Rad Black Kids, a purveyor of clothing, shoes and accessories; Amber Sakai, who produces home decor and sells a collection of candles available in a brass LOVE holder in support of the arts; Faribault Mill, one of the last woolen mills in America, which creates blankets, throws and scarves; a-morir, a maker of luxury eyewear and related accessories; and Mustard Beetle, a producer of nature-inspired prints on paper and fabrics.
“The most popular pieces were the LOVE tote bag with the label on it and LOVE sweatshirts,” says Shaw. “The merchandise was well received, as was seeing the original pieces of art by Alexandra and Genevieve on display.”
At the event, inspired by the label art, guests were welcomed with a soaring two-story garden wall layering lush tropical greenery and bright orange butterflies, explains Shaw, together with bottles of LOVE Wine in vintage coupe glasses popping out from the walls. As of mid-April, the two-story wall was still in place and “has become a favorite for Instagram photos,” she says. “This unifies J’s three tasting spaces with splashes of vintage wallpaper used by Genevieve in her work, as well as colorful floral arrangements.”
Gaignard’s work “elicits dialogue around class, race and cultural identity,” according to her website.
Raise a glass
“There are so many ways to appreciate LOVE Wine,” Grant told NorthBay biz. “It’s an exceptional sparkling California wine that you can drink with any food or alone as a toast. It has layers of history as part of J Vineyards and as a collaboration with artists with a philanthropic cause. And the distinctive green label by Genevieve catches the eye across the room.”
She says the LOVE Wine project was a passion she had for many years––“to find a woman-led vineyard to collaborate with artists who are interested in supporting the curiosity and creativity of others. Let’s raise a glass to that.”
