Is fine art the way to sell fine wine?

Comendador Joe Berardo has come a long since he bought his first art work at Tony Factor’s Downtown furnishers in Rosettenville. He was not impressed when his wife pointed out that it was a print and the real Mona Lisa was hanging in the Louvre. Today he owns originals and uses them as bait to lure passing tourists at his Quinta da Bacalhôa wine estate. The waters are teeming. Yesterday, six large cruise liners were berthed in the port of Lisbon 25Km away.

IMG_2979

Conflating fine art and fine wine makes a lot of sense. Aesthetics plays a leading role in both and winemakers are artists of the soil. The same kind of impulse drives punters and there are serious collectors of both. At the top end, price has no connection to reality.

IMG_2973

At the Pendock Wine Gallery @ Taj we take the conflation one step further and state that wine is the art while Joe is happy to show art to people come to taste wine. The exhibition at the minute is called “what a wonderful world” and is homage to Paris a century ago.

IMG_2978

Which is all most appropriate as the wines of Bacalhôa are quintessential Bordeaux blends based on Cabernet Sauvignon. Although much better than the 2013 the Bordelais are trying to flog en primeur at the minute.

IMG_2981

And at E15 a bottle, far cheaper too. The exhibition is a triumph.

IMG_2985