Six of India's top artists paint exclusively for a wine label ART has found a new canvas the cover of wine bottles. Six of India's leading artists have done exclusive paintings to mark Grover Vineyards' 20th anniversary. "Art has always been associated with fine living and wine is increasingly becoming a part of that world in India. And since the bottles with the paintings come at no extra cost, the artwork literally comes for free," explains Kapil Grover, director, Grover Vineyards. The artists Paresh Maity, Jatin Das, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Rini Dhumal, Rekha Rodwittiya did the commission for a token amount, in most cases for less than Rs 1 lakh each, which is far below their normal fees. Only the La Reserve Grover's top priced label won't have the art works. The paintings are works of art conveying the vision, story and character of each category of wine in three square inches.u00a0 <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/jul/art1.jpg" border="0" /> The plan to marry art and wine sprang when the owners of Grover Vineyards were sitting at the famous Bombay Brasserie restaurant in London, planning a 25th anniversary celebration of the restaurant. It was then that Karan Grover the architect-brother of Kapil and a director on Grovers' board came up with this concept. Initially, only Paresh Maity was to sketch two labels to mark Bombay Brasserie's 25 years. But Aman Dhall, a director at Grover's and one of India's largest importers of wines, convinced Kapil and Karan to take the idea forward for all Grover wines in India. u00a0"We just told the artists the sketches were to be for wine labels. They were not told to sketch for a particular variety," explains Aman Dhall. "But in the end we sat together and decided to match the sketches with the varietals. It was a lot of fun. Some of them were obvious choices like Rekha Rodwittiya's painting is clearly suited for a Rose wine," says Karan who used his connections in the world of art to get the six artists to paint. Sanjay Bhattacharya, for instance, used vivid colours and an ethereal glow in his painting something he feels is synonymous with the mysterious depth of wine. "That's why we have it on the Shiraz bottle since Shiraz wines are deep red in colour and are powerful and spicy in taste," says Kapil. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/jul/art21.jpg" border="0" /> "Similarly, the picture of a female figure is perfect with a wine called Rose," adds Aman. Apart from the five artists mentioned earlier, the sixth artist, Mario Miranda, hasn't painted on these labels. Instead, he has sketched for Grover's Sante wines an entry-level wine for young or inexperienced wine enthusiasts. Priced much lower at sub-Rs 350 across India, these wine bottles will sport a trademark Mario Miranda sketch. 'Each of these art works is exclusive to us. We plan to keep them for about three years and then replace them with another set," says Kapil. Of course, the 'logistical nightmare' is huge when it comes to registering the wines in each state, says Kapil. "Each state has separate excise laws and the fee amount is different too. The registration fees are huge. For example, Maharashtra charges Rs 8.5 lakh since we are a 'non-Nashik' winery. Also we pay 150 per cent excise duty almost the same as foreign wines (in Maharashtra). Now we have bought wineries near Nashik in Sangli and we will start supplying wine in Maharashtra from within the state. Thanks to the new labels, we hope to grow by 30 per cent in 2009-10 despite the economic turmoil. We sold 85,000 crates of wines last year. This year we hope to sell 1,05,000 crates," he adds.

Six of India's top artists paint exclusively for a wine label

Bottled art

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