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Environmental Artist Creates Art from Vineyard Soils for Wine Label Series

SONOMA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2014 — (PRNewswire) — Not every artist gets to camp on a vineyard and make art with the soils and other material there.  Not every winery that is lucky enough to have an artist want to do these things. Nate Reifke and Gundlach Bundschu Winery are both very lucky.

The label of the winery's 2011 Vintage Reserve, a blend of the best Bordeaux-varietal lots of the vintage, features work by Reifke created on the winery's ranch in Sonoma, CA.

Cool is the operative word. Inside the bottle is a cool-climate Cabernet, crafted in a cool year by the grape-growing family with the most experience with cool-climate grapes in California. Outside the bottle is art made from the soils in which those grapes grow. Which is pretty cool.

Influenced by street art and the natural world, Reifke creates environmental art with natural materials (think: a young skateboarding Andy Goldsworthy).

Since 1981 GB has featured an artist series of labels for this, one of its most collectible and prized wines. The series run on average five years. The label on the 2011 VR is the first in the Groundworks series. Gundlach Bundschu will also be hosting an ongoing exhibition in September of Nate's work in its wine cave. The exhibition was inspired by work that Nate created here on the ranch (called Rhinefarm) that forms the basis of this artist label series. The works Nate created  were made from the dirt and soil on Rhinefarm and consist of ephemeral works "painted" in nature (on rocks, trees and the like) using natural pigments. Time and the elements quickly return these works to their natural state.

You can read more about the project, Nate's process, and the exhibition (and find many examples of his work and videos) at this link: http://www.gunbun.com/groundworks

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Nate Reifke is a commercial artist with a background in street and commercial art who began his career as a designer for Sector 9 skateboards. His work was always deeply influenced by nature, so the move to working with natural elements in his personal work was, well, a natural one.

ABOUT GUNDLACH BUNDSCHU WINERY

Gundlach Bundschu in Sonoma, CA, is California's oldest family-owned winery, and focuses on terrior-driven wines from its estate. Founded in 1858, the winery has been breaking tradition for six generations.

CONTACT : John Capone, Communications Manager, Gundlach Bundschu Winery

Email Contact, 707-939-3031

SOURCE Gundlach Bundschu

Contact:
Gundlach Bundschu
Web: http://www.gunbun.com/groundworks