Several months ago, I was fortunate to team up with the ‘KulturEda Project’ in Moscow to explore to topic of wine and art through the eyes of the famous surrealist Salvador Dalí. The aim of the event was to ‘bring art off the walls’ and we collaborated to arrange a special 4 course dinner paired with Campo Viejo wines for 35 guests.
The evening explored Dali’s groundbreaking, and little known approach to wine – that of categorisation “according to the sensations they create in our very depths”, as outlined in his recently reprinted, and little known book ‘The Wines of Gala’.
Dalís text was a collaborative project between himself, writer Louis Orizet and winemaker Georges DuBoeuf, and until quite recently the book has remained out of print. ‘The Wines of Gala’ makes the creative attempt to divide the wines of the world into themes like “Wines of Light,” “Wines of Purple” and “Wines of Generosity,” using diverse metrics like production method, weight and colour to find emotional synergies that result in eccentric groupings (Madeira, California, Roussillon in “Wines of Generosity”; Beaujolais, Hermitage, Bandol in “Wines of Purple”). While the pairings make perfect sense they’re somewhat challenging to somebody with a traditional approach to wine, a great way to guarantee a lot of fun and conversation at the dinner table.
For the majority of drinkers the evening was their first introduction to Campo Viejo and the wines of the Rioja region, and the innovative way of discussing them helped the guests view wine in a different, highly creative and emotion filled way! I hope Dalí himself would be proud!
