Photographer turns camera to stars of Burgundy(1)
London will host a high profile photographic exhibition of leading winemakers from Burgundy and Champagne in April.
Photo credit: Colin Hampden-White
A series of 21 portraits have been taken by Colin Hampden-White over the course of last year following the photographer’s success with The Greatest Winemakers, a show which comprised 20 pictures of Bordeaux’s top vintners.
Like Colin’s previous exhibition, held in December 2010, the upcoming one in springtime this year will be held at Rebecca Hossack gallery on Fitzroy Square, and will feature the personalities behind some of the wine world’s most iconic labels.
Speaking to the drinks business last week, Colin said the latest series would include characters such as Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Richard Geoffroy from Champagne, as well as Aubert de Villaine and Anne-Claude Leflaive from Burgundy.
Colin, who is a wine enthusiast and close friends with Henry Matson of Farr Vintners, explained that the chosen subjects (see lists below) were selected having collected suggestions from wine merchants and friends in London.
“The methodology is the same [as the last exhibition] – I got merchants, friends and a couple of wine writers to note down what were their top 20 and then I saw which names came up the most frequently.”
However, while Colin ended up with 10 winemakers in Burgundy, he will feature 11 from Champagne, due to the addition of Anselme Selosse.
“I had a core 10 that were obvious, but then his name kept coming up, and considering his maverick nature and different style of winemaking, I decided to include him and do 11 from Champagne.”
However, unlike his last exhibition, based on Bordeaux alone, he decided against running a full 20 portraits from either Champagne or Burgundy.
“The whole idea is the greatest winemakers in the world and every time I got beyond 15 I found that the notoriety was dwindling,” he explained, adding “but from a business point of view I probably should have done the regions separately.”
Photo credit: Colin Hampden-White
Colin’s first series of winemaker portraits, a collection inspired after a few drinks with his friend at Farrs, Henry, was “a fantastic success,” he recalled.
“I tried to make the pictures as strong as possible so they would appeal to an art collector as well as someone from the wine world.”
And he recorded a mix of both types of buyers when it came to those who purchased the portraits, which came in two sizes, with three versions of every personality available in 1.6m for £3000 each, and then a further three at 1.2m, priced at £1750.
“There was one person, a banker in Japan, who bought an entire series, and he collects wines but also owns a contemporary art gallery,” recalled Colin.
