Wine Celebrity Spotting at Wine Culture Dinner

February 4, 2010 – 1:15 pm

Following the last post about the idea of a possible documentary about Dinastia Vivanco, we were also privileged to host some of the world’s top wine industry personalities while they attended the Wine Future Conference in Rioja in November 2009.

Dinastia Vivanco hosted over 150 guests from the conference, including speakers, organisers, delegates and exhibitors to a dinner in Dinastia Vivanco’s restaurant at the Wine Culture Museum.

Here is a brief video of the event, including a personal thank you (in English and Spanish) from brothers Santiago and Rafael Vivanco:

[Look out for, amongst others: Gary Vaynerchuck, Kevin Zraly, Miguel Torres, Stephen Spurrier, Jose Peñin, Carlos Falco and Robert Joseph as well as members of the international wine trade]

Video by Eduardo Benito of http://www.winescreen.com/

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Documentary about Dinastia Vivanco in the works

February 1, 2010 – 3:54 pm

Our friend Zev Robinson came to visit Dinastia Vivanco at the end of the 2009 vintage to talk about his films (such as the very popular La Bobal film) and he liked it so much he stayed for 5 days to film interviews, the winery, the museum and some of our visitors and the vineyards.

He is apparently very excited about the results, so we may have a great way of sharing more information about the Vivanco family, their history and their passions very soon. In the interim, check out the trailer he put together:

Dinastía Vivanco from Zev Robinson on Vimeo.

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Rioja and National Geographic

December 9, 2009 – 2:09 pm

08122009472If you are quick, and I mean really quick, you can still catch a free tasting of Rioja wine AND Rioja food (in the form of some lovely tapas from the in-house expert) at the National Geographic store on Regents Street.

For this week only the Rioja Government (not Rioja wines alone this time) is sponsoring a showcase of food and wine (and olive oil) at the amazing National Geographic store. There is a tasting table by the door that starts pouring samples at 4pm and also gives you sample tapas. I believe that at 6:30pm there is also a proper wine tasting upstairs. Last night it was being hosted by John Radford (he literally wrote the book on Spanish wines).

08122009473The people behind this seemed very nice and genuine, although I think the pouring staff from National Geographic were not quite ready for all the questions they imediately received from grateful shoppers. I enjoyed stepping in to help – there were Americans, Italians, Brits and more all at the table within 5 minutes.

If you go along, look out for the wines from Dinastia Vivanco and Carlos Serres that are supporting this event. The wines change every day so no idea what you will get!

Have fun, and Happy Christmas!

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The Museum of the Culture of Wine opens the Vivanco Reserve

October 19, 2009 – 1:28 pm

This is the text of a press release that went out recently which I thought might be interesting to those who like Rioja and art.

There is much made of the connection of wine and art, with artists all over the world creating pieces that inspire them, but rarely are the very biggest names in art connected so clearly with wine. I have not seen the exhibition myself yet, but will add pictures and video as soon as I do. If you’ve seen it, do let me know what you think:

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Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco and its Museum of the Culture of Wine announced that the temporary exhibition entitled “Vivanco Reserve” is now open to the public.

Until March 14th 2010, visitors will have the unique occasion to see 24 items from the Vivanco family vaults that have never been shown before, from iconic masters including: Picasso, Tápies, Miró, Barceló, Juan Gris, Dürer, Lichtenstein and Hogarth.

Santiago Vivanco, director of the Museum of Wine Culture, launched the Vivanco Reserve exhibition accompanied by Pedro Sanz, President of La Rioja, and Luis Alegre, Cultural Advisor to the local government of La Rioja.

“This unique exhibition is important in establishing an historical and cultural context for appreciating wine, and the role it has played in societies around the globe. It encapsulates the connection between the two worlds of Culture and Wine, and underscores Dinastia Vivanco’s determination to showcase great art as well bring the worlds of art and wine together,” says Santiago Vivanco.

Visitors will be able to experience the culture of wine through paintings, sculpture and engraving. The assembled works stretch across the globe and through time from a Greco-Buddhist relief depicting the gods Pancika and Hariti from the Ghandaran culture of 1st century Pakistan, through Flemish paintings of de Caullery and De Wit, engravings by William Hogarth to modernist painting and lithography by Picasso, Miro and Juan Gris.

This exhibition takes place in the public areas of the Dinastia Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine in Briones, La Rioja, Spain, and is free to view.

Update (19/10/2009): I found a link to a video with some of the pieces from this exhibition. I apologise for the music though!

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A brief update from the vineyards of Rioja

October 3, 2009 – 6:13 pm

I was walking around the vineyards so I thought I’d bring you some shots of what’s happening right now:

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