The Colours of art series is a concept that dad and I came up with starting in 2015 to steer the New Era vineyards wine label away from the more conventional mainstream varieties that we had been producing and cultivate more experimental alternative varieties. These varieties while not as well known to consumers have gained traction in the market recently and are quickly catching up to the traditional varieties in popularity.
The plan was to produce a number of pieces of art that would each symbolize a distinct grape variety which we would produce in this series and in total 9 artworks were created. Our next task was to locate a skilled artist who could take on the process of creating these pieces for the New Era brand. Dan Tomkins, a local artist, was carefully selected for this after careful consideration and extensive research. After devising a variety of ideas for these representation’s we came up with a series of paintings that depicts each grape in colour, form and texture, which can now be seen on our labels in our ‘Colour of Art Series’ collection.
These varieties also offer other advantages and are generally more appropriate for their location and the local climates of South Australia. In addition to some more varieties to be added in the future, it was decided to produce alternative grapes including Pinot Grigio, Gruner Veltliner, Arneis, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Lagrein, Syrah, and Touriga Nacional. We have also been planting at New Era Vineyards these varieties and small trial sections of Fiano, Saperavi, Nebbiolo and Nero d Avola.
