Bonhams Opens Ornellaia Charity Sale in Paris

Bonhams will open an online auction in Paris on June 11 featuring 14 lots from Ornellaia’s Vendemmia d’Artista 2023 series, with proceeds going to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to support an upcoming exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The sale, which runs through June 23, includes large-format bottles of Ornellaia 2023 La Vitalità, or Vitality, with labels designed by the Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramović.

The auction marks the second year Bonhams and Ornellaia have joined forces in Paris for the charity sale. Ornellaia said it will donate the proceeds to the Guggenheim Foundation to help fund Guggenheim Pop, an exhibition focused on works from the museum’s collection and recent acquisitions tied to Pop Art and its legacy. The museum said the support would also help conserve works shown in Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now.

Ornellaia has worked with contemporary artists on Vendemmia d’Artista since the 2006 vintage, asking each artist to interpret the character of a harvest through a word chosen by the estate’s winemaking team. For 2023, that word was La Vitalità. Abramović’s labels reflect her long-running interest in the body, self-awareness and transformation. In her design, she uses self-portrait imagery and repeated visual elements to suggest regeneration and energy.

The top lot is a one-of-one Salmanazar, a 9-liter bottle of Ornellaia 2023 La Vitalità signed by Abramović and estimated at €14,000 to €18,000. The bottle includes a red wax candle inspired by one of her best-known works, Energy Hat, along with a signed 45 rpm vinyl record by Nino Rota. The label instructs buyers to drink the wine slowly, with eyes closed, while listening to music. The lot also includes a dinner and overnight stay for six people at Ornellaia’s estate.

Other lots include Double Magnums of Ornellaia La Vitalità signed by Abramović, each estimated at €8,000 to €12,000, and Imperials of 6 liters with estimates ranging from €8,000 to €24,000. Several of those lots come with private visits to the estate or dinners for six guests.

The sale also includes a wooden collector’s case holding 12 bottles of Ornellaia 750 ml from the full Vendemmia d’Artista label series issued between 2012 and 2023. That lot is estimated at €6,000 to €9,000 and comes with an after-hours private visit for four guests to one of three Guggenheim museums in New York, Venice or Bilbao.

Abramović said she began her work for the project by focusing on grapes as the raw material of wine and described seeing energy emerge from that image. Mariët Westermann, director general of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, said Ornellaia’s support has helped sustain museum programs since 2019. Amayès Aouli, global head of wine and spirits at Bonhams, said the partnership brings together fine wine, contemporary art and philanthropy.

Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of Ornellaia’s parent group, said the 2023 vintage was shaped by a mild winter, spring rains that replenished water reserves and cool September nights that preserved acidity and aromatic complexity. He described the resulting wine as energetic but elegant, with a long finish and Mediterranean-style tannins.

Bonhams is conducting the sale online through its website from June 11 to June 23.