There is something mystical about how a ray of sunlight pierces a vine to become the magic that an artist’s brush brings to life on canvas, isn’t there? It is not for nothing that somebody said: ‘Where there’s wine, there are songs; and where there are songs, there is the soul.’
It has been for the sixth year that we have been witnessing this wondrous, spirited creativity – within the format of the Art Zone project, that is.
Our attitude to art has never been haphazard or accidental; definitely not a passing fad. Wine-making is an art, in the most elevated sense, too, after all, you see. A winemaker works with shades, tones and semi-tones, with harmony and contrast – just as an artist does. Each bottle of wine from SAVALAN-ASPI Winery comes across as also a self-portrait of the bountiful year and a landscape that reflects a sentiment of the Nature at a specific moment in time.
The tradition of a union of wine and art is as ancient as our civilisation itself is. In France, Château Mouton Rothschild have been commissioning outstanding artists, from Picasso to Chagall, to design its labels since 1945. In Tuscany, the Antinori family have been combining winemaking with patronage for more than six centuries. Coppola’s Californian winery has become a cultural centre. And now this noble tradition has found its continuation in the foothills of Gabala.
Gabala was not chosen to host Art Zone for nothing. This ancient town, once the capital of the Caucasian Albania, mind, seems as though it were birthed to inspire. The mountain peaks play hide-and-seek with clouds whereas the valleys spread out covered with the emerald carpets of vineyards. The tender smile of each sunrise brings new shades of light – the shades which are then committed in cadmium and ultramarine to canvases by the master artists.
We have been dealing with outstanding artists these six years past. The People’s Masters Aliyar Alimirzayev and Museib Amirov have worked side by side with the young talents Bahrouz Kangarli and Reyhan Aslanova. The Honoured Artists Yelena Hagverdiyeva and Vugar Muradov have shared their experience with the beginning fellows-in-brushes. The international note has been added to this elegant bouquet by our overseas guests: Bayram Salamov from Russia and Vahid Novruzov from Turkiye.
What happens when an artist immerses himself or herself in the atmosphere of a winery? Is it not a special initiation to the mysteries of another art? The master stands amidst vineyards at dawn and sees the sun rays ignite the dew like thousands of diamonds. Another broods over the fermentation vat and inhales the tart aroma of transformation – the same process, almost, that he unfolds with his or her paints as the depth is created, layer by layer. And yet another finds inspiration in the tasting room where every sip of the wines from SAVALAN-ASPI Winery seems to add a new shade to the artist’s inner palette.
Our symposia have been held for several years and this has been the sixth. Each work of art in our collection – and it numbers dozens already – carries in it a particle of its creator’s soul.
We would like to go deeper into the world of art, that sphere where every canvas is ready to tell you its story. We have decided to begin to show the paintings – those gems are now accessible not only physically but also courtesy of our SAVALAN.ART digital gallery – the new artistic dimension wherein each canvas can and will tell you a story of its own.
Naturally, we shall be in touch to tell you of our new achievements – and there will be new achievements, we promise! – as we make headway in this field, bringing the visual and winemaking arts together. So, hang on (and don’t forget to top up your glasses with our wines now and then, too).
Once again: our plans are ambitious – we plan to expand and deepen our endeavours in the interaction of art and winemaking. After all, in a world so full of chaos, every bottle of our wine and every painting in our collection will be those small but so precious victories of beauty over unseemliness, dream over the mundane and of light over darkness! Now, wouldn’t you say?
Best regards,
Fuad Seyidaliyev and Arif Rahimov
Founders and Co-owners of SAVALAN-ASPI Winery