For the second edition of "Art in San Leonardo," artist Marzia Migliora creates an "Artist's Book" named The Revolution of Time and dresses 999 bottles of San Leonardo 2019.
San Leonardo 2019 with its intense and balanced elegance again this year expresses the perfect stylistic signature of the estate and, for the second year, is linked to the project “Art in San Leonardo,” conceived by Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga and his wife Ilaria Tronchetti Provera, to unite the company’s identity with contemporary art languages through the creation of a series of artist labels and a library of limited edition artist books.
The curator, Giovanna Amadasi, involves an artist each year in a residency at Tenuta San Leonardo that aims to create an artist’s book in 200 copies and an artist’s label that dresses a limited edition of 999 bottles of the current vintage.
The 2024 edition with Marzia Migliora
For the 2024 edition Marzia Migliora, artist who has exhibited in major museums in Italy and abroad, created “The Deep Time Revolution” a project that emphasizes the circularity of the relationship between landscape and living things, drawing inspiration from the mountainous reliefs around San Leonardo and using tartar crystals derived from the fermentation of wine in barrels. The title, “The Deep Time Revolution,” refers to the concept coined by Scottish geologist James Hutton (1726-1779) to define the disproportion between geological times and those of human experience.
The artist, after several periods of residence at San Leonardo at different times of the year, conducted research on the mountainous territory surrounding the estate’s vineyards (Monti Lessini and Monte Baldo) with the collaboration of Massimo Bernardi, a paleobiologist at the Museum of Science in Trento (MUSE). At the end of this period of research, Migliora created a large three-part work depicting the layering of the mountain landscape, inhabited by multiple living species and traversed by a circulatory system of veins, rivers, or roots Made with tartar powder. The artist thus makes visible the inseparable bond that binds man to the environment, represented by the tartar that runs through the veins of the earth and, through wine, finally becomes part of our bodies.
From opera to “leporello”
Starting with the three large-format works, the artist created a “leporello,” or folding book in 200 copies and three labels-each with a detail from the drawings-that dress 999 bottles of San Leonardo 2019.
Marquis Anselmo and Ilaria observe,”Marzia Migliora, with her view of the landscape around San Leonardo has given new life to the awareness, already ingrained in all the people who work on the estate, that the environment that welcomes us is our mostpreciousheritage“
The artist-labeled bottles will be available for purchase for all St. Leonard collectors and enthusiasts starting at noon on March 15, 2024 and for a limited period of only 48 hours on the St. Leonard website(https://www.sanleonardo.it/shop/edizioni-limitate).
St. Leonard 2019
For the estate’s grand vin, the unchanging blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère and Merlot, the 2019 vintage yielded grapes of excellent quality thanks to favorable weather conditions: a cold winter with little precipitation, abundant rainfall in the spring and a summer with moderate temperatures and a few sporadic thunderstorms. Vinification, with an absolutely spontaneous first fermentation without any selected yeast in concrete tanks, daily pumping over and sporadic délestage, is followed by aging in first- and second- and third-passage barriques and tonneaux for 24 months and an additional 24 months in bottle. In the glass we find the classic ruby red of San Leonardo, a complex bouquet with balsamic notes, full and enveloping in the mouth with a finish that hints at the great potential for evolution and aging of this vintage.
Art in San Leonardo
Art in San Leonardo arises from reflection on the issues and Values that unite the process of making a work of art with the production of a wine of excellence: the uniqueness of the project as that of each vintage, the cyclical nature of time repeating itself, the ability to combine research and innovation with craftsmanship. The “Art in St. Leonard” project is curated by Giovanna Amadasi.
The artist’s books will enrich the St. Leonard’s library over time, becoming instruments of encounter and conversation between the worlds of wine and art, while the bottles are intended for collectors and enthusiasts. The project involves, for the duration of one year, an artist at different moments in the life of the Estate. The course, which symbolically begins and ends with the beginning of spring, is developed in several stages: residency, research, design and production. End point is the creation of an artist’s book and label dressing a batch of St. Leonard bottles from the current vintage.
Marzia Migliora
Marzia Migliora is an artist who uses a wide range of languages, including photography, video, sound, performance, installation and drawing, to create works that elevate the simplest human activities to moments that can tell excerpts of collective history. Recurring themes in his work are memory as a means of articulating the present and the analysis of labor employment as an affirmation of participation in the social sphere. His works have embraced a multispecies perspective, inclusive of animal and plant perspectives that contribute to new visions in times of global climate crisis.
The work “The Revolution of Deep Time” shows the interconnection between the elements that inhabit the landscape resulting from the millennia-long crushing of rocks and through various steps and transformations arrive in our bodies through wine. A cycle that suggests the close connection between the earth and humans whereby any damage done to the earth is ultimately done to our bodies.
Marzia Migliora’s works can be found in numerous museum institutions and public and private collections www.marziamigliora.com
San Leonardo
More than a thousand years ago San Leonardo was a monastery; for three centuries it has been the residence of the Marquis Guerrieri Gonzaga, who are its passionate custodians. 300 hectares, including 30 of organically managed vineyards, protected by the towering mountains of Trentino that dampen cold northern winds and welcome the temperate breezes of Lake Garda. San Leonardo is an ancient world where patient cellar practices, still absolutely artisanal, give authentic jewels of Italian enology, wines that are distinguished by freshness, harmony and an innate elegance.
