Up-and-coming boutique winery Druk-My-Niet has launched its Find Art Collection, a trio of single-variety red wines featuring a series of neon-coloured front labels by local digital-media artist René Twigge.

The Collection was unveiled in the renovated cellar on the property, part of a cluster of buildings dating from the late 1600s and among the oldest in the Paarl Valley. Current owners Georg and Dorothee Kirchner (extreme right and left in the photo) bought the estate in 2002 and set about carrying out extensive replanting and modernisation, including the conversion of three of the old structures into luxury self-catering guest houses. Being supporters of sustainable and environment-friendly methods, the Kirchners have joined South Africa’s pioneering Biodiversity & Wine Initiative and, with winemaker-viticulturist Abraham de Klerk, are changing to fully organic farming.

The first Druk-My-Niet wines, a 2008 Cabernet Franc-Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot and a 2009 Sauvignon Blanc-Chenin Blanc-Viognier, debuted last year under the brand Mapoggo, named after a heroic and much-loved horse that is buried on the farm.

The new releases are a Cabernet Franc, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec, all from the exceptional 2009 vintage. Originally the plan was to launch the wines under the name “Art School Collection”, to which end the Kirchners last year created a front label design competition for universities and design/art schools. Disappointed with the response but still intent on supporting and promoting local artists, the couple devised a more proactive “Find Art” concept in which they annually seek out local talent they deem worthy of showcasing on their labels.

Their choice for the inaugural collection is René Twigge, a conventionally trained painter who switched to less physically demanding digital media to free up time to spend on her family. In her own words, René creates digital art that’s “infused with rich, vibrant colour” and “depicts indigenous flora, botany and subjects of abstract and pop art”.

Those who attended the lunch function remarked that the chosen artworks complemented the wines very well, not only through the tie-up between the organic imagery and the natural cultivation/vinification favoured by Druk-My-Niet, but also the link between the colour palette of each label and the wine flavour profile it represents. Perhaps the most striking example – and probably the best wine in the line-up – is the Cabernet Franc, a spicy, true-to-the-variety wine which has something of the “cool” character suggested by its blue and white hues.

Another convergence worth noting is that of the artist’s surname and her nature-derived subject matter. “People often remark on the fact that a Twigge should focus on plants,” she laughs. “They’re surprised it’s my real name and not a pseudonym!”

For more information about Druk-My-Niet and its wines, contact Lynda Schonfeldt • lynda@dmnwines.co.za • T +27 (021) 868-2393 • M +27 (0)82 392-9748 • F +27 (0)86 623-3075