Wine and art are both creative acts, the results of thousands of small, careful gestures. Vines, and works of art, grow in space, through time; and although they can be transplanted, both need to put down roots to survive and be appreciated. This connection is the bedrock of Le Radici dell’Arte, a meeting of minds between art collector and winery owner Philippe Austruy and Lorenzo Fiaschi, cofounder of one of Italy’s leading contemporary galleries, Galleria Continua. Each year, just as the grapes ripen, so does a site-specific work of modern art, created by an artist invited to Tenuta Casenuove who responds to the estate, its genius loci, its soil, seasons and people. As at the Commanderie de Peyrassol and the other wineries in the Vignobles Austruy family, the bud-break of art is the culmination – but also the continuation – of patient years spent coaxing a historic wine estate back to vibrant life and infusing it with new energy. In addition to the permanent installations, the first of which was Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou’s The Casenuove Geniuses (2020), Tenuta Casenuove also hosts temporary contemporary art exhibitions in its historic ‘vaulted ceiling room’.

Opened in the village of Panzano in the autumn of 2020, Il Vino dell’Arte is a protean project: incubator, exhibition space, cultural forum, event space and tasting room. With its unmissable lemon-yellow exterior, this former warehouse has become a focus for Tenuta Casenuove’s mission to forge ever closer links between the world of wine and art, but also to place the estate at the centre of the Tuscan community that has supported and nurtured it . Inaugurated with Waterbones, an installation by Italian artist Loris Cecchini, Il Vino dell’Arte has since hosted Cuban artist Susana Pilar and staged a joint exhibition by Argentinian conceptual artist Leandro Erlich and Italian artist Serse. We are all familiar with the ‘art of wine’; Il Vino dell’Arte suggests that we should also consider the ‘wine of art’ – art as natural process, as fermentation, as extraction, and as something that does not end when it leaves the artist’s studio, but grows and evolves with time.

In all these ventures, Philippe has enjoyed the challenge of restoring the prestige and reputation for quality of an estate after years of decline. He aims to leave a mark by fully embracing the culture of each territory and surrounding himself with collaborators who share his passion. His love of contemporary art has led him to assemble a unique collection of works which dialogue with remarkable landscapes. Born from this fertile ground, a friendship with art consultant Lorenzo Fiaschi of Galleria Continua would soon bear fruit in the Le Radici dell’Arte project.