The Archive Wine Bar

Artist: Denis O'Connor
Year: SOTG 2015
Materials: Maquette

Early in the 1990's I created a fictitious vineyard named 372 ESTATE - after Waiheke's signature telephone code. Occasionally I would release 'wines' in the form of engraved slate panels. These wall pieces are a riffe on the formal language of wine labels - terrior, varietals, taste signifiers et al, as a device to explore aspects of the social and natural history of the Hauraki Gulf. The evolution of our wine culture on Waiheke Island parallels the 44 years that I have maintained a house and studio here. Many of the illustrated images inside my wine bar are from artworks now in private collections and include some images Gulf News covers.