Stunning design and wine often go hand in hand, quite often with one hand holding a glass of wine and the other inspecting beautiful fashion and beauty items at launches for us. So when we were invited to attend a lunch at the Sydney Opera House, at their beautiful Bennelong restaurant, we knew we were going to be seeing something quite amazing.
Renowned Danish design house, Georg Jensen, and premium Tasmanian wine producer, Heemskerk, announced that they had joined forces to release the Georg Jensen Hallmark Cuvée by Heemskerk, a premium sparkling wine that showcases purity, elegance and design.
Chatting with the designers behind the stunning bottle over a delicious meal and a glass or two of the Georg Jensen Hallmark Cuvee, we heard about how the idea was the first pitched to Georg Jensen less than 12 months by the Heemskerk design team, who wanted to work with a fashion brand who were renowned for their elegance and beauty.
The result was a beautiful bottle that features the hallmark qualities of Georg Jensen craftsmanship and timeless aesthetic in the Hallmark Cuvée, from its wine style to its aesthetically striking bottle and stylish, re-sealable closure. Which may we add is reusable, in case you don’t finish your wine or want to keep it for other bottles of Heemskerk wine.
Louise Langkilde, Managing Director of Georg Jensen Living, said: “Extending the Georg Jensen design aesthetic to a sparkling wine with a beautiful re-sealable closure is an interesting interpretation of the philosophy of Georg Jensen himself, who sought to create democratic designs possessing functionality and beauty. It’s a lovely complement to our Living range, which showcases beauty in the home and entertaining,” Langkilde said.
This was the first ever collaboration with a wine brand by the Danish design house, and we should also note it is not a limited edition one. Though there may be limited quantities as each bottle topper has to reportedly be hand applied on to each bottle.
Margaret Nolan, Creative Director of Denomination, the designers behind the Georg Jensen Hallmark Cuvee bottle, stopper and packaging said “The Heemskerk design aesthetic is über-contemporary and sleek; it doesn’t confirm to normal wine conventions, yet it’s housed in a traditional wine bottle. Everything about Heemskerk captures the strength of tradition, but re imagines it in a very modern way. To us, this was the right foundation for a collaboration with Georg Jensen, a brand of heritage and modernity that we very much admire and respect.”
So I guess you want to know more about the wine? Well we found out over dinner that it specific brief to Trina Smith, Hallmark Cuvée Sparkling Winemaker (who some fashion girls will also know is behind the beautiful Samantha Wills YellowGlen sparkling), was to make it for women. So she teamed up chardonnay with a pinot noir, and made it sparkling. Which together created an elegant, crisp and delicate aperitif style that makes it a perfect sparkling for women.
The Georg Jensen Hallmark Cuvée by Heemskerk NV has a recommended retail price of just AU$39.99 and is available now at Dan Murphy’s, Vintage Cellars and select fine wine outlets. I would stock up now for Christmas presents and to serve with meals as the wine, bottle and stopper would make for the perfect finishing touches for any dinner setting.
