Wine Industry Report

Artist Jeremy Houghton has been living in South Africa for the past five years. He was head of the art department at The International School of Cape Town. Now based back in The Cotswolds, he in embarking on a novel artistic venture…

Earlier this year he approached the Cotswold and London Based wine merchants ‘Haynes Hanson and Clark’ with his ‘Art Tasting’ idea. The proposal was that if they choose a handful of wines in France, he would go to the vineyards, produce a collection of watercolours of them and the surrounding sites. The end result would be an ‘Art Tasting’, where people could view the paintings and taste wines from the same vineyards. Owner/director Nick Hanson jumped at the idea knowing that such a unique project, which has never been done before, would make a great story and an extremely popular event.

Wines from the Loire Valley were chosen; ideal for the summer with their crisp freshness, so over the next couple of months Jeremy will be going on a handful of trips to produce a decent body of paintings from this artists’ and wine-lovers’ paradise. The paintings will then be ready for the tastings in July. One will be at Chedworth Hall in The Cotswolds on the 4th July. Then the paintings and wine will move down to the newly renovated Chelsea Old Church in London for the 6th July.

The chosen wines will be from the following producers in these stunning regions:

Luc et Jérôme Choblet in Muscadet
Domaine du Petit Val in Anjou
Château du Hureau in Saumur
Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon
Jacky Marteau in Touraine
Domaine Jacques Rouzé in Quincy
Pascal & Nicolas Reverdy in Sancerre
Domaine Serge Dagueneau & Filles in Pouilly-Fumé

For more examples of his work log onto www.houghtonart.co.uk