Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Juno Shiraz and superheroine maidens



As you might have read Mr. Lush and I are on an Artist Series Label Quest. Recently we tried the 2005 Juno Shiraz from South Africa. Here's the story with the wine labels, which are sort of whimsical:
Meet the Artist behind the labels, Tertia du Toit.Artist, gourmet, wine lover. Her art already adorns many households – with designs on bottles of jam, spices and book covers.She paints a picture of the atmosphere of the wine, the taste and the aroma. The girls are part of exhibitions, a collection of paintings that dance around the idea of womanhood. Her paintings focuses on the female figure, milkmaids and Madonna’s, an abundance of life’s pleasures. With the strong colours and dramatic poses she invites whoever dares, ‘to indulge’. The aim with the labels is to create an integrated visual meeting between the predominantly male winemaking traditions and the sensual nature of the wine itself. The eventual idea with the usage of the Maidens is not to objectify them but rather to turn them into super heroines.
Hey, I can get behind that. Particularly with the wine's price- $12. I was pleasantly suprised...typically I'm not a fan of South African wines. I only purchased the bottle for the label, thinking full well I wouldn't like the wine and it would go down the drain. In fact, I've only had two, maybe three South African wines that I actually like. This is one of them. Its not overly jammy, not overly spicy, like a lot of wines in its price range who just can't seem to find a good balance. The Juno is just sort of lush and spicy and we'll definately purchase again.
This quest is fun!

4 comments:

LucyinStLou said...

Interesting. We're not really fans of South African wine or Shiraz, but $12 is a good price point to experiment with.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am Johan du Toit, Tertia du Toit husband and co-owner of Juno. I am glad you liked the wine.

Unknown said...

just tried this wine last night and now searching for it online. what an excellent find - if only i can find where to order it from now!

Anonymous said...

do you sell it to Russia?

I've tried one, but not sure it's authentic..