Beginning on 1 September 1729, Nicolas Ruinart’s flowing pen records the founding achievements of the House in Le Grand Livre. The incipit proclaims in large round letters: In the name of God and the Blessed Virgin, let this book commence. It is therefore under divine protection as well as under that of his uncle Dom Thierry Ruinart, a Benedictine monk with courageous and innovative ideas, that the draper launches his new wine business. Carefully turning the pages, we discover the dates and conditions of the first dispatch of wine in bottles, details of the acquisition of vine parcels and the quantities of the earliest grape supplies.
In April 1739, we discover a first shipment of Runart champagne to neighbouring Belgium. This precious first book is the cornerstone of Ruinart’s history. Georgia Russell, whose dangerous-destructive creative appetite for all printed matter was whetted by this unique object, has now interpreted it in her own way.
After winning a competition to reside in an artist’s residence in Paris, Georgia Russell, the young Scottish visual artist and Royal College of Art graduate, her explorations of the city became a source of inspiration to her imagination. Her wanderings led her to the booksellers along the banks of the Seine. She was moved by the old photographs and books, buying several of them to perfect her knowledge of French and to shape, touch, handle, cut and glue them; a loving process previously reported on GoSee in her ‘Hello GoSee!’.
“Stunning, grandiose, fantastic” the powerful adjectives accumulate as Georgia Russell describes the emotion that enveloped her during her visit to the chalk cellars of the House of Ruinart. These great cathedrals of chalk, the earliest of which date from the Gallo-Roman period, are ideal for the maturation of the champagne. Admired today by visitors, the cellars were quarried entirely by hand to extract the stone required to construct the fortifications of Reims as well as certain religious buildings. The deepest of them are 38 metres high under vault and their numerous galleries form a network eight kilometres long. The artist captures the shafts of light that fall on the relief of the white surfaces with their endless repetition of markings that attest to the work of humankind and the passage of time.
Georgia Russell sublimates the bottle of Blanc de Blancs through an immaculate white ornament. The many notches cut with precision and finesse in this adornment play with the light reflected by the Chardonnay, the symbolic grape variety of the House. Its golden glints spread endlessly due to a magnifying effect. The white cathedrals act as guardians to the bottles of Ruinart. This elegant case is their extension.
The House of Ruinart was founded in 1729, during the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement which made an important contribution to French art de vivre. It is only natural for the oldest champagne house to embody, develop and export this art de vivre. The House of Ruinart expresses its commitment to art through participating in leading international art fairs and by commissioning well-known artists who create their vision of the House, to share its heritage, history, expertise and cuvées throughout the world. Cheers ruinart.com