Hazendal Wine Estatehhas partnered with acclaimed SA artist Athi-Patra Ruga to create a bespoke label artwork for the inaugural release of its Artist Series | Limited Edition range: the Hazendal Prestige Brut Cap Classique 2017.
Launched as an extension of the Hazendal Festival, curated by award-winning artist and sociologist Khanyisile Mbongwa, the Artist Series reflects the estate’s deep commitment to art, culture, and community. Last October, Hazendal’s rolling lawns were transformed into a hub of creative energy, hosting live music, theatre, fine dining, academic discussions, and hands-on workshops.
The festival’s theme was rooted in the Nguni proverb “Belele nje, Abathulanga” meaning “They may be asleep, but they are not quiet”, evoking the histories of land, love, belonging and repair in the Stellenbosch Winelands. For Athi-Patra Ruga, this theme guided a work that moves fluidly between past and present.
The resulting artwork is a dreamlike tableau: Inspired by the iconic Vogueing dance move, "the dip", the figure has limbs winding around him like vines. A backdrop of green and blue cradles the form, while a pink Saint Joseph’s lily rests on his lips, inviting contemplation.
Ruga, who is known for creating alternative identities and expressing his perspective through these avatars, looked to the explosive energy and cultural diffusion of the 1920s to inform his character for the wine label. “I highlight the contribution of the black performer or artist. Many characters come up within the black queer experience like Josephine Baker or Féral Benga,” the artist explained. “Benga was at the Folies-Bergère in Paris and he was a dancer. He became a muse for the Jean Cocteau’s, the Salvador Dali’s. He was just this black guy who was a muse across the Atlantic.”
In Ruga’s work, this muse becomes a metaphor, “coiled up like a bulb or seed,” he says, “holding the potential to twist and sprout. Creating a new version, a new thing inspired by art history, inspired by the various communities that inspire my work as well.”
Titled Indlamu, after the traditional Zulu dance practice, historically used to prepare warriors for battle or celebrate victories, the piece draws a direct line between body, movement, and transformation. “It’s a dance that people do when a child is born, when you go through a rite of passage, when you go to war, when peace has been made.” the artist said, his friendly face framed by the artworks behind him in his studio. “Again, it’s about gestating, then blooming.”
This spirit of emergence is echoed in the wine itself. Awarded 94 points by SA wine writer Malu Lambert, the Hazendal Prestige brut cap classique 2017 is a blend of 62% Chardonnay and 38% Pinot Noir. Fresh and dry, it reveals notes of lemon blossom, lime, and caramelised ginger, unfurling into rich layers of butter and biscuit after seven years on the lees.
It’s a slow, intentional creation, just like Ruga’s art. “I’m fascinated with the idea of blooming in your own time,” he says. “To work with a place that honours nature, that values sustainability, that allows things to develop slowly, it was a natural alignment.”
More than a label, the collaboration also champions the arts tangibly: 5% of sales from the limited release will be donated to the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. Ruga sees this as just the beginning. “I'm looking forward to how this series will open up platforms for people to share their processes as much as the process of making the wine was opened up to me,” he says. “Each new edition will be its own challenge, with its own medium and message. That’s what makes it exciting, to see how these ideas age and bloom alongside the wine.”
Housed in a handcrafted African pine chest and accompanied by a curatorial booklet, only 1,500 bottles of the Hazendal Prestige Brut Cap Classique 2017 are available in SA and the UK. As a reflection of the festival’s creative harvest, it stands as a celebration of memory and material, past and present, art and alchemy, bottled.
For enquiries in SA, contact Prosper Gundura at prosper.gundura@hazendal.co.za, or call +27 (0) 21 903 5034. For enquiries in the UK and Europe, contact Daniel Grigg of Museum Wines at daniel@museumwines.co.uk, or call +44 (0) 125 883 0122.
