Winterthur announces Uncorked! Wine, Objects & Tradition. The exhibition is open to the public through January 6, 2013.
Featuring more than 300 objects, nearly all from Winterthur’s Museum and Library collections, Uncorked! explores how wine was marketed, consumed, and enjoyed in America and Britain from the 1600s through the 1800s. A wide range of materials are represented, from wine bottles, decanters, and cellarettes to lead figures of Bacchus and Champagne Charlie song sheets. Advertisements, trade cards, pattern books and other paraphernalia provide vivid examples of cultural values and attitudes of the times.
“The beautiful and sometimes humorous objects displayed in this exhibition, combined with the growing popularity of wine connoisseurship and history, make Uncorked! sure to attract a broad range of audiences, from the novice to the expert,” said Leslie Grigsby, Winterthur’s Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass, who created the exhibition.
The events and programming for the exhibition will feature wine dinners, wine cellar tours, evening regional winery tastings coupled with a jazz series, wine enthusiast- related workshops and education, and evening specialty connoisseurship and collector lectures. In addition, a lunchtime lecture series will be presented by wine historians, collectors, and curators of drinking vessels. The lecture topics are designed to entertain and enrich the audience’s understanding of wine and its colorful past.
Throughout history, alcoholic beverages frequently were accompanied by games or were the focus of the entertainment themselves. Uncorked! provides a glimpse into the lighter side of wine consumption as well as a look at some of the more serious aspects, such as when politics and alcohol intersected.
Visit winterthur.org for more information on the Uncorked! exhibition and related programs and events.