Ruinart, the renowned champagne house, has chosen French artist Eva Jospin as the Carte Blanche artist for 2023.
Each year, Ruinart selects a contemporary artist to create an exclusive artistic interpretation for a limited edition of their champagne. Jospin’s immersive installation, PROMENADE(S) en Champagne, celebrates the diverse terroir of the Champagne region and the skilled craftsmanship passed down through generations that produce Ruinart’s exceptional champagne.
Inspiration from Champagne’s History, Terroir, and Biodiversity
Jospin’s installation highlights the geographic diversity of Maison Ruinart and its history. The majestic underground chalk quarries transformed into wine cellars, interlaced vines, echoes of the royal past when kings were crowned in the Reims cathedral, and a future built on preserving biodiversity, all served as inspiration for her works.
Jospin and Ruinart share a commitment to artisanal craftsmanship and embracing the power of time, which is evident in her choice of medium, cardboard, and her painstaking gestures to create miniature sculptural creations.
The centrepiece of Jospin’s Carte Blanche installation is a Carmontelle, a roll of paper with pastoral scenes, offering a graphic narrative of visible and invisible elements that go into creating champagne.
This captivating object has a history dating back to the 18th century when Maison Ruinart was founded. The Carmontelle sets the theme for the installation, evoking the different places Jospin visited, from the Ruinart chalk cellars and vineyards to the neighbouring forest.
Her sculpture reprises the interlaced motif, evoking the shoots of the vines and juxtaposing multiple strata, subterranean and aerial landscapes from roots to the sky.
Jospin’s artistic creations for Ruinart spotlight the different strata of the Champagne region, which led UNESCO to recognize the terroir as a World Heritage site.
Her embroideries combine flax yarn with brass, whose metallic sheen calls to mind the muselet, the wire cage that holds the champagne cork in the bottle. Her Indian ink drawings on marouflage canvas become a cartography of the region, and her high-relief cardboard creations also evoke the forest, a recurrent theme in her work, inspired by the forest that borders the Taissy vineyards.
Limited Edition Blanc de Blancs cuvée and Its Custom-made Wooden Box
Jospin has also created a limited edition piece around a Jeroboam of Ruinart’s signature Blanc de Blancs cuvée.
The custom-made wooden box is fastened by leather straps and opens onto a miniature crayère scene sculpted in layers of cardboard. The bottle is nestled in this recessed landscape, a metaphor for making the champagne, and its fermentation is sheltered from light.
This exceptional Blanc de Blancs cuvée, an assemblage of 25 to 30 meticulously selected Chardonnay vintages, reveals citrus notes with an enveloping, velvety texture. The limited edition counts just 25 signed and numbered pieces.
Final Thoughts
Eva Jospin’s Carte Blanche commission for Ruinart’s 2023 limited edition of champagne offers a unique and immersive artistic experience that celebrates the terroir of the Champagne region, the skilled craftsmanship, and the commitment to preserving biodiversity.
Her choice of medium, cardboard, elevates the lowly material with her painstaking gestures, just as the cellar master coaxes the qualities of the grape into exquisite champagne.
The limited edition Blanc de Blancs cuvée and its custom-made wooden box are a testament to Jospin’s artistic vision and her deep appreciation.