Information regarding the launch of the wine, availability, other poets involved, and more can be found in the following Quill & Quire report of October 31st.
Bottling poetry
Just when you thought the combination of poetry and public transit couldn’t be topped, along comes a new pairing to shake things up all over again: poetry and wine.
Poetica, a new wine label that will feature Canadian poems on each bottle, is the brainchild of Ontario vintner Southbrook Vineyards. The limited edition label series – which will be available only to regular Southbrook customers – will reportedly consist of the vineyard’s best annual output of chardonnay and cabernet merlot. The labels will feature excerpts – or, in some cases, full-length works – by poets such as bpNichol and P.K. Page.
According to Southbrook director of customer experience Elena Galey-Pride, the new label was devised in order to celebrate the company’s relocation to Niagara-on-the-Lake, after more than 17 years in Richmond Hill. Graphic designer Laura Wills, who was hired by Southbrook to create the labels, says she read “hundreds and hundreds” of poems for the project, and contacted the poets (or their estates) directly for permission to use their work. According to Galey-Pride, all but two of them immediately agreed to the project (she wouldn’t say who the two holdouts were). In return for their involvement in the project, poets will receive a case of wine.
The full poet line-up for the label’s launch, besides Nichol and Page, includes Christopher Dewdney, Wendy Morton, Lesley Choyce, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Stephen Elliott-Buckley, Charles G.D. Roberts, Steve Venright, Martin Tielli, and Sarah Slean. Going forward, each new year will bring two more vintages and two more poets.
Poetica launches in Toronto on Nov. 19 at an invitation-only event for the wine biz and the arts and literature communities.
Update, 2008-11-19 - Launch
The launch party took place as schedualed today at The Richmond. The event featured two poetry readings but Sarah was not scheduled. Posters of some of the wine bottles were also displayed that may contain an enlargement of Sarah's poem.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Southbrook-Vineyards-921327.html
Update, 2008-11-21 - Sarah's poem
The poem of Sarah's included, is actually an excerpt her song Your Wish is My Wish from her 2004 album Day One. To see the bottle, learn more about wine, and cost information see the following page:
http://www.southbrook.com/Poetica_2005chardonnay.html
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