In October, Dom Pérignon hosted a party at the Brant Foundation in New York City’s East Village, thousands of miles from its home in the Champagne region of France. At the party, which celebrated Dom Pérignon’s partnership with the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the actresses Zoë Kravitz and Natasha Lyonne, the model Evan Mock and Raul Lopez, the designer of the subversive Luar fashion label, sipped Dom as they swayed to music from the Mudd Club habitué DJ Justin Strauss.
The Basquiat painting “In Italian,” a Neo-Expressionist work filled with gestural scribbles and stark images — faces, coins, dark creatures and cryptic words like “teeth” and “crown of thorns” — hung on one wall. Throughout the room were bottles of a limited-edition release culled from a 2015 Dom Pérignon vintage with labels that mirrored Basquiat motifs, including his signature crown in yellow overlaid in a way to suggest a connection between the artist’s work and Dom Pérignon’s own shield-shaped tag.
“I think people are looking for more than just the experience of consuming,” said Jacques Giraco, the managing partner at Dom Pérignon, speaking of his company’s decision to evoke the image of an artist synonymous with the gritty downtown scene in 1980s New York. “It becomes a total experience. It conjures emotion, and that creates a stronger link with the brand.”
The flirtation of art and alcohol isn’t new — think Andy Warhol and Absolut vodka in the 1980s — but it makes a lot of sense today, when many studies indicate that Gen Z is drinking less alcohol than previous generations. Moreover, a jittery economic landscape makes expensive wines and spirits feel like unnecessary splurges to many consumers. Partnerships like these give alcohol brands a fresh item to promote, but also, in the best circumstances, a way to impart a whiff of art world allure onto their tipples. A Basquiat could easily set you back many millions — $110.5 million, in one record-breaking 2017 auction — so a Basquiat-branded bottle of Dom, clocking in at $305, could be viewed as a downright steal.
“Younger consumers are just not engaging with alcohol as much,” said Marten Lodewijks, the president of the United States division of IWSR, a data firm that tracks the alcohol beverage industry. “So there’s a much bigger effort to come up with hooks to bring them in.”
So let the buzzy collaborations bridging booze and art commence. Qui Tequila recently worked with the graffiti artist Brian Donnelly, better known by his nom d’art KAWS, on a series of three limited-edition labels in his bubble-shaped, anthropomorphized font. The bottles cost $1,000 each. The street artist André Saraiva contributed art to the packaging for a limited edition of Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky, released in September and initially priced at $2,100.
Other brand alliances are priced well into a startling five-figure range. The artist Daniel Arsham, for one, created a cast resin “time capsule” in which a bottle of Moët & Chandon was housed (and, at just 85 editions, costs $28,000 each). And Hennessy, the cognac brand, tapped the sculptor Jean-Michel Othoniel for two decanters, one in Baccarat crystal encased in a gem-encrusted wooden receptacle, which costs €35,000 euros (about $38,000).
“They don’t want to just be an alcohol brand,” Guy Wolfe, the head of insights for status spirits at IWSR, said, referring to high-end makers of wines and spirits. “They see themselves up there with fine art, with brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior.”
For some brands, an association with art can be a point of differentiation. “The category is oversaturated with celebrity involvements,” Medhat Ibrahim, a founder of Qui Tequila, said of tequila’s popularity. “We wanted something that creates more value to the consumer who’s purchasing this product.”
Qui Tequila’s connection to KAWS was forged through the celebrated chef Nobu Matsuhisa, who had been working with Qui Tequila, positioning it as a spirit of choice for those who enjoy fine dining. Mr. Matsuhisa is a fan and collector of Mr. Donnelly’s work, so the three-way partnership was formed to commemorate Nobu’s 30th anniversary.
“We’re delivering a piece of art, a beautifully designed bottle and an exceptional 25-year-old liquid,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
Mr. Giraco of Dom Pérignon came from the world of fragrance, in which new scents are introduced at a brisk cadence. A high-profile collaboration, like the one with the Basquiat estate, allows the brand to create a sense of urgency and excitement within a more slow-moving category like Champagne, which is limited by grape production.
“Even people who are real wine connoisseurs, they love the novelty of it,” Mr. Giraco said. “You see it on Instagram, they will talk about it, they will collect it.”
And, if a Basquiat label likens Dom Pérignon to art-making, so be it. “The process to make this is very complex,” Mr. Giraco said. “So to have a connection with art, which is also complex, it’s a good combination.”
Some companies are investing in art through other means, turning their headquarters into mini-museums. The new visitors center at the Champagne house Ruinart in Reims, France was designed by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto and features sculptures by Eva Jospin and Pascale Marthine Tayou. In Sonoma, Calif., the Donum Estate winery has more than 60 sculptures dotted across its 200 acres of vineyards, many of them site-specific works. They include pieces by Doug Aitken, Tracey Emin, Louise Bourgeois and Keith Haring, and are a reflection of the estate’s owners’ love of collecting. A recent acquisition — an astrology-themed sculpture series from Ai Weiwei — has been translated into a set of collectible labels.
“Art is a good way to connect to a cultured audience,” said Fabien Vallérian, Ruinart’s international arts and culture director. “It’s visual, it’s emotional, and it’s immediate. You like it or you don’t like it, but you’re always reacting to it.”
For Mr. Vallérian, the Ruinart campus is a way to extend the brand’s reputation beyond its core product. “It’s this idea of elevation and creating something that’s not just about the product,” he said. “It’s storytelling.”
Angelica de Vere-Mabray, the chief executive of Donum Estate, said that a robust on-site art program has helped the winery stand out among the local competition and withstand the decline in visitors to the region during the pandemic. Since she was hired, in 2019, she has focused on expanding and advertising the sculpture garden, and Donum’s number of visitors has increased 14-fold, she said.
“When you get to the estate, you don’t know what will be around the corner — there’s another great piece of art, and you’re having a personal relationships with it,” Ms. de Vere-Mabray said. “And, I do always say this, as a joke, but Donum is good for the ’gram. We can’t stop them, nor do we want to.”
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