Behold a Calendar of Nude French Wine Harvesters

Sep 24, 2014

(PunchDrink) - Behind the bar at Le Bist’roch in Nuits are two curious items—things you don’t expect to see at a hardscrabble Burgundian natural wine bar owned by Domaine Prieuré Roch. One is a tiny version of the domaine’s wine bottle filled with white peppercorns from Cameroon, the product of a far-flung négoçiant project inspired by the owner’s wife.

The other is a bearded nude man with a jeroboam between his legs, beaming down from a calendar behind the bar.

The nude man in question is a harvester at Domaine Marcel Lapierre, which memorialized its 2013 harvest by publishing a nude calendar of harvesters.

“The idea came to us one night over some drinks,” explains winemaker Mathieu Lapierre. He says it’s fairly common for the domaine to organize some kind of project to document the vintage. “There had been photo shoots during harvest before, but it had always been for purposes more documentary than artistic.”

In this case, the artist was photographer Misenka Plantaznik, a regular harvester who hails from Slovakia. “It was meant more as a joke in the beginning,” he says. “I did a similar project during my stay in France as a volunteer for [French nonprofit] Solidarités Jeunesses and I was pleasantly surprised that it got a very positive feedback from the participants. So I suggested we make one during the harvest as well.”

Plantaznik used only available light, taking the photos in stolen moments between work, mealtimes and sunset. “In the beginning I was worried I would not be able to fill all 12 months of the calendar with pictures.” But as his fellow harvesters saw photos of the calendar in progress, more and more offered to participate. “In the end I had so many participants I had to make the calendar for 2014/2015 so I could fit everyone in,” says Plantaznik.


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