By Virginie Boone

J Vineyards and Winery has long been pushing the wine envelope into new worlds, first with its award-winning Shifting the Lens culinary series and now with the release of a limited-edition bottling of LOVE Wine February 13, also known as Galentine’s Day (thanks to Parks and Recreation’s Leslie Knope), and the same day it will hold a Release Party at the winery (for which there is already a waitlist).

The sparkling wine is a collaborative endeavor between J and grantLOVE, an art and design initiative created by Los Angeles-based visual artist/philanthropist Alexandra Grant that supports and promotes the work of artists and arts nonprofits through the gift and sale of LOVE artwork and other goods.

Grant has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for nonprofits in her community that are focused on feeding people as well as youth academic and enrichment programs.

“I was raised by many great people and one of them was [godfather] Warren Ilchman – he ran the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University,” she said in a 2022 Los Angeles Times interview. “My godmother was the president of Sarah Lawrence College, and my mom was someone who cared deeply about international education… So as my art career in Los Angeles grew and grew and grew, I began asking… how do I combine how I was raised, thinking about these issues… to be a civic artist?”

In partnering with J, Grant hopes to continue that ethos by bringing people together to spark conversation and inspire change through wine and art, connecting culture, creativity and community.

The wines will feature unique labels by female artists. The first is by New York-based artist Genevieve Gaignard, a multidisciplinary artist whose work has appeared across the United States, including in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Gaignard and Grant were on hand at an opening reception at J last week, together with J Estate Director and Head Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock, who made the LOVE wine, a Brut Cuvée with a 100% Pinot Meunier dosage that sells for $50.

Gaignard said of the label, which incorporates a multitude of flowers, that she had not worked on a commercial product before and in doing so she wanted the artwork to reach a wide audience and make people feel part of the work; like people, flowers come in many variations and moods.

“Maybe we’re in our wilted stage, maybe it’s not our season,” she noted.

As for Grant, she’s been dreaming of doing something in wine for many years.

“I was drawn by wine’s connection to agriculture and culture,” she said. “I was meeting with vineyards for 10 years at home and abroad looking for someone with shared values.”

J checked all the boxes after an introduction was made by Joe Bartolomei of Farmhouse Inn, a regular getaway destination for Grant. When he found out about Grant’s dreams involving wine, Bartolomei reached out to good friend Caroline Shaw, who runs Marketing and Communications Partnerships for E. & J. Gallo Winery, J’s parent company, and things quickly got rolling.

The wine is available online and at the J tasting room, which will run an interactive pop-up featuring other art and merchandize all of February and March.