Jordan Wine Country Table - Vol. 19, 2024 - 10

BY LISA M. MATTSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KENDALL BUSBY
Pollinator
Portraits
Jordan Winery unveils annual
pollinator art for a cause
D
ecorating eggs is a cherished art form
with cultural roots that date back 5,000
years. Although concrete egg fermenters have
only existed for a mere two decades in the
winemaking world, there is still a natural desire
to embellish them. The top maker of concrete
egg fermenters, Sonoma County-based Sonoma
Cast Stone, even hosts an egg-decorating contest
amongst winemakers every Easter.
When Jordan Winery's row of eight concrete
eggs arrived in 2022, the first priority was
employing these 2-ton vessels to preserve Jordan
Chardonnay's delicate fruit flavors while adding
richer texture. The second was enhancing
them with beauty and meaning. Jordan sought
an important artistic expression for its first
concrete egg art installation in the spring
of 2023. As dedicated supporters of pollinator
habitat and biodiversity, Jordan commissioned
mural artist Matt Willey, founder of The Good
of the Hive, to create its first multi-egg mural
last April in honor of Earth Day.
Willey has traveled the world since 2015,
painting vivid honeybee murals on everything
from brick buildings and shipping containers
to skate parks and trailers. Originally from the
Boston area, the artist has pledged to hand-paint
50,000 honeybees-the number found in a
healthy hive. His mission is to spark enthusiasm
for the planet through his art.
" There are two things that a honeybee
symbolizes that every human craves, " Willey
says. " A sense of purpose about our existence,
and a connectedness to others. Both are found
in the hive. The project is about more than
bees. It's about humans and us changing our
relationship with our planet. The bees are
symbols. They connect us all. "
The project posed two challenges the artist
had not encountered over eight years and
" As stewards of our land, caring
for the wildlife and their habitat
is at the heart of who we are.
Each year, we will be sharing
a different resident of the Jordan
Estate on our unique art canvas,
the concrete egg fermenters
so guests will have the unique
opportunity to experience a new
art installation year after year. "
JOHN JORDAN
Chief Executive Officer | Jordan Vineyard & Winery
44 murals. First, Jordan wanted a soft paint
with zero volatile organic compounds, as the
installation would be indoors. The winery also
wanted the flexibility to change its egg art every
year, so they asked for the installation to be
temporary and removable before each harvest.
Willey typically uses high-pigment, water-based
paints that resist sun damage because most
of his murals live outdoors. Using chalk pastels
for the first time, he created the honeybee
mural across four of Jordan's eight fermenters.
One egg depicted a colorful scene of a queen
bee nestled in a hive with workers and drones,
and the other paintings captured large
individual bees in flight or foraging with
a seamless connection to the hive.
Willey receives requests for murals all
over the globe, and he curates the projects
10 THE DESIGN ISSUE
Jordan Wine Country Table - Vol. 19, 2024

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