Paolo Giaretta
Magnotta Rhapsody Special Reserve VQA [no longer available]
The concert theme of Giaretta's painting works so well with this wine. Our Rhapsody is a delightful composition of Cabernet Sauvignon and Baco Noir, a grape that's almost exclusive to Ontario so I like to think we pulled these two grapes together like a nice orchestra. The deep blue colours even call to mind George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue which uniquely combined classical music with jazz elements much like our Rhapsody is an Ontario original. - RM
Paolo Giaretta was born in Schio (Vicenza), Italy in 1952. He began painting in Verona and was devoted to oil painting at first, then moved to working on paper with ink and tempera. After three years of classical studies including attending the University of Architecture in Venice, painting became his real job. He experimented with various techniques and exhibited regularly in Italy and abroad. He eventually began a lasting collaboration with Galerie Vendôme in Paris and the Piccola Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea of Bassano del Grappa. Giaretta paints in an expressionist-abstract style but with its own distinct essence. Vivid colour dances in harmony with vigorous pictorial gestures and resolves in a cheerful and rhythmic interpretation of his subject. His work has a feeling of being able to understand and capture the excitement of things in life and their positive vitality. Giaretta's paintings are romantic, sometimes nostalgic and melancholic and punctuated with a joyful rhythm and exuberance. He lives and works in Schio (Vicenza).