Designer bottles are usually the preserve of high end fragrances. Save for a few quirky shapes (and the original 1915 Coke bottle), the best-known wine branding is confined to the label (and some very notable names have turned their hand to this tiny canvas). Austrian winemaker Leo Hillinger wanted to reclaim the bottle as the primary place for aesthetically minded vintners to vent their expertise.
Hillinger, who grows wine just outside Vienna, commissioned Zaha Hadid to create the ultimate bottle for the ultimate wine, Icon Hill. The especially fine 2009 vintage was selected to fill the bottle and just 999 bottles will be produced. A decade ago, Hillinger commissioned Austrian architects Gerner°Gerner Plus to design a sleek production building above the Jois vineyards. The result is one of the best examples of small scale winery architecture in recent decades, a strong design sensibility that is carried through to to the brand new bottle.
Hadid's studio has designed a bottle, box and identity for this extra special vintage, exaggerating the curve of the bottle with an unconventional concave form that gives it a light, tiptoeing footprint. The studio's first bottle design (perhaps unsurprisingly), Icon Hill arrives with instant collector status.
Hadid's studio has also designed an accompanying box and identity for the 2009 vintage
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