Museum of Wine Culture Dinastía Vivanco. 2004 — Museography

An extraordinarily diverse private collection of ethnological, archaeological, technological and artistic objects related to the world of wine, gathered by the Vivanco family over generations.

The history of this museum began when Pedro Vivanco, an oenologist and wine producer, began putting together a collection of wine-related objects during his travels around the world. Over the years and subsequent generations, the collection has expanded and evolved, ultimately incorporating works of art by Picasso, Sorolla, Juan Gris, Eduardo Chillida or Miquel Barceló. You will also find one of the largest collections of corkscrews in the world, with pieces of all kinds and from different eras. Medieval tapestries, mosaics, engravings, ancient Egyptian objects, etc.

As such, the main challenge in our museography was to order, make conceptual sense of the visitors’ path through a very heterogeneous collection with ethnographic, archaeological, technological, artistic and heritage elements. To do this, we coordinated an interdisciplinary team that was able to design and build over 4,000 square meters of exhibition space. We proposed dividing the space into five permanent exhibition halls, each of which could constitute an independent collection or museum, though they were all tied together through the theme of wine. The first part of the visit is dedicated to the origins of the wine and its discovery; the second displays the types of packaging and the conservation of wine throughout history; then a space is dedicated to the winery; and a fourth talks about the importance of the iconography of wine in art and mythology. Finally, a space focuses on the tools linked to the consumption of this more than 8,000-year-old drink.

Awards: 2013 Best of Wine Tourism International Award granted by the Great Wine Capitals network in the category of Art and Culture of Spain. 2010 Best of prize, Rioja Bilbao phase, for their temporary exhibitions over a nine-year period. 2009 “Bastion of Silver” Prize, maximum distinction awarded by ONCE in La Rioja, for the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture. 2009 Recognition from ONCE for having adapted its facilities and the content it offers, including posters and raised-relief maps. 2007 Prize for the Promotion of Wine Tourism from the magazine Vinos de España. 2007 Finalist in the European Museum of the Year Award 2007, an initiative of the European Museum Forum and the Council of Europe. 2007 Best of Wine Tourism International Award granted by the Great Wine Capitals network in the category of Parks, Gardens and Landscapes of Spain for the “Jardín de Baco”. 2007 Excellence Award in the Institutional Excellence category granted by Diario La Rioja. 2005 Trophy at the Enovideo Festival held in Paris in September 2005 for the audio-visual production La Tonelería, awarded at the French Senate. 2005 Best of Wine Tourism International Award granted by the Great Wine Capitals network in the category of Art and Culture in the international phase, awarded in Melbourne by the Ministry of Tourism. 2005 Best of Wine Tourism International Award granted by the Great Wine Capitals network in the category of Art and Culture of Spain.

Institutional sponsor: Dinastía Vivanco Winery-Museum

Location: Briones, La Rioja

© Photography: Adriana Landaluce

© Drawings: Ignasi Cristià 

Museum Website