Wine tales: How a little fish by a local artist made its way around the world
Johanna Waldorf’s abstract painting graces the label of Germany’s Selbach Riesling
Johanna Waldorf’s watercolour sketch has come to be known by the Selbach-Oster winery as the “Blue Fish” label.
WITH THANKSGIVING AROUND the corner, you might be wondering what kind of wine to serve with your turkey or tofurkey. Selbach Riesling 2018 might be one to consider. It’s a crisp, light, easy-drinking half-dry Riesling at 11% alcohol by volume (ABV) with a crunch—think biting into a bright green apple.
It’s produced in the Mosel Valley, Zeltingen-Rachtig, the oldest wine region in Germany (which is also said to be the largest area of extremely steep vineyard land in the world). The winery behind it is called Selbach-Oster, which has a 400-year history. The wine is now sold in more than 20 countries worldwide.
And it has a Vancouver connection.
Specifically, the link is on the label: inset on a white background is a dark-blue square over which is an image of a red fish with blue tail, fins, and eyes and a speckling of gold, green, and orange on its upper body.
Local artist Johanna Waldorf painted that fish just over a decade ago.
In a phone call with Stir, Waldorf explains how the “Blue Fish” label came about—and how she was mortified when she saw her work on the tall green bottle for the first time.
She and her husband run Waldorf Wine Group, a Steveston-based wine-importing company. Over the years, they have become friends with Johannes Selbach, the German winery’s proprietor, who visits Vancouver about twice a year (or at least he did pre-pandemic).
Back in the day, Selbach Riesling was called Bereich Bernkastel Riesling, and it had an old-school Germanic label marked by heraldry and Gothic script. Having seen some of Waldorf’s paintings at her home, Selbach asked her if she’d be willing to send him some ideas for a new look.
“He wanted to revamp the labels, make them more colourful and more modern,” says Waldorf, who comes from a family of artists (her father was trained in oil painting in Europe and her sister is a graphic designer) and who, after her own kids had left home, studied fine arts at Langara College. “The old labels were very traditional. I was doing a little bit of work for the company but was doing more of my own thing at the time. I sat down and did some quick little watercolour sketches with India ink in different colours and styles, a lot of them abstract.”
She put them all in the mail and sent them to Selbach, telling him to let her know which ones he liked so that she could redo them, clean them up and put more time and care into them.
“He took a draft and put it on the label,” Waldorf says. “I was horrified, absolutely horrified. It was just a rough, quickie draft on cheap watercolour paper. I was pretty upset.”
The redesign did wonders for the wine, however; before, it was on the shelves of about 30 BC Liquor Stores; now, it’s in 107 public and private stores throughout the province.
In addition to Thanksgiving mains, the Selbach Riesling ($19.99) pairs well with spicy food, Asian dishes, Southern barbecue, sushi, and fish tacos.
Over a decade later, Waldorf has gotten used to the idea of that little sketch living on. And typically working with acrylic on canvas in large-format works, she’s aiming to have more time to pursue her art in the near future.
“I’m hoping to retire next year and pass over the family business to my daughter,” Waldorf says. “I’m going to paint.”
Related Articles
