A limited edition cuvée titled Idiot brings together natural winemaker Viktoria Schödl and artist Simon Kubik for a one time collaboration between contemporary art and wine from Weinviertal region of Austria. Only 200 bottles exist, each carrying Simon’s text on the label and poured first at Creators Thursday Vol. IV before moving online via the Schödl website. What sounds like a punchline is, in fact, a work about doubt, improvement, and the pleasure of being occasionally wrong.

The idea for this began in Burgenland last October over what became two consecutive dinners at a friend’s restaurant somewhere close to Bratislava. The first was with curator and friend Julia Harrauer, who had arranged the art for Julia Skergeth’s One Month Concept Store. A few nights later, winemaker and friend Viktoria Schödl texted suggesting dinner at the same restaurant, which already felt like a coincidence, before the further detail that artist Simon Kubik happened to be seated two tables away, although no one quite connected the dots at the time. By then we had already planned to bring together a wine and art talk at the store as part of our Creators Thursdays series. Wine (specifically Vik’s wine) flowed on both nights, the idea for the label was born and and here we are.

Next to the story of the dinners, a small piece of logistics helped things along. Viktoria happened to have a limited run of 200 bottles of a one-off cuvée that suited the project almost too perfectly. It is a blend of 90% Grüner Veltliner and 10% Welschriesling from calcareous clay soils with deeply rooted vines, hand harvested in mid September 2023, whole cluster pressed and left to ferment spontaneously in large oak.

The character from that Burgenland dinner we mentioned earlier, seated two tables away during the night with Vik, turned out to be Simon. Already well known to Julia, not yet to us, he works across painting, objects and installation. For this cuvée he sent many ideas, and we eventually arrived at the label with “Idiot” starkly written on the front, and on the side subtly referring to his thought behind:

Ich dachte ich kenne mich. Dabei überraschte ich mich stets von mir selbst. Gut tat mir zu wissen, dass ich mich irren kann.
English: I thought I knew myself. Yet I kept surprising myself. It did me good to know that I can be wrong.

In adition, on the launch evening Simon read a poem that extends this thought and turns “idiot” into something closer to an instruction to improve:

I thought i would know myself. But then I’d surprise myself how much of an idiot I can be. turns out i should call myself an idiot, in this moment just for now, backed by good will. I thought I know myself already, but it’s good to know that i can be wrong. So I can be better, to be what I wanna think of myself. Idiot isn’t a harsh word, it’s a command to improve. It is an offer to put into perspective what was wrong, but is no longer important.

This is a limited edition of 200 bottles, available directly via the Schödl website. It is very likely to disappear quickly, so if you would like one, we would suggest moving sooner rather than later.

Ruby Arabella Wallen tracks the city’s pulse, observes its culture and characters, and works with a small circle of her personal muses to create you a weekly Sunday Dispatch - your blueprint to the week ahead in Vienna.