The FREIENFELD label: a story of love & heartbreak

The days are getting longer, the temperatures more spring-like and with the birds chirping & the bees buzzing, the first spring feelings appear. All this just in time for Valentine's Day, which adds just the right touch of romance to the elation. And when talking about romance, we clearly have to talk about our Cabernet Sauvignon FREIENFELD! He has our most romantic wine and not only when served in the glass during a cozy dinner! The label of the exceptional wine, which already in its beginnings (it was one of the first Alto Adige wines to carry the coveted "Tre bicchieri" award from Gambero Rosso in the 1990s) and also 30 years later causes a sensation, tells of a tragic love story. 

Pyramus & Thisbe: a tragic love story

The label of the first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon FREIENFELD in 1990 showed a fresco from the historic manor Freienfeld. The sixteenth century fresco in the drinking hall of the manor shows a scene from Ovid's "Metamorphoses" - the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe. Head over heels in love with each other, their love has no chance due to the disapproval of their parents. Whispering to each other through a crack in the wall of their neighboring houses, they agree to escape. Due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings during their escape, the two lovers kill themselves, each dying for love of the other. Thisbe, who arrives earlier than Pyramus at the agreed meeting place, flees from a lioness who still has a bloody mouth from eating an animal. Thisbe loses her veil, which the lioness then tears with her bloody mouth. Pyramus finds this veil when he arrives, assumes that his beloved has been killed by the lioness, and thereupon falls on his sword in a death-defying accident. When Thisbe returns to the meeting place and finds the dying Pyramus, she kills herself with Pyramus' sword too.

The label: between tradition & modernity

The label redesigned with the 2015 vintage combines tradition and modernity. The story depicted in the fresco inspired the young South Tyrolean artist Margit Pittschieler: the crack visible in the fresco adorns the label of the FREIENFELD in a strong ruby red, reminiscent of the crack through which the two lovers secretly communicated.

"After numerous drafts and studies, a lovingly detailed version was created in which Pyramus and Thisbe whisper to each other through the intense ruby red crack even after death, seemingly awakening them to life again."- Margit Pittschieler, artist

And if you think the whole thing sounds awfully familiar, you're on the right track! Ovid's saga was adopted by various authors and writers, so also by William Shakespeare in his tragedy - well, who guesses? - Romeo and Juliet.