Behind the Label

Pablo Cortes & Karel Eissner (courtesy of Winery On Creations)

Winery On Creations: Demuerte

By Jill Kwiatkoski, Sommelier (CAPS)

When two creative forces meet, occasionally, they produce a project that is to die for. Demuerte is just such a project.

The Demuerte wines are the passion project of winemaker Pablo Cortes and designer Karel Eissner, partners whose vision was to design bottles that truly reflect the wines inside. Demuerte’s imaginative and eye-catching labels were created by Karel, designer, photographer, and Creative Director at Winery On Creations—and the love of Pablo’s life. Karel studied architecture in her native Bogota, Colombia, and later developed her love of design in Munich, Germany, where she took her master’s degree in graphic design and photography.

The wine inside the bottle is just as outstanding as those labels! Pablo, who was born and raised in Valencia, Spain, studied agronomic engineering and holds a master’s degree in oenology. He has been making wine at award-winning Spanish wineries for over 15 years.

In 2012, the couple met in Valencia, and their lives grew together personally and professionally. When Pablo decided to leave his job to make wine of his own, he knew what he was looking for: “A place in the Mediterranean where the Monastrell grape was the protagonist. I have always been in love with Monastrell and wanted to get the most out of it.”

Seeking to bring a modern and creative spin to this traditional Spanish grape, they landed in the small wine region of Yecla in the southeastern part of Spain—where they wanted to take the traditional expression of Monastrell and add their own passionate approach. Monastrell also happened to be the reigning maestro of grape varieties produced in Yecla. In 2017, Karel and Pablo brought their creative passions together to create the magical world of Demuerte wines.

“We made the first wine in my friend Alfredo Candela’s winery. It still had no name or label, but someone said it was ‘De muerte!’—a Spanish expression meaning excellent or ‘to die for’,” explains Pablo. While travelling through Mexico, we were captivated by the strength and joy of the Mexican skull, an artistic and joyful manifestation of death. This is how we fused the concepts DEMUERTE and the SKULL. Karel designed an interpretation of La Catrina (an icon of the Mexican Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead), and I developed a complete collection of wines with the Monastrell grape as the protagonist. These seven unique wines are designed so that each label is unique in colour and texture. They are not just labels—they are art on a bottle.”

Demuerte wines arrive in October, with rosé to follow in summer 2023. Watch our Instagram @joneswinemerchants for the launch.

The Demuerte wines and their bottles work together to tell a story: “Each label is unique—we wanted to put components on the label as an extension of the wine. Demuerte Deluxe is smooth and elegant like its velvet label; Demuerte One is daring and surprising like the luminescent label (it glows in the dark!); and Demuerte Black is the most exclusive wine in the collection. Swarovski crystals have a component of elegance and exclusivity—like this wine. The combination was perfect, and the crystals were perfect for the eyes of the skull.”

While he uses 100% Monastrell for his icon Demuerte Black, Pablo has also created red blends with Syrah, Petite Verdot, Garnacha Tintorera, and Cabernet Sauvignon and white blends with Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo. “Our wines are what you feel when you smell, taste, see, and touch them. The visual design of our wines is an invitation to taste them, a prelude to the sensations that one should expect from the wine.” The wines are, indeed, to die for.