Sanja Kovacevic’s Journey through Wine Art.

Allwinestories proudly hosts Sanja Kovacevic, the artist behind the art project, Winerelle. Sanja bridges art and oenology, turning fermentation, oxidation and stain into visual storytelling.

What inspired you to move from Serbia to rapidly evolving urban environments like Guangzhou and Dubai, and how did those cities shape your artistic identity?

I grew up in northern Serbia, where grapevines grow beside almost every house. My upbringing was rooted in Serbian cultural layers, history, and art, but after graduating from the art academy, I started dreaming about open horizons.
Guangzhou and later Dubai felt like artistic labs: places where nothing is fixed and everything is under construction, visually and culturally. Those cities taught me scale, adaptability, and boldness. In Serbia I learned how to draw quality; in China and the UAE I learned how to draw attention. My artistic identity today is probably a mix of both - academically rooted, but designed for big corporate projects and fast cities.

The “wine painting” niche appears prominently in your exhibitions and publications. How did this concept originate, and what does wine as a media symbolize in your work?

Wine art happened accidentally more than 10 years ago. I have just begun to understand wine and admire its colours. One day wine and painting simply spilled into each other at a wine tasting. For me, wine as a medium symbolizes time, place, and human touch. It’s unpredictable, just like fermentation, and just like life. I like working with a medium that refuses to behave perfectly. Lately, I’ve been investing more time in wine education, wanting to understand wine as a color and a stain with full professional credibility.

How did your collaboration with Concours des Féminalise begin, and what was your creative brief when developing artwork connected to the competition?

Féminalise reached out to me during the pandemic, but since travelling was not yet possible, we stayed in touch and planned for a future moment. That moment came in 2022, for their 16th edition in Paris. I felt it was very symbolic, a new chapter for both of us. Over the years, the collaboration evolved naturally, from art performance to workshops, to designing poster faces that appear across the event visuals. Continuing to work together for several years now feels like a relationship built on trust and shared values. Our latest artwork is a mix of their past edition poster visuals and translating the spirit of the competition into wine art to celebrate 20th edition where I will be also tasting for the first time as a guest. It is such joy, returning to places like Beaune and seeing familiar faces again!

In what ways does Concours des Féminalise’s celebration of women in wine align with your artistic philosophy and visual storytelling approach?

My work has always been about giving form to what is usually invisible - ideas, emotions, memory and time. In that sense, Féminalise’s focus on women in wine feels very close to my artistic language. Visually, this aligns with how I work: I often use faces, profiles, and symbolic figures that feel both classical and contemporary. They are not portraits of individuals, but of roles: the taster, the creator, the observer. Feminalise gives those roles a very real platform.

How do you perceive the current position of women in the wine industry, and do you believe initiatives such as Concours des Féminalise are reshaping gender representation and leadership within the sector?

For centuries, women were muses more often than authors, with limited access to both artistic institutions and wine production. Women tend to have very refined sensory perception and “good nose” for tasting and evaluation. Competitions like Féminalise create visibility for these women. As an artist, I see a strong parallel with women in the wine world. At the same time, I believe recognition should also go to the men who strongly support women in the industry and contribute significantly behind the scenes. That is the real balanced and healthy partnership we need. I believe we are living in a very positive times for women in wine!