Drawing the Marques de Riscal winery

Last Monday, the 22 graphic artists and four instructors participating in the workshop 'Show, Don’t Tell' of the 19th Malofiej International Infographics Summit took a bus to Elciego (Alava) in order to visit the wineries of Marqués de Riscal, whose building was created by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Following St James' Way and after passing through towns of Navarre Puente la Reina, Estella, Villamayor de Monjardín, Los Arcos and Viana, the bus headed towards Logroño on the way to Alava, through a road full of vineyards on both sides.

The graphic artists were received at the Marqués de Riscal winery complex by Esther, the guide to the visit. The building is fully integrated into nature, following the patterns of the surrounding colours.

After watching a short explanatory video, the group started the visit to the complex, where they were instructed about the winemaking process through a tour during which they visited the tanks, the pressing room, the area of barrels, the bottling and labelling room... The visitors took notes and pictures and drew different sketches for the exercise they would fulfil later on.

The visit continued in the so-called 'The Cathedral', built in 1860 and considered as the oldest winery in La Rioja, which preserves ancient wines. The group took a family photo that will immortalize the participants in this year's edition of 'Show, Do not Tell' workshop. Before leaving the wineries, the guests tasted a white wine (Verdejo) and a Reserva.

The afternoon session began with presentations by John Grimwade and Alberto Cairo, the workshop instructors. Participants were then split in groups of five and started to elaborate the practical exercise about their morning visit.

Tuesday session began with presentations by the other two instructors, Geoff McGhee and Juan Velasco, who offered tips on how to better manage data when transformed into graphics. From 11.30 AM the groups continued to work under the supervision of the instructors, creating graphics for the three media: printed media, web and smartphones or tablets. The turning point, were the artist shared their creations, was reserved to the afternoon.

The last morning of the workshop will be devoted to individual work. Participants will develop their own 'Little chart', which will be evaluated by the instructors before the diploma ceremony and the closure.