About Ozymandias Wines

Many people ask me why I chose the name “Ozymandias Wines” for this project, so I'd like to share in detail the meaning behind the name. “Ozymandias” is the Greek name for Ramesses II, who many regard as the greatest and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. It's also the name of a poem written by Percy Shelley in 1818, about the plundering of relics from Ramesses II's tomb by France and Britain. In particular the nations were after a giant statue of Ramesses II, and where Napoleon previously failed the British Empire succeeded in acquiring the artistic treasure for the British Museum in 1816.

Shelley's poem gives commentary to the rise and eventual fall of all leaders and empires, and mocks their perceived pretensions of magnificence and immortality during their peaks. The poem might even foreshadow the eventual fate of the mighty British and French Empires, who were the modern empires of the time, which were pillaging artistic artifacts from empires of the past. Ozymandias reigned from 1279-1213 BC, but like the leaders of the French and British Empires, Ramesses II eventually died, and the empires they all built declined.

To me there is a deeper message in Shelley's poem, which is the only tangible voice left to tell the stories of all these leaders and the cultures from empires of the past is the art they leave behind. This cycle and inevitable fate struck a chord with me, and was especially poignant in the not too distant past during the “Great Financial Crisis” of 2007-2010. The irony of when the only supposed modern day “Superpower” was going through economic adversity, one of the first things our leaders and government looked to cut or do away with were art programs. All of a sudden schools were losing music and art classes, and funding to countless art projects ceased.

I realize there are basic human needs which take priority over someone's art project, but to me art captures our history and conveys our shared humanity even with whom we see as our enemies. Sometimes all which remains of a culture is their art and the things which they've created to tell their story. It's during this time, with these events, I recalled Shelley's poem, and looked to marry my two greatest passions of wine and art.

It's important to me that people know when they're drinking a bottle of Ozymandias Wines they're doing much more than enjoying a fantastic bottle of finely handcrafted wine; they are also helping to build an art legacy through the enjoyment of that wine. Thank you for reading and for participating in this shared vision.