Jeff Koons' Balloon Venus is the goddess of wine Balloon Venus, by Jeff Koons. Jeff Koons with limited edition gift boxes. A COLLABORATION between Dom Perignon's chef de cave, Richard Geoffroy, and Jeff Koons, one of America's most successful contemporary artists, was born of severe spring frosts and the record-breaking heatwave of the summer of 2003 in the Champagne region of France. These extreme conditions, against all the odds, produced a vintage that is "bold and provocative ... full-bodied, intense, serious as can be," Geoffroy says. Geoffroy realised that this vintage was going to be exceptional right from the start "because the conditions of the vintage and the seasons were so extreme ... this vintage was about challenges, about taking risks, about pushing, going for it, and not giving anything up." He added that the vintage was so provocative it supported the whole idea of reinvention. And so it made perfect sense to him to approach Koons, who is known for his bold and provocative imagery, to partner with Dom Perignon to create a special limited-edition gift box to house the 2003 rose. "Jeff is all about freedom born of provocation," Geoffroy says. In its rich history of creative partnerships Dom Perignon has worked with fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, industrial designer Marc Newson and filmmaker David Lynch, to name a few, and while Geoffroy denies he alone was responsible for choosing Koons, he certainly drove the project. Asked how they got the ball rolling, he said they had opened a bottle of champagne in Koons's New York studio, and they had spent the day just talking and that Koons had been immediately engaged by the concept. "Jeff was so keen on the transformation from the raw thing from nature and the whole thing of time, in the sense of history," Geoffroy says. For him it is all about a reference to the origins of human kind and time in the sense of the parameter it took for the creation. For his part, Koons says the collaboration was a very moving experience, "It was so poetic; I was really moved and I realised the profoundness of his [winemaking] art. And I knew the quality associated with Dom Perignon, with the historic aspect and the respect for its history, but when I spoke with Richard it really became very clear the poetics, the aesthetics and the philosophical aspect of being a really amazing creator of champagne. The result of these discussions was the creation of a version of Jeff Koons' Balloon Venus. His original was inspired by the Venus of Willendorf, a tiny Palaeolithic figurine discovered in Austria and dated about 23,000BC. Koons created five versions of the original between 2008 and last year, as part of his Antiquity series. They are made of high chromium stainless steel with transparent colour coating (magenta, red, violet, yellow, and orange) and are 127cm high. The Dom Perignon Balloon Venus is smaller and the colour is a cross between magenta and rose, which Koons believes gives it both a masculine and feminine feel. Koons chose to work with the Balloon Venus again because, he says, it was an archetype and a symbol. You are able to put all your desires and hopes in life into a piece like that and you can feel a resonance throughout time, how in human history we feel that things haven't changed. You can feel the desires that people at that time had for the continuation of life energy, and you can find a sense of ritual and meaning and community. Even though it is a singular object, you get a sense of community around it. He went on to talk more about community and the events that we celebrate - a birthday or an anniversary - and how he believes that Dom Perignon champagne also represents community. Asked if the Balloon Venus pays homage to Geoffroy's artistry, Koons replies: "Absolutely. It was great to work together and, with the resources that Dom Perignon brought to bear in the production of this special edition, it became one of the easiest processes of working with another company I have experienced. Also it made sense to me because I felt it was a wonderful platform from which to make my work more available to people and at the same time celebrate the aspects of tradition and quality and sense of celebration of life with Dom Perignon. The Dom Perignon Rose Vintage 2003 is amazing considering the odds it had to overcome - the severe spring frost, followed by a heatwave unlike anything France had experienced before. However, the small harvest ripened and was healthy. The champagne is full-bodied and bursting with the flavours of ripe fruit, figs and wild strawberries. Left to breathe, it reveals guava, violet and vanilla. Asked if he feels the essence of the champagne is captured in Koons's Balloon Venus, Geoffroy points out that the Balloon Venus existed before this conception of it was considered. When Jeff came up with the idea, he had a free hand; we never influenced or briefed and I felt it was so overwhelming, so powerful. He feels a connection between the history of Dom Perignon and the symbol of the Balloon Venus, especially in how its wonderful curves perfectly represent the sensuous richness of the Rose 2003 vintage. The plumpness of the wine is captured in the plumpness of the Balloon Venus. In the 23 years that Geoffroy has been creator and chef de cave at Dom Perignon, he has created some memorable vintages. Asked the reason for his success, he is surprised by the question. I have to first consider that I am successful. All I know is that I have been given a free hand and it is such an honour to have the understanding of my decision-makers, my shareholders. You know, trust is the essence in anything so I just have to go for it. I have been pushing on the wine front, sincerely, honestly and never cutting corners. Suddenly, the secret of it comes to him - being involved in the endeavour for long enough. If not, forget it; you have got to be dedicated and be ready to give it 20 to 30 years of your life. This morning I was asked about my personal [and] professional life. I am not drawing lines-it's one project. You have to be that dedicated, for the good and the bad. Sometimes I find it a bit too burning, demanding, but so exhilarating. Geoffroy believes he owes a lot to Dom Perignon on a personal level and feels privileged to be able to create wine for the prestigious champagne house. However, the greatest satisfaction from his work comes from connecting with people. To open people's hearts is so powerful. Dom Perignon has always been about breaking new ground in the production of champagne from its first vintage in 1921, so working with the brand is always an adventure, he says. There is something intriguing, not to say mysterious, with the brand of Dom Perignon. It is so complex. He would not speculate on what that tradition of innovation would lead him to next. I don't know yet. Dom Perignon is about pioneering, and the adventure of the coming years is to be reinventing and pushing. If you start taking it too easy and slow down you are done. I just can't slow down. In keeping with that pioneering spirit, Geoffroy says he found the experience of collaborating with Koons "so enriching. There's so much energy to all this and I am just trying to pace myself and to savour it and to draw as much out of it as I can. The most exhilarating thing in 23 years is hearing people go 'wow'. What an adventure. Limited-edition gift boxes are available at fine wine retailers for $299 for the blanc vintage and $629 for the rose vintage.