January 2007 Issue of Wines & Vines
 
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Adventurous Winery Architecture

Author Michael Webb spotlights innovative forms that function

 
by Michael Webb
 
 
Josh Beckett
The minimalist architecture of Napa Valley's Dominus winery utilizes imported Swiss wire cages filled with locally quarried dark basalt rocks to create an above-ground cave, where the wine is surrounded by a stone mass that breathes.
 
    HIGHLIGHTS
     

     
  • Many acclaimed architects have recently designed wineries around the world. Some of these buildings are designed to establish brand identity and excite public attention in a fiercely competitive market; others blend into the landscape or abstract the local vernacular.
     
  • Ersatz châteaux, antique palaces and pre-Columbian ziggurat villas have nothing to do with contemporary winemaking, and everything to do with nostalgia for an idealized past.
     
  • The challenge is to integrate all the elements in a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts, providing flexibility for change and growth, and straddling shifts of scale--from tank room to tasting room.
The popular image of the winery remains the picturesque European château, but a growing number of winemakers around the world are seeking a fresh approach. Architects are being challenged to rethink the winery as a bold contemporary expression of tradition and innovation, agriculture and technology, production and hospitality.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of activity. Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Steven Holl, Herzog & de Meuron, Santiago Calatrava, Rafael Moreno, Glenn Murcutt, Richard Rodgers and Norman Foster are among the acclaimed architects who have been commissioned to build new wineries or visitors' centers in California, Canada and Australia, as well as the traditional winegrowing areas of Italy, Austria and Spain. Some of these buildings are designed to establish brand identity and excite public attention in a fiercely competitive market; others blend into the landscape or abstract the local vernacular.

Napa Valley led the way, notably through the initiatives of Robert Mondavi, as well as by individuals and firms that are new to the business and are unconstrained by centuries of tradition. Mondavi commissioned Cliff May to design his flagship winery, and it became the area's biggest attraction--for tours, concerts and art exhibitions. He turned to Johnson Fain for Opus One and the Byron Winery in Santa Maria.

Others followed his example. Donald Hess, a Swiss entrepreneur, remodeled a historic stone winery as a showcase for production and his remarkable contemporary art collection. Stag's Leap Cellars commissioned new caves and tasting rooms from Barcelona architect Javier Barba. The acclaimed Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron designed Dominus, a striking ground-up winery for the Moueix family of Château Petrus fame. William Turnbull, an architect turned winemaker, put a fresh spin on the traditional barn, and ended his productive career with a rammed earth structure for Long Meadow Ranch. A new generation of winemakers invited local architects to realize their vision of airy, light-filled spaces, creating Roshambo and Stryker in neighboring Sonoma County.

In the Americas, and even in Europe, some wineries are intended to make an instant impression, like billboards erected to grab the attention of people driving by. Ersatz châteaux, antique palaces and pre-Columbian ziggurat villas have nothing to do with contemporary winemaking, and everything to do with nostalgia for an idealized past. Napa Valley is full of them. Winemaker Jan Shrem invited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to organize a design competition for Clos Pegase. It was an inspired idea, but bright young architects submitted entries that put form far ahead of function, and Michael Graves won the commission with a huge, relentlessly symmetrical Tuscan villa that's lurid and inflexible--though undeniably a crowd-pleaser.

Josh Beckett
In Rioja Alavesa, Spain, Bodegas Ysios' 80,000-square-foot winery is capped with a wood and aluminum wave formation mimicking the Catabrian mountain range, and symbolizing the transformation of grapes into wine.
 
Architect Scott Johnson has a more reasoned philosophy of design: "Whatever you draw from the past, you have to relate to the present," he remarks. "There's a huge battle to be won when people put stainless tanks in Tuscan villas. My own approach is to use natural materials and strive for a feeling of authenticity, merging architecture and landscape...."

The French châteaux and German schlösser that we so admire were all built as residences, and in the language of their time. They provided a glamorous façade for the generic sheds where the wine was made. That arrangement continues to work, in Bordeaux and Burgundy, the Mosel and the Rhineland, as long as production is limited and visitors are few. But wine is now grown in every U.S. state and almost every country in the world, and authentic châteaux are in short supply.... Novel technologies and large-scale production demand innovative facilities, and there is growing pressure to invite the public for tours, tastings and sales. The challenge is to integrate all the elements in a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts, providing flexibility for change and growth, and straddling shifts of scale--from tank room to tasting room. The heady aroma of fermenting wine in the production areas is as exciting as the bouquet in the glass, and the best wineries offer visitors both experiences.

The essential operations of a winery are consistent and unchanging. Grapes are sorted and loaded into fermentation tanks, the fermented juice is aged in oak barrels, then bottled and shipped. The variations come in the scale of production and the winemaker's way of working. (Scott) Johnson has designed four wineries, and has reflected on the practical and symbolic aspects of the challenge. "Winemaking has archaic references and an immediate attachment to the earth--it's a basic process with many subtle variations," he observes. "It's a perfect program for architecture, like religion--an opportunity to create something that lifts the spirits as well as serving practical needs."

The above article was excerpted from the book, Adventurous Wine Architecture (Images, Sept. 2005, $60), written by Michael Webb, with principal photography by Erhard Pfeiffer.

Architectural writer Michael Webb grew up in London and now lives in Los Angeles. His 20 books on architecture and design include
Art/Invention/House, Brave New Houses: Adventures in Southern California Living and Modernism Reborn: Mid Century Modern American Houses. As a contributing writer for Architectural Digest, Webb travels the world in search of new material. Contact him through edit@winesandvine.com.

Erhard Pfeiffer's architecture and interior design photographs have graced the covers of numerous publications and books worldwide, from Architectural Digest to Wohn!Design, from A + U to Wine Country. Based in Venice, Calif., Pfeiffer especially enjoys working in the wine country where he has recently produced photographs of Auberge du Soleil, Meadowood, Hobbs Winery and Dominus. To see more of his work, visit erhardpfeiffer.com.
 
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