Viticulture is an aesthetic trailblazer responsible for some of the most fascinating structures of the past decade. Jonathan Bell takesan eye-opening tour of some designer wineries in Europe
Walk along the wine aisle in your local hypermarket and the connection between wine and design is not immediately apparent. Cast a swift glance across the rows of bottles and the dominance of sepia-hued labels, classic script and rosy views of ancient chateaux and vineyards gives the overwhelming impression of an industry happy to potter along in an alcoholic fug of nostalgia.
The truth is somewhat different. Like any other major agricultural business, viticulture is an ultra-modern science that employs cutting-edge technology to get the very best from the grapes. Contemporary bottling plants and distribution centres are no longer quaint little cottage industries.
In the past 10 years this modernity has been pushed to the fore by a host of high-profile buildings as wineries invest heavily in signature architecture to strengthen their brands, draw in visitors and create an upscale image for their products. California led the way in viticultural architecture, and now the Old World vineyards are following suit. For the architectural aficionado who’s partial to a glass or two, visiting a contemporary vineyard represents the best of both worlds – leading-edge design softened by a welcoming taste of the latest vintage.
Marqués de Riscal
by Gehry Partners, LLP
The Marqués de Riscal hired Frank Gehry to design a winery building, a commission that ultimately spiralled into an €80m complex that includes a hotel, restaurant, bar and spa. The architect’s work might initially appear confusing, but ultimately it’s rather literal: the Marqués de Riscal’s structure functions as a giant metaphor, with flowing titanium ribbons coloured to evoke pink wine, silver foil and gold netting, the corporate colours used on the bottles. The bubbling metalwork is held aloft on angled sandstone columns, and the whole ensemble is strikingly different from the surrounding buildings and rolling countryside. Marqués de Riscal, Elciego, Spain, 122km from Bilbao, www.marquesderiscal.es
OUR
RECOMMENDED
WINE
Herederos del
Marqués de Riscal Reserva
2001 Frank Gehry
Selection, €120
Bodegas Ysios
by Santiago Calatrava Architects
Second only to Gehry’s work in terms of visual drama, Calatrava’s remarkable buildings are becoming ubiquitous. For a smaller and less ostentatious sample of his style, the Bodegas Ysios is a must-visit. Featuring a striking undulating roofscape framed by the Sierra de Cantabria mountains, the structure creates a new geographical element fashioned from aluminium, wood and concrete that spans the contours of the site. Inside, all is rigorous perfection – even the barrels are laid out in gently curving rows beneath the heavy wooden beams that support the ceiling, see-sawing backwards and forwards as they follow Calatrava’s signature swoops. Bodegas Ysios, Navarra, Spain, 112km from Barcelona, clubysios.com
Caves Les Aurelles
by Gilles Perraudin
Gilles Perraudin’s work for the Caves Les Aurelles in France eschews high-tech materials in favour of creamy local limestone from the renowned quarries at Vers, once a source of stone for the dramatic Roman Pont du Gard aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Limestone is the principle material in a series of long, low, stone pavilions at the winery, giving a solid, weighty feel to the building and a cool, light interior where the barrels are aged. It’s an example of organic minimalism that’s entirely in keeping with the vineyard’s organic production methods.
Caves Les Aurelles, Nizas, France, 56km from Lyon,
tel. +33 (0)4 67 25 08 34
Petra Winery
by Mario Botta
Swiss architect Mario Botta fuses the rigid geometry of classical forms with the pared-down approach of a true modernist using symbolic, even mystical, touches. The architect’s Petra Winery in Suvereto, completed in 2003, is characteristic of his late work, a sawnoff cylinder surmounted by two flights of steps leading to an uncertain destination. Botta describes the structure as echoing classic Tuscan villas while also representing a big flower embedded in the landscape, making explicit the connection between a finished bottle of wine and its origins. The winery is run by Francesca and Vittorio Moretti, and the symbolic overtones of their building are also mimicked on the labels of their products.
Petra Winery, Suvereto, Italy, 162km from Florence, www.petrawine.it
OUR RECOMMENDED WINE
PETRA Supertuscan Vintage 2002,€28
López de Heredia Viña Tondonia
by Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid’s work at the López de Heredia Viña Tondonia is yet another achievement for Spanish vineyard architecture. Hadid has honed an angular aesthetic unlike any other practising architect (although these days she has plenty of imitators). Her new tasting room and store at the winery form a free-standing structure that sits at the heart of the architecturally eccentric site, which is still controlled by the original family. The sci-fi stylings of the cave-like space provide an exemplary location in which to sample the winery’s rioja, with Verner Panton chairs, low banquettes and an ancient wooden kiosk from the 1910 Brussels World’s Fair occupying a prime spot. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, Haro, Spain, 95km from Bilbao, www.lopezdeheredia.com
OUR RECOMMENDED WINE
Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva Red 1985, €53.50
Weingut Heid by Christine
Remensperger Architektin
The Weingut Heid is a delightful, upscale wine store run by Daniela and Markus Heid as a place to display their wares. Designed by the German architect Christine Remensperger and completed in 2001, the wood-clad interior is simple and sophisticated, with refectory-style seating and traditional bottle racks joined by small, spotlit niches that highlight new and significant products. Constructed in a former stables, the Weingut Heid is unashamedly contemporary – the perfect place to sample and buy wine. Weingut Heid, Fellbach, Germany, 162 km from Strasbourg, www.weingut-heid.de
OUR RECOMMENDED WINE
Weingut Heide Fellbacher Goldberg Cuvée “M” Melchisedec 2004, €19.50
Loisium Visitor Centre
by Steven Holl Architects
American architect Steven Holl is known for his diagrammatic, geometric approach when transferring plans and maps into built form. At the Loisium Vineyard in Austria, Holl traced the layout of the underground cellars and used the forms to pattern the brushed aluminium skin of this new visitor centre. Theatrically extravagant, with cork-clad internal walls, a vinotheque (wine-tasting area) and store, the Loisium is a venture by three major producers anxious to maximise the number of visitors to the wine-producing town of Langenlois and boost purchases of their wines. Visitors can stay at the Loisium Hotel a few hundred yards away, which was also designed by Holl and has an Aveda spa and sauna.
Loisium Visitor Centre, Langenlois, Austria, 74km from Vienna, www.loisium.at
OUR RECOMMENDED WINE
Grüner Veltliner Steven Holl 2005, €9
Weingut Leo Hillinger
by Gerner Gerner Plus
Completed in 2004, the winery building at Leo Hillinger’s small vineyard in Austria is a compact but delightful modernist structure that perches on the edge of the vineyard like a contemporary Californian house. Designed by up-and-coming Austrian architects Gerda and Andreas Gerner, a great deal of the structure is concealed beneath the ground, with a tasting lounge taking pride of place on the upper level. Giant windows offer views of the vines, the Leithagebirge mountain range and Lake Neusiedl. Inside, there are extensive glass walls to give inquisitive visitors an overview of the wine-production processes taking place below them. Weingut Leo Hillinger, Jois, Austria, 54km from Vienna, www.leo-hillinger.com
OUR RECOMMENDED WINE
Leo-Hillinger Hill 1 2004 (a cuvée of 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 25% Zweigelt, 25% Syrah), €31
Design et dégustation
Cette dernière décade a vu l’émergence de constructions d’avant-garde pour l’aménagement de propriétés viticoles et de maisons d’hôtes de prestige.
Les vignobles investissent massivement dans des architectes de renommée mondiale pour valoriser leurs marques, attirer les visiteurs et confirmer l’ image de noblesse de leurs produits, après que les producteurs californiens aient ouvert la voie. Aujourd’hui les grandes maisons du Vieux Monde suivent le mouvement – les passionnés d’architecture qui visitent un établissement contemporain peuvent aussi déguster un grand cru. Ils ont les avantages des deux mondes : le design pointu agrémenté d’un verre de bienvenue, en provenance des meilleurs cépages.
Pour consacrer ce renouveau, rien d’étonnant donc à ce que les producteurs confient l’édification de leurs ensembles ultramodernes à des architectes comme Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava ou Zaha Hadid, ce qui est plus actuel encore en Espagne. Bien que de nombreuses questions restent ouvertes sur le profond effet réformateur du musée Guggenheim conçu par Gehry dans la ville portuaire de Bilbao, le bâtiment a marqué son entrée dans une nouvelle ère de l’architecture-comme-symbole. La signature de la structure devient immédiatement identifiable en relation avec un lieu ou avec une marque. Sous l’impulsion de l’architecte, les vignobles font entrer l’industrie viticole dans l’ère de la modernité, et la consacrent comme pionnière d’une force esthétique, qui a réussi à s’ imposer au cours des ces dix dernières années dans des bâtiments remarquables.
Design bij een glaasje
De voorbije jaren zien we steeds vaker dat wijndomeinen en oude gîtes hun infrastructuur uitbreiden met modernistische elementen. Wijnhuizen investeren in architectuur om hun merk te ondersteunen, bezoekers te trekken en hun producten een moderner imago aan te meten. De toon werd destijds gezet in Californië, waar ze er zelfs een tv-serie van maakten. Nu volgt ook Europa en voor de architectuurliefhebber die ook van een glaasje houdt, verenigt een bezoek aan zo’n wijndomein het beste van twee werelden. Baanbrekend design bij een glaasje van de laatste oogst…
Grote namen als Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava en Zaha Hahid vonden eveneens hun weg naar de wijndomeinen, vooral dan in Spanje. Terwijl de jury er nog niet uit is of het veelbesproken Guggenheim in Bilbao het verhoopte effect had voor de noordelijke havenstad, lijdt het geen twijfel dat de bouwer een tijdperk inluidde van architectuur als symbool, architectuur die onmiddellijk in verband wordt gebracht met een plaats of merk. De door architecten ontworpen domeinen tonen de wijnbouwers niet alleen als moderne ondernemers, maar ook als esthetische pioniers die ervoor zorgen dat niet alleen de tong, maar ook het oog wordt gestreeld.
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